Gaining on the Gap

Robert G. Smith is associate professor in the George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development's Education Leadership program.Alvin L. Crawley is assistant superintedent for student services at Arlington Public Schools.Cheryl Robinson is the supervisor for the Office of Minority Achievement for the Arlington Public Schools.Timothy Cotman, Jr. is a minority achievement coordinator with the Arlington Public Schools.Marty Swaim is a cultural competence trainer.Palma Joe Strand is associate professor at Creighton Law School in Omaha, Nebraska.

The achievement gap plagues schools and school divisions around the country. In this compelling book, four staff members and a parent from the Arlington Public Schools (VA), along with former APS Superintendent, Rob Smith, have chronicled the district's more than 12 year attempt to grapple with the difficult issues and move toward the heart of the problem. Looking back over their journey, the APS team believes that solutions to the gap challenge must come from a real awareness of the systemic nature of the problem, the effective and intentional use of data, and a shared responsibility for the development of solutions. There is much to learn from their thoughtfully told stories.

• ForewordPrefaceIntroductionChapter One: The ContextChapter Two: Creating Organization Conditions to Close Achievement GapsChapter Three: Can Schools Eliminate Gaps?Chapter Four: Fixing the System, Not the KidsChapter Five: The Perfect Storm: Capitalizing on SynergyChapter Six: Facilitating Conversations About RaceChapter Seven: Teaching Across CulturesChapter Eight: System-Level Buy-In: A Case StudyChapter Nine: Gaining on the Gap: Progress, Themes, and Lessons LearnedAfterword