Excellence Gap Research in the United States: A 20-Year Perspective

Much of education policy has focused on the goal of shrinking achievement gaps, the differences betwee, for example, students living in poverty versus those who are not. However, these gaps are better characterized as minimum competency gaps -- differences between groups at low benchmarks of achievement. This paper is concerned with excellence gaps (group differences at high levels of achievement), which we believe are better indicators of future innovation and economic achievement (or lack thereof). Given the historical lack of attention to excellence gaps, the symposium will begin with a paper that reviews the relevant definitions, reviews the growing body of research on these gaps, and shares new data on U.S. excellence gaps in mathematics and reading. This paper will extend the knowledge of excellence gaps beyond the last major analysis, which used 2007 data, with another round of data points taken from NAEP, state achievement test, and AP data.