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The Achievement Gap

The Harlem Project by Paul Tough, New York Times Magazine, June 20, 2004

...Experts in his field had figured out how to educate one disadvantaged child, or one classroom full of kids, but the benefits were localized, and usually temporary. And no one had any idea how to change a whole school system or a whole housing project, or for that matter a whole neighborhood. So, in the middle of the 1990's, that's what Geoffrey Canada decided he would do. And now, 10 years later, he has become a very different kind of do-gooder, one with a mission both radically ambitious and startlingly simple. He wants to prove that poor children, and especially poor black children, can succeed -- that is, achieve good reading scores, good grades and good graduation rates -- and not just the smartest or the most motivated or the ones with the most attentive parents, but all of them, in big numbers....

Our Children, Our Future
How Latino Children Can Succeed in School
A yearlong series published by the Orange County Register that started in June of 2003. Go to the OC Register web site for multimedia presentations and supplemental links.

June, 2003: What does it take for Latino students to succeed in schools?

July, 2003: Why do Asians and Hispanics from similar backgrounds do differently in school?

August, 2003: What does it take for school in poor neighborhoods to succeed?

September, 2003: How much does US citizenship - or the lack of it - matter?

October, 2003: What happens when the schools and parents don't communicate?

November, 2003: What do Latino parents want for their children's future?

February, 2004: How much of a barrier is language?

March, 2004: How big a barrier to college is money?

May, 2004: Why aren't more Latinos prepared for college?

Coming up:

How does Mexico's school system work?

Do business leaders and educators understand each other?