During The 1992 Presidential Campaign Clinton/Gore Promised To Reduce The Achievement Gap. "Reduce the education gap between rich and poor students by increasing Chapter One funding for low-income students and by giving schools greater flexibility to spend the money in ways they think most effective, like reducing class sizes in early grades." (Gov. Bill Clinton and Sen. Al Gore, Putting People First, 1992, p. 86)

Leading Education Reformers Say The 1990s Was A "Dead In The Water" Decade As Far As Closing The Achievement Gap. The Education Trust, a non-partisan organization, stated in a press release, "[G]aps remain painfully wide. . . You might call the 90s the ‘dead in the water’ decade as far as gap closing is concerned. . . the federal government has turned a blind eye to the gap and to the students who most need its help by failing to require gap closing as a condition of receipt of federal funds." (Statement of Kati Haycock, Director of the Education Trust, on the Release of the NAEP 1999 Trends Report, August 24, 2000)

Vice President Gore Did Little To Improve Education. "During his time as Vice President, the Education Department has done little to reward schools that flourish and nothing to sanction schools that persistently fail. And Gore remains fuzzy on the subject today." (Eric Pooley, "Who Gets the ‘A’ in Education?," Time, March 27, 2000)

A Black 17-Year-Old Scores About The Same In Math And Reading As A White 13-Year-Old. A black 17-year-old scores about the same in math and reading as a white 13-year-old, according to a government report. (Richard Whitmire, "Students Scores Rise: Math, Science Numbers Up But Race Gap Still Persists In U.S. Schools, Federal Report Finds," The Detroit News, August 25, 2000)

Bill Bradley Pointed Out That Al Gore Has Never Been An Education Reformer. "‘He didn’t seem to care much about education or health care as a congressman,’ [former Senator Bill] Bradley said. ‘In 16 years, he only sponsored four bills to improve our schools, compared to the 37 bills I sponsored for education.’" (Mike Allen, "Bradley Doubts Gore Credibility," The Washington Post, February 23, 2000)

The Achievement Gap Is Widening. "I think a lot of people continued to think things were getting better. . . . Now, we’ve seen 10 years of no progress and, in some subjects, a widening of the gap. There’s too much evidence to ignore." — Kati Haycock, Executive Director, The Education Trust (Debra Viadero, "Lags In Minority Achievement Defy Traditional Explanations," Education Week, March 22, 2000)