Achievement Gap

The achievement gap refers to the different levels of academic performance of students from different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds.

ETS is committed to narrowing the gap through innovative research, products and services, and regularly publishes reports and policy statements designed to further the conversation and initiate change.

Errors of Measurement, Theory and Public Policy (PDF)
It is important for policymakers to recognize the impact of errors of measurement on test scores and on average scores for groups to reduce the tendency to interpret and act on score differences that may, in fact, be meaningless.

Hispanicity and Educational Inequality: Risks, Opportunities and the Nation's Future
The 2009 Tomás Rivera Lecture explores the opportunities and challenges provided by the rapidly growing school-age Hispanic population in the United States.

ETS Policy Notes — Preschool Education: New Jersey and the Nation
This issue of ETS Policy Notes (Volume 17, No. 2) provides highlights from a Policy Forum that explored the state of preschool education in New Jersey and the nation.

ETS Policy Information Report — Parsing the Achievement Gap II (PDF)
This new ETS report, Parsing the Achievement Gap II, follows-up on a 2003 report Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Tracking Progress.

ETS Policy Notes — Addressing Achievement Gaps: Educational Testing in America: State Assessments, Achievement Gaps, National Policy and Innovations (PDF)
This issue of ETS Policy Notes (Volume 17, No. 1) provides highlights from a September 2008 ETS conference "Educational Testing in America: State Assessments, Achievement Gaps, National Policy and Innovations."

ETS Policy Notes — Addressing Achievement Gaps: School Finance and the Achievement Gap: Funding Programs That Work (PDF)
This issue of ETS Policy Notes (Volume 16, No. 3) provides highlights from a May 2008 ETS conference "School Finance and the Achievement Gap: Funding Programs That Work."

Windows on Achievement and Inequality (PDF)
This Policy Information Report provides a panoramic view of educational achievement by examining a variety of data and measures beyond those that are typically reported.

America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing our Nation's Future (PDF)
Our nation is in the midst of a perfect storm, and the forecast is grim — unless we invest in policies that will change our perilous course. This report looks at the convergence of 3 powerful sociological and economical forces that are changing our nation's future: substantial disparities in skill levels (reading and math), seismic economic changes (widening wage gaps), sweeping demographic shifts (less education, lower skills).