The Achievement and Opportunity Gap
Can improving the opportunity gap improve the achievement gap in Massachusetts?
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts unveiled Bill S.2350, known as the Student Opportunity Act. This bill seeks to significantly overhaul the way the state allocates funding to public schools, bringing $1.5B dollars into public schools through a change in the funding formula. Needless to say, it’s a huge investment necessary for continued success of Massachusetts schools, and for improving the Opportunity Gap, Achievement Gap, and Learning Gap.
One key element of the proposed legislation is that each district will have to develop plans to publicly announce how their schools will address the Opportunity Gap with the funding. The Opportunity Gap refers to the initial access students have in their education, rather than the Achievement Gap, or the outcomes from learning. By ensuring all students, regardless of their zip code, have access to high-quality education, the goal is to reduce the Opportunity Gap and through that process reduce the Achievement Gap as well, improving outcomes through better learning access.
We know that teachers are amazing, but they cannot take on this challenge on their own. That itself contributes to the Opportunity Gap, as teachers have less support, more responsibility, and only so many hours in the day. Teachers, schools, and districts all are part of the educational ecosystem and can work with one another to ensure high-quality, standards-aligned lessons can be made available, modified as needed, and shared with all materials included.
Secure funding from the Massachusetts Student Opportunity Act with Student Soapbox
Brazen Learning’s Student Soapbox is designed to ensure each student has the opportunity and access to relevant, exciting, standards-aligned lesson plans, and we can be a great partner for school districts in their Opportunity Gap reduction plans.
Here are ways that Brazen Learning can partner with your school district to help reduce the Opportunity Gap:
Students can review what lessons are coming up, and vote on lessons specifically important to their learning styles, interests, and relevance.
The lessons themselves come from a shareable, editable, and growing Lesson Library, designed to help teachers connect with other teachers.
Districts can ensure that multiple schools within their district can share the Lesson Library
Teachers can connect with other schools teachers, access new lesson plans, and connect directly with other teachers within the Student Soapbox Teacher Community.
Lessons are aligned with various standards, from Common Core to State-Specific through our picklist.
Built with powerful reporting capabilities, Administrators can easily access and create reports, identifying and monitoring ways the Opportunity Gap within their schools is being addressed, in real-time.
Brazen Learning’s mission is to improve the educational experience. Ensuring students, regardless of zip code, have access to high-quality education, and ensuring their teachers have the support they need to support that, is how we’re starting, through Student Soapbox.
Connect with us for more information, we’re not hard to find!