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NEA Resources on Closing the Achievement Gaps




Strategies Educators Can Use To Close the Gaps

  • 2011 C.A.R.E. Guide: Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gaps (2011) (PDF, 12 MB, 174pp)
    This NEA publication provides research-based ideas for educating culturally diverse students and students from low-income families.
  • Closing the Achievement Gaps Web Site
    Achievement Gaps, an NEA Web site,  offers resources to help members improve teaching and learning for students of all backgrounds and experiences.
  • NEA and the NEA Foundation Fund Partnerships To Boost Achievement
    NEA and the NEA Foundation have awarded grants to union-school district partnerships that aim to boost achievement for disadvantaged and minority students, while raising achievement for all groups of students.
  • Education Groups Collaborate To Improve Staffing in Needy Schools
    A report by the Learning First Alliance (NEA is a member of this partnership of 12 national education organizations) offers a framework for ensuring the nation's neediest students access to effective teachers and school leaders. 
  • Having More Minority Teachers Narrows Achievement Gap
    An analysis of teacher diversity prepared by the National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force (NEA is a member of this group) found that increasing the percentage of teachers of color in classrooms is connected directly to closing the achievement gap of students. Assessment of Diversity in America’s Teaching Force (2004) (PDF, 512KB, 16pp)
  • NEA's KEYS Initiative Provides Insights into Local Schools
    NEA has developed a research-based survey instrument that lets schools measure for themselves the extent to which certain key school quality indicators are present. The KEYS Initiative (KEYS is short for Keys to Excellence for Your Schools) brings educators, parents, and the community together to improve their local schools. Across the nation, more than a thousand schools are using NEA's KEYS program to put themselves on the road to quality and ultimately to improved student achievement.
  • Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Are Good for All Kids
    In NEA on Prekindergarten and Kindergarten(PDF, 748KB, 16pp), NEA makes the case that states should provide mandatory, full-day public school kindergarten and access to universal, nonmandatory, full-day prekindergarten. We believe that prekindergarten and full-day kindergarten are good for all children, but especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
  • Alliance Works To Prepare Students for the 21st Century
    The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an alliance of education, business and government leaders, including NEA, that is addressing the education needs and challenges of work and life in the 21st century.
  • The Partnership's Route 21: An Interactive Guide to 21st Century Learning is a collection of Web-based tools to help school-district-level groups transform existing education systems and promote literacy in information and communication technologies.