Cutting Through The Hype Chapter Summary

Introduction Jane L. David and Larry Cuban do a great job of informing the reader of issues involving closing the achievement gap in education in their book, “Cutting Through the Hype”. David and Cuban, friends and colleagues for forty-five years, collaborated yet again to revise “Cutting Through the Hype” to re-address the “far more pronounced” effects of the federal role and the philanthropic foundations in funding and setting the policy agenda for reforming U.S. schools. Chapter three, Closing the Achievement Gap, begins with a realistic scenario of a fifth grade classroom of thirty students that range from six non English speaking students, limited English speaking students, and fluent English speaking, high performing students. The

His goal, to close the achievement gap in his classroom. The consistent thoughts throughout chapter three is that the way to close the gap is to provide adequate funding. I am in complete agreement with David and Cuban that if policymakers continue to believe that the achievement gap can be closed by setting high standards but not providing the means to attain these standards, then the gap between white and black, high and low, poor and rich, English speaking and non-English speaking will remain!
Summary
Chapter three of “Cutting Through the Hype”, discusses not only the history of the achievement gap but also, where the idea of closing the achievement gap originated, what problems closing the achievement gap would solve, the question, does focusing attention on closing the achievement gap work?, and the solution to the achievement gap in their eyes. “The intent behind closing these gaps is to break the connection between race or family income and achievement while at the same time continuing to improve the performance of the top students.”(28) Gaps between race and wealth have always been issues in schools. Historically, children living in poverty are more likely to score lower on tests than those