Experimental Effects of “Opportunity Gap” and “Achievement Gap” Frames

Abstract

Racial equity in education is often framed around “closing the achievement gap,” but many scholars argue this frame perpetuates deficit mindsets. The “opportunity gap” (OG) frame has been offered as an alternative to focus attention on structural injustices. In a preregistered survey experiment, I estimate the effects of framing racial equity in education around “achievement gaps” (AGs) versus OGs. I find U.S. adult respondents on MTurk gave higher priority to “closing the racial opportunity gap” versus “closing the racial achievement gap” (effect size = 0.11 SD). When randomly assigned to read an OG frame before being asked to explain the Black/White “achievement gap,” respondents were less likely to endorse cultural or individual-level explanations compared with respondents only shown AG statistics (effect size = –0.10 SD). I find no evidence the OG frame affected respondents’ racial stereotypes or policy preferences.