Most researchers agree that strategies exist to narrow the achievement gap. These strategies include the following:
 
A support network of caring adults
Research cited by the Harvard Graduate School of Education shows the importance of parental involvement or other support by caring adults to academic success. Academically successful minority students from across socio-economic lines identified their parents as their greatest source of motivation. Positive relationships with adults at school – teachers, counselors, administrators, coaches – can also make a crucial difference.
 
High expectations from schools and teachers
A number of elementary and high school programs show promise that they might reduce the achievement gap, according to research by the American Educational Research Association. These programs focus on rigorous curriculum, strong social supports, initiatives that extend learning beyond the school day, and professional development for teachers.
 
Quality teachers
If students are going to be held to high standards, they need teachers who know the subjects and know how to teach the subjects. Minnesota’s teaching force is among the best in the nation, but teachers need ongoing professional development that is tied to student achievement, according to the National Education Association.
 
Small classes, summer school and after-school programs
Richard Rothstein and many other researchers emphasize the importance of small class size, summer school and after-school programs in narrowing the achievement gap. But Rothstein cautions readers not to accept the conventional wisdom that “failing schools contribute mightily to the achievement gap.” Most of the social class gap in achievement potential, he says, occurs before a child is 3 years old.
 
Early childhood intervention
Child/developmental psychology research shows that the years from birth to 5 are critical to a child’s development, says Arthur Rolnik, senior vice president at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. If healthy interactions with family and adults are absent, the child’s brain simply doesn’t develop the way it does in a healthy environment. If we intervene early, and help to create a healthy environment, we dramatically increase the number of children who come to school ready to learn, Rolnik says.  He wants to establish a scholarship fund to provide early childhood education to at-risk children.
 
Resources
Class and Schools, Richard Rothstein, Teachers College Press, 2004
The Big Picture, Education is Everyone’s Picture, Dennis Littky, Association for Curriculum and Development, 2004
Priority Schools, National Education Association
Redesigning Schools to Raise Student Achievement (RSRSA), American Federation of Teachers
Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn, Richard Dufour, Rebecca Dufour, Robert Eaker and Gayle Karhanek, National Education Service, 2004
The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools that Work, Linda Darling-Hammond, Jossey-Bass, 1997
Meaningful Differences, Betty Hart and Todd Risley, Paul Brookes Publishing Co., 2003.
The Truth About Testing: An Educator’s Call to Action, James Popham, Association for Curriculum and Development, 2001
What Works Clearinghouse