The Anatomy of Achievement Gaps ─ Why and How American Education Is Losing (But Can Still Win) the War on Underachievement

The Anatomy of Achievement Gaps offers a critical analysis of underachievement problems in American education from interdisciplinary, international, and systems perspectives. The book has several aims: to build a new model of achievement gap research and policy; to provide evidence on the state and alterability of achievement gaps; to synthesize separate lines of domestic and international achievement gap research; and to evaluate and inform American P-16 (pre-school through college) education policies.

In light of socioeconomic changes and educational paradigm shifts, Jaekyung Lee extends the scope of analysis from a K-12 to a P-16 education pipeline and from domestic racial/social groups to international groups, with focus on the case of South Korea. Through multilevel and longitudinal analyses of U.S. national and international datasets,The Anatomy of Achievement Gaps provides new evidence on the status and trends of achievement gaps, causes of these gaps, and the effects of policy interventions. In an effort to evaluate the nation's strengths and weaknesses across the P-16 education pipeline, it draws upon a wide range of educational data sources and indicators. Featuring cross-cultural perspectives beyond the U.S., Lee reframes achievement gap and educational accountability issues.

Jaekyung Lee is Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo. He has a Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago. He is a fellow of American Educational Research Association, a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and he is the recipient of the 2007 AERA Early Career Award. His research focuses on educational policy evaluation and international comparative education.