In this article, the author interviews two leading thinkers in the field of education. Richard Rothstein and Kati Haycock talk about the possibility of closing the achievement gap through education and face off on poverty, race, and school achievement. In his book, "Class and Schools" (Teachers College Press, 2004), Rothstein writes that "the influence of social class characteristics is probably so powerful that schools cannot overcome it, no matter how well trained are their teachers and no matter how well-designed are their instructional programs and climates." Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute and former education columnist at the "New York Times" suggests that policy makers would be more effective in closing the achievement gap if they focused on reforms such as income equality, school-community clinics, and early childhood education in addition to school improvement. Giving in to the common belief that schools cannot succeed with disadvantaged children belies the growing evidence that skilled and dedicated educators are doing so every day in schools around the country, says Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust. Rather than blame factors outside their control, effective schools focus on what they can do to close the achievement gap, including providing consistent and rich curricula and instruction proven to raise achievement for all students. "Poor and minority children do not underachieve in school just because they often enter behind," Haycock writes in "Teaching Inequality", a new report from Education Trust. Education writer Holly Holland probes whether these seemingly opposing points of view have any commonalties, and whether two leading thinkers in the field of education can agree that teachers can truly make a difference in all children's lives.