Doug McCurry

Co-CEO & Superintendent, Achievement First

Low-income students in urban communities are not achieving at the same levels of educational performance as their more affluent peers in suburbs. These differences in academic performance, known as the achievement gap, have serious implications for the future life opportunities of students and for our society at large. When we fail to educate all children, the outcome is predictable: third graders with poor skills become middle schoolers with third-grade skills and eventually high-school students without the ability to succeed in college or to compete in today’s economy. The achievement gap in education is America's most vexing social problem—the modern frontier of the civil-rights movement.

In this context, we are making progress. For example, ninety-nine percent of Achievement First African-American and Latino, low-income fourth graders in New York City achieved proficiency on state math exams, and 92 percent did the same on reading. Perhaps more important than that, we are helping to change the conversation. When we started ten years ago, people said that it was “impossible” to have students of color in poor areas perform at the same level as their wealthier suburban counterparts. We heard it all. The families are dysfunctional. The neighborhoods are too tough. The school facilities aren’t as good. Yes, these are legitimate obstacles, but in the end, they are excuses. Our real progress is that people are making these excuses less often and are increasingly asking a simple question: How do we do right by all of America’s children?

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