Americans have concluded that the achievement gap is the fault of "failing schools" because it makes no common sense that it could be otherwise. After all, how much money a family has, or a child's skin color, should not influence how well that child learns to read. If teachers know how to teach and if schools permit no distractions, children should be able to learn these subjects whatever their family income or skin color. This document describes a series of reforms in addition to school improvement, that could help narrow the achievement gap.(Contains 44 endnotes.)