��ɫ����

‎‘Opportunity gaps’ in US education remain a persistent concern for educators, policymakers ‎and academics (see Carter & Welner, 2013; Saphier, 2023). Although originally conceptualised as ‘achievement gaps’ of culturally or ‎linguistically minoritised students and as visible through outcomes such as significantly lower ‎success levels on standardised achievement tests, focus has shifted from this type of ‎student deficit-oriented view and towards understanding the systemic inequities that result from ‎the hegemonic practices that affect student success (Milner, 2012).

Gloria Ladson-‎Billings (2006) ‎explains these systemic inequities as educational ‎debt‎ (a cumulative historical, ‎economic, sociopolitical and moral deficit) owed to ‎marginalised ‎communities. This perspective ‎shifts the conversation from perceived student shortcomings to ‎institutional ‎‎ responsibility, ‎highlighting the systemic deficits that disproportionally affect students (such as underfunded schools, culturally biased or ‎inaccessible curricula, language marginalisation, and unequal access to qualified teachers). In ‎response to the continuing existence of these gaps, the National Academies of Sciences (2023) issued a report recommending broad policy improvements to reduce such gaps for young children‎, ‎Darling‎-‎‏Hammond‎ ‏‎(2024) ‎published a policy essay addressing equity in American education, and US media outlets such as highlighted the continuing need to address this issue.

‘What factors contribute to systematically closing the opportunity gap for all students, especially those labelled linguistically and culturally diverse?’

In 2022, the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) issued a national call to action, highlighting the urgency of addressing opportunity gaps in education, and launched its ‘Inquiry Initiative’, a three-year national collaborative of educators and scholars committed to studying this problem. The contribution of our group – Salim, Karen and Laurel – centred on one question: What factors contribute to systematically closing the opportunity gap for all students, especially those labelled linguistically and culturally diverse?

Understanding the opportunity gap

To investigate the factors that impact opportunity gaps in education, we conducted a of existing ‎scholarship and identified seven key factors from which we created an equity-based conceptual framework (Sehlaoui et al., 2025). The goal is to use the‎‏ framework to guide educators in dismantling the systems ‎that ‎reproduce inequities‎.‎ The following figure illustrates two essential ‎factors that contribute to closing the opportunity gaps: (1) using a multidimensional approach,and (2)  using a critical equity-based conceptualisation. The meta-analysis also identifies five other interactive factors that contribute to closing opportunity gaps.

Figure 1. Critical Conceptual Framework

Source: Sehlaoui et al. (2025)

Operationalising the framework: Inquiry-as-stance

Identifying systemic issues by applying this critical conceptual framework to specific educational contexts is only the first step in reducing opportunity gaps. The challenge lies in addressing these issues by translating theory into ‎practice. For this‎, ‎we draw from inquiry‎-‎as‎-‎stance ‏‎(‎Cochran‎-‎Smith ‏& ‎Lytle‎, ‎‏2009‏‎)‎‏, ‎which invites practitioner ‎inquiry, presented as a continuous, reflective cycle in educators’ everyday work. ‎Fichtman-Dana (2015) stresses the need for educators ‎to continually question, study and improve their practices – not in isolation, but as part of a ‎professional identity rooted in justice.‎ We believe that the equity-oriented professional identity of educators engaging in practitioner inquiry can be a powerful way to address opportunity gaps in local contexts. In this way, inquiry-as-stance may be used to apply this conceptual framework to ‎critically examine schools, classrooms and systems, and to redress inequities.‎

Creating tools for equity: A rubric in progress and a global invitation

To make this framework more accessible, we are developing a rubric to assist education-based professionals (teachers, administrators, policymakers and scholars) in evaluating and improving practices connected to the seven identified factors in the framework. We envision this rubricas a living document, evolving with feedback from educators, administrators and ‎community members. By co-constructing this tool with others committed to equity, we aim to ‎create a shared language ‏and strategy for transformation‎.‎ Although rooted in the US, the issues we address – systemic ‎inequities and ‎opportunity gaps – are global‎. ‎We invite educators worldwide to engage ‎with this ‎framework (Sehlaoui et al., 2025) and use it as a ‎foundation for localised inquiry‎.‎

References

Carter, C. L., & Welner, K. G. (2013). Closing the opportunity gap: What America must do to give every child an even chance. Oxford University Press.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2009). Teacher research as stance. In S. E. Noffke & B. Somekh (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of educational action research (pp. 39–49). SAGE.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2024). Reinventing systems for equity. ECNU Review of Education, 7(2), 214–229.

Fichtman-Dana, N. (2015). Understanding inquiry as stance. Learning Landscapes, 8(2), 161–171.

Harvard Kennedy School. (2016). Closing the opportunity gap: The Saguaro Seminar.

Milner, H. R. (2012). Beyond a test score: Explaining opportunity gaps in educational practice. Journal of Black Studies, 43(6), 693–718.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12.

National Academies. (2023, May 16). New report recommends policy improvements to reduce opportunity gaps for young children.

Saphier, J. (2023). Disrupting the teacher opportunity gap: Aligning 12 processes for high-expertise teaching. Sage.

Sehlaoui, A. S., Potter, K. M., & Byrne, L. (2025). Examining the opportunity gap using qualitative meta-analysis: An equity-based framework for closing the gap. Review of Education, 13(2), e70097.