Equality in Education: Solutions Aimed at Closing the Achievement Gap in Mississippi Public Schools

This thesis attempts to examine solutions aimed at closing the achievement gap in Mississippi public schools. The research questions that are addressed in this thesis include: a) Why is the achievement gap part of policy debates in Mississippi and how have individ-ual school districts and policymakers responded to the gap? b) How is the gap measured and what are the trends since 2001 when the No Child Left Behind Act was adopted? c) How are achievement gap debates reflected in the current policy? d) Have any of the past national education policies been effective in decreasing the achievement gap? The methods used include a quantitative analysis of NAEP data in order to construct a series of time-series graphs as well as a series of interviews with policymakers and school district offi-cials in Mississippi in order to write a policy proposal for the state. The research found that while national education policies have had a positive impact on racial achievement gaps, no policy has worked to close the socioeconomic achievement gap.