Closing Achievement Gaps with the Free Flow of Information: Challenges Posed by America's Public Education System

Since the influential 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, commissioned by the Reagan administration, political and social focus on the disparity of educational outcomes among various racial and socioeconomic groups -- termed the "achievement gap" -- has sharpened. Although debates continue over the cause of, and measurement validity behind, the achievement gap in America, the ongoing effort to close the achievement gap is universally acknowledged as the primary goal of education reform. From one perspective, a critical prerequisite of creating an environment in which every human brain is able to learn is the extinguishing of intellectual property rights afforded to makers of software and authors in general. If this were reality, teachers and students would have entirely free access to textbooks, curriculum plans, educational software, and an endless variety of reading materials. The sections outlined below attempt to explain how various complexities within the American public education system might inhibit these free access privileges from working their magic in closing the achievement gap.

Free Textbooks & Curriculum Plans

Free Educational Software

Free Reading Material

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