About This Lesson
The Education Center of the Columbia Policy Institute (CPI) has crafted a lesson that explains the differences between two conceptual frameworks for analyzing the American education system: the opportunity gap and the achievement gap. Drawing from a comprehensive literature review encompassing diverse sources—including newspapers, think tank reports, and peer-reviewed journals—CPI researchers synthesized insights into an interactive and engaging lesson. In exploring existing academic models of the opportunity gap, the Center offers a comprehensive survey of the various factors contributing to and driving educational disparities, including housing, urbanicity, race, language-minority status, socioeconomic position, parental income, school funding, and access to school resources, among others. The lesson presents examples of programmatic, pedagogical, and policy changes implemented at the local school level by educators and administrators, showcasing their tangible impacts: the reduction of academic achievement gaps, the cultivation of school-wide racial and socioeconomic diversity, and the promotion of race-conscious school environments. Furthermore, it argues why the responsibility for narrowing the opportunity gap cannot rest solely on educators or administrators, given the systemic and institutionalized nature of educational disparities. Instead, the lesson encourages advocacy for policy changes to address larger, systemic root causes. Culminating with a letter-writing activity directed at elected officials, the lesson equips students with advocacy tools to challenge racialized opportunity gaps while emphasizing the systemic nature of such disparities. A dynamic PowerPoint presentation, accessible to educators, complements this lesson plan and features active learning activities interspersed throughout an informative lecture comprising the majority of the presentation. The PowerPoint presentation should be used to visually facilitate the lesson to students, and this lesson plan, to inform and guide that facilitation. At its core, the creation of this lesson reflects CPI's commitment to empowering students with the knowledge needed to navigate and advocate for improvements in the education landscape.
Authors: Viviana Flores, Shanthi Ashok, Sarah Park, Rebeca Lopez-Anzures, Drew Reetz, Jorge Hernandez-Perez, and Nori Leybengrub
