The education gap in the United States shows no signs of narrowing despite repeated efforts at federal, state and local level to reform the country's education system.

It is safe to say that the education gap in the United States is based upon the socio-economic status of students and their cultural backgrounds. In general, whites do better in school than blacks and Hispanics. However, statistics show that even if students come from almost identical economic backgrounds, students from Asian backgrounds will do better than whites, and whites will still do better than blacks and Hispanics.

Although statistics help to identify trends, many would argue that the education gap is something that can not effectively be tackled at federal level, at least not by simple educational reform. Bridging economic and cultural divides takes a lot more than a few extra teachers in schools or a new curriculum.