Are "achievement gaps" caused by K-12 schools and the teachers in them? Many policymakers, including those at the U.S. Department of Education, seem to think so, because Race to the Top federal grant applications in 2010 wanted states to hold teachers accountable for student test scores. Indeed, the purpose of the four-year State Plan in education, submitted in 2017 without legislative or public approval by a state's department of education or public instruction, is to close these gaps.
Why? Because closing gaps is the major purpose of the Every Student Succeeds Act, approved by Congress in December 2015 as a re-authorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
