Panel Outlines Strategy for Raising Minority Achievement

Concerned by minority students’ perennially lagging academic achievement, a panel of 20 scholars released a report last week that outlines a comprehensive strategy that they say can bridge the learning gaps between black and Hispanic students and their higher-achieving white and Asian counterparts.

The report, “All Students Reaching the Top: Strategies for Closing Achievement Gaps,” marshals evidence from cognitive science, psychology, and education research to guide educators and policymakers working to raise minority students’ achievement.

“Demographic shifts in our nation’s population mandate that we attend specifically to these students’ achievement if we expect as a nation to maintain our standard of living, our level of prosperity, and our place in the global economy,” the National Study Group for the Affirmative Development of Academic Ability...