Miren Uriarte, an associate professor of human services at the University of Massachusetts, concurred that it is difficult to close the achievement gap.
“[Lee’s] recommendations are small in comparison to the dimensions of the problem. But I don’t have much better. Unless we begin to think bigger— perhaps at the federal level—there is very little we can do,” she said.
Lee recommended the expansion of a program in which Boston suburbs voluntarily receive minority transfer students from the city.
In his report, Berger said that “colleges should reconsider the role that standardized test scores play in the admissions process.”
“It often matters what type of college you go to—it opens different doors,” he said.
—Joseph M. Tartakoff can be reached at tartakof@fas.harvard.edu.