Closing in on the achievement gap.

The achievement gap--the difference in school performance among students of different backgrounds--is a serious and persistent problem. In enacting the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government has made a commitment to do its part in addressing the problem. ETS is dedicated to doing its part in this vital effort also.

A new ETS report, Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Tracking Progress, clarifies fourteen factors in the challenge, including everything from birth weight, nutrition, parental support, and pupil mobility, to class size, school safety, teacher preparation and experience, and rigor of the curriculum. The ETS report found minority and low-income students are at a disadvantage relative to White and more affluent students in these conditions and experiences conducive to student achievement.

Our research confirms that what happens in the classroom is key to educational excellence. A teacher's skills have an enormous impact on how well a child learns. Class size, school safety, and the rigor of the school curriculum can also make or break a child's learning experience. Nothing that occurs before, or outside of, the school experience should be a basis--or an excuse--for lowering expectations for what can be accomplished by teachers and schools. And schools must be held accountable for their performance.

At the same time, total responsibility for a child's education cannot be placed solely on the schools. As U.S. Rep. John Boehner, Chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, recently pointed out, "Parents play a pivotal role by reinforcing daily academic lessons with their children at home at night."

Closing the achievement gap will take time, resources, and the commitment of families, schools and communities. Such commitment pays off. Recently, school officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, reported significant gains in reading for lower-income minority students in full-day kindergarten programs. In addition to increasing the number of hours children spend in kindergarten, the county revised its kindergarten program to provide more teacher training, a revamped curriculum, and smaller classes.

The achievement gap can be closed, and we must use this historic moment to see that it is. Nothing we can do will contribute more to ensure equality, opportunity, a strong economy, and a healthy democracy. ETS is fully committed to the cause. We will continue to listen to the education community and to learn from that community as well as from research, and we will do our part to lead the way in advocating both informed public policy and informed educational practice.