• Why it's a mistake to explain and rationalize the persistence of the achievement gap on the basis of a single influence, such as poverty, family background, or culture.
• What is wrong with popular approaches to closing the achievement gap.
• Why it is critical to focus on the assets that each student brings to the classroom, rather than on the perceived deficiencies.
• Why pluralizing the cultural conditions in schools increases the possibility that a greater number of students—from a wider range of backgrounds—will learn.

• Promoting and enhancing student engagement in learning and addressing avoidance behaviors.
• Raising the levels of three key personal behaviors: self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, and incremental ability beliefs about intelligence.
• Cultivating constructive classroom dynamics and transactions such as positive teacher student relationships and collaborative learning.

Here's your opportunity to understand why some school districts are making more progress than others, to make sure you're focused on what really works, and to build the capacity of high-performance, high-poverty schools.

A. Wade Boykin is a professor and director of the graduate program in the Department of Psychology at Howard University. He is also the executive director of the Capstone Insttitute at howard University.