Shrinking the Achievement Gap One Word at a Time

An African-American 7th grader is sitting in her homeroom or English class in Madison, Wis. It is the fall of 2011. Her teacher passes out a worksheet listing 11 things that people value. She picks one of these things, maybe "being with friends and family" or perhaps "enjoying sports," and writes about why it is important to her. Something similar happens again that autumn, and then again, two or three more times in spring.