Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-301) and index.

Achievement gaps arise from opportunity gaps / Kevin G. Welner & Prudence L. Carter -- Lack of achievement or loss of opportunity? / Gloria Ladson-Billings -- Educationalizing the welfare state and privatizing education: the irony of recent school reform / Harvey Kantor & Robert Lowe -- Going to the roots: race, housing, and school inequality costs and possible solutions / Gary Orfield -- Why children from lower socioeconomic classes, on average, have lower academic achievement than middle-class children / Richard Rothstein -- Inequality and school resources: what it will take to close the opportunity gap? / Linda Darling-Hammond -- Achievement gaps start early: preschool can help / W. Steven Barnett & Cynthia E. Lamy -- How common standards and standardized testing widen the opportunity gap / Yong Zhao & Christopher Tienken -- A more perfect union: reconciling school choice policy with equality of opportunity goals / Janelle Scott & Amy Stuart Wells -- Student and school cultures & the opportunity gap: paying attention and engaging better / Prudence L. Carter -- Meeting the needs of language minorities / Patricia G�andara -- Tracking, segregation, and the opportunity gap: what we know and why it matters / Karolyn Tyson -- Good schools and teachers for all students: dispelling myths, facing evidence, and pursuing the right strategies / Barnett Berry -- The cumulative costs of the opportunity gap / Clive Belfield & Hank Levin -- Enhancing a nation's democracy through equitable schools / Michele Moses & John Rogers -- Building opportunities to achieve / Prudence L. Carter & Kevin G. Welner.