Educational research and reforms tend to focus on what happens inside schools, despite research consistently indicating that nonschool factors contribute more to the large achievement gap between different races and classes than do in-school factors. We now hear a growing call for social reform as a solution, but an important question remains, “Can social policy close the achievement gap?” This article examines the research from a number of different disciplines and fields and finds that we have plenty of reason to believe that social policy can alter educational performance but little evidence that it does. As such, a number of questions need to be answered before we can claim that social reform can meaningfully and efficiently narrow the achievement gap. Future directions for research and policy are discussed.

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Promise Neighborhoods attempt to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone’s “cradle to college pipeline” model of coordinated and continuous child and family services for a single neighborhood. We analyze the 46 planning and 18 implementation grants to determine which factors these neighborhoods plan to address and compare these efforts with research on poverty and academic performance. We conclude that Promise Neighborhoods more frequently focus on in-school factors and often fail to address many factors supported by prior research. We discuss the degree to which these neighborhoods are actually serving as all-encompassing cradle to college pipelines versus continuing current in-school efforts.

Utilizing a data set of over 900,000 enrollees in adult basic education programs in New York State between 2005 and 2013, we examine the college enrollment of GED® passers. Upon enrollment in an adult basic education program, participants were asked whether they wanted to attend college after completion; almost 13,000 students both indicated a desire to attend college and subsequently passed the GED exam. Roughly half of these students reported attending college within 12 months. We use logistic regression to predict which students attended college based on a number of demographic variables and proximity to a community college. Counter to prior research, we find that none of these variables are practically significant predictors of college attendance. Students of different races who are and are not employed, receiving public assistance, single parents, and living close to a community college (among other factors) are virtually equally likely to attend college. We discuss other possible explanations and recommend that future research examine noncognitive and other factors.

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