ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the incidence of the gaps over time, and highlights the sizable gap-narrowing that occurred between the early 1970s and the late 1980s. It focuses on ecological systems theory to identify the multiple and overlapping potential causes behind these gaps, shifting focus away from a blame-oriented deficit view of individuals and minoritized communities and toward how unequal family, school, and neighborhood conditions affect educational and life outcomes. The chapter illustrates the consequences of, and society’s interest in eliminating, pernicious gaps in opportunity and achievement. It argues that how to close the gaps in educational opportunity, and draws on new research that upends two questionable assumptions about how educational processes function beyond the formal K–12 setting. Without reframing the achievement gap narrative as one of educational debt, policymakers will likely remain unwilling to refocus their attention on the array of social institutions and practices that condition formal schooling and influence its effectiveness.
