The Achievement Gap Initiative


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This scholar is one of a number of scholars at Harvard and other leading universities whose research focuses on the nation's achievement gaps. These scholars represent a cross section of academic disciplines--Education, Economics, Public and Social Policy, Sociology and Law. They represent the broad base of research and knowledge necessary to understanding the complex issues contributing to Achievement Gaps.

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Richard Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society, AGI Faculty Co-Chair

Harvard University

Scholar's website

Richard Murnane is an economist who focuses his research on the relationships between education and the economy, teacher labor markets, the determinants of children's achievement, and strategies for making schools more effective. In his book Who Will Teach? Policies that Matter (with Judith Singer and John Willett), Murnane shows that teachers' salaries and certification requirements strongly affect the composition of the public-school teaching force. Murnane's 1996 book Teaching the New Basic Skills, coauthored by MIT professor Frank Levy, explains how changes in the U.S. economy have increased the skills that high-school graduates need to earn a middle-class living, and shows how schools need to change to provide all students with the requisite skills. In spring 2004, Princeton University Press published Murnane and Levy's book, The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market. This book shows how the spread of information technology has increased the value of some human skills and decreased the value of others. It also explains how education and training programs need to respond to new labor market realities. In 2005, Murnane and two Harvard colleagues edited Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning. It stems from work Murnane started in 2001, helping the central office of the Boston Public Schools to better support the efforts of BPS schools in learning from student assessment results. Murnane is currently working with HGSE Professor John B. Willett on a book describing how improvements in research design and analysis strategies can help educational researchers to make valid causal inferences in educational policy research.

Papers on the AGI website:

March 2008

Understanding Trends in the Black-White Achievement Gap: The Importance of Decomposition Methodology

Video presentations on the AGI website:

June 2006	Understanding Trends in Racial/Ethnic Achievement Gaps During The First Years of School
June 2008	Wrap Up: What is the State of the Field?
November 2006	Does Parenting Contribute to Achievement Gaps?
June 2009	Wrapup: Marian Brooks, Karin Chenoweth, Jim Connell, Richard Murnane