Experimental Effects of "Opportunity Gap" and "Achievement Gap" Frames.

This article examines the effects of framing racial equity in education around the "achievement gap" (AG) versus the "opportunity gap" (OG), with the OG frame emphasizing structural injustices and educational inputs rather than student outcomes. In a preregistered randomized survey experiment with U.S. adults, the OG frame elicited higher priority ratings for addressing racial disparities and reduced endorsement of individual- or cultural-level explanations for Black/White achievement differences, compared to the AG frame. However, the OG frame did not significantly affect support for specific equity-focused education policies, endorsement of structural explanations, or explicit racial stereotypes. The study suggests that framing educational inequities as opportunity gaps may foster greater public concern without reinforcing deficit-based views, though further research is needed on the implications of relabeling and the diversity of OG conceptualizations.