A comprehensive look at the opportunities to learn in the U.S.

"The Schott Foundation for Public Education has released a new 50-state report on the opportunity to learn in America. "Lost Opportunity" is a state-by-state analysis of student performance data reported by state departments of education that determines the opportunity to learn in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Schott Foundation used resource models to identify the four core minimum resources that are necessary if a child -- regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status -- is to have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn: high-quality early childhood education; highly qualified teachers and instructors in grades K-12; college preparatory curricula that will prepare all youth for college, work, and community; and equitable instructional resources. As the nation observes the 55th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision, the study shows that minority and low-income students have half the opportunity to learn in public schools that their white, non-Latino peers do. The report also gives a state-by-state comparison of both academic proficiency (percentage of students scoring at or above proficient on eighth grade NAEP reading measures) and equity (as measured by a tool created by the Schott Foundation, called the Opportunity to Learn Index). "