How Demographics Affect Schools And Educational Processes - Essay Example

The NCLB Act requires all states to demonstrate their annual progress in increasing the percentage of pupils “proficient in reading and math and in narrowing the test-score gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students”. The law is also responsible for encouraging states to improve upon the standards of student testing, overhauling their systems of accountability and ascertaining the qualifications of their teachers in their relevant subject areas. Ever since the NCLB law has been passed, many non-profit organizations have been making significant contributions towards the objective of closing the achievement gap.

Some such organizations include the and Related Education Programming, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Teachers21 organization. The Teachers21 Organization is only one of the many significant organizations working for the systemic reformation of the education system of America. In a document proposing steps that can be taken for the reduction of “educational inequities”, the organization recognizes that the NCLB Act “has more keenly focused state and district attention to these achievement gaps and the needs of traditionally low-performing students.

This document also outlines various studies pertaining to the subject of the reasons behind the achievement gap, professing that a number of scholars opine that in order for this issue to be addressed in its entirety, the social and economic reasons that contribute to achievement gaps need to be resolved. The organization supports the view of Rothstein (2004) and a significant number of others that the elimination of gaps in academic achievement and the fulfillment of the goal of educational equity require a total and determined commitment to make sincere efforts that address