The Disparity Gap

Fall 2008

Illustration: Pjbf

Reducing the 'achievement gap' to what goes on inside of schools has proven to be an effective way for policy makers to ignore all of the other 'gaps' outside of America's classrooms.
— Phillip Kovacs, professor of education, University of Alabama in Huntsville

• The poverty rate gap: 8.7% of white Americans live at or below the poverty line while 24.7% of African Americans do so.

• The incarceration gap: Six times as many African Americans per capita are behind bars compared to their white counterparts.

• The healthcare gap: 71.4% of white Americans are insured compared to 53.9% of African Americans.

• The happiness gap: 72% of white youth say they are happy with life in general compared to 56% of African American youth.

Statistics from the Educators Rountable, http://www.educatorroundtable.org/disparitygap.html.

Fall 2008