This week, you will reflect on the achievement gap between students from low-income and high-income households, explain one cause of this gap, and evaluate one potential action step linked to that cause. 

Read this article that outlines basic facts about the current income-based achievement gap: https://www.childtrends.org/blog/the-other-achievement-gap-poverty-and-academic-success

You may also want to review the textbook and/or follow some of the links in the article to explore certain topics in greater depth.

1. Drawing on social reproduction theory, explain why there is such a large achievement gap between students from low-income and high-income households.  

2. Choose one social condition that researchers feel contributes greatly to this gap (from the textbook or article above).  Explain the relationship between that condition and the gap in achievement.  

3. Then describe an action that researchers hope will make a difference to that specific condition.  Provide an evidence-based evaluation of this claim: will this action alleviate the achievement gap?  What are some advantages or limitations of this proposed action?  

SHORT EXAMPLE for how to answer #2/#3:  Research shows low-income students have fewer books read to them in the early years, and they come to Kindergarten with lower reading-readiness.  The proposed solution is to give free books to families along with lessons for parents to encourage reading.  This is a great idea because of X, Y, and Z.  However, it has limitations A and B.