NCLB Failing to Close Racial Achievement Gap

After reading a recent article entitled “‘No Child’ Law Is Not Closing Racial Gap” in the New York Times I had to think about our own schools in Baltimore City. The article, in an offhand way, stated that NCLB had failed in closing the achievement gap between white students and minority students. Accordingly, students of both white and minority backgrounds were making progress in achievement, yet the gap between the two is staying the same. This article angered me in some ways because I couldn’t help but think about the situation of inequality that has long been plaguing inner city schools. Clearly that achievement gap will not close when we continue to provide unequal educational opportunities for minorities. When we think of the fact that our inner cities are comprised mostly of minority students, it is hard to imagine that we will find any means to close an achievement gap between races. If our society continues to believe that it is alright to underfund and discriminate minorities and schools comprised mostly of minority schools, of course that gap will continue. We have fashioned a system which seems very bleak at moments more often than not. While various forms of reform have pushed for change, we see schools that are continuing to get bogged down in a vicious cycle of old instead of being freed and rejuvenated by new. What has been found is that what many believed is right—all students can learn. We have seen improvement in achievement straight across the board in all races. On the other hand, what really needs much attention as well, inequality among schools, has been proven to have fallen on the wayside. The statistics are not surprising, rather they are what I had expected. How can we expect change when the opportunity has not been given and the resources and means to do so are non-existent?