Gap-Talk: How the “Achievement Gap” Reproduces Settler Colonial Constructions of Race within the Ontario Public School System

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how the discourse of “achievement gaps” operates within settler colonialism. This study approached critical policy analysis (CPA) through a settler colonial theoretical lens and Critical Race Theory. Together, these theoretical frameworks provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which racism and settler colonialism operate within schools and education institutions. By using critical discourse analysis (CDA), I looked at documents from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) addressing the achievement and opportunity gaps. This analysis shows how these documents construct the notion of achievement as racialized in a way that upholds white settler property rights. The discourse of achievement gaps functions as a settler technology to include/exclude individuals simultaneously into the settler sector of the population. These findings have significant implications for those in educational policy research and practice interested in examining and addressing issues of power and inequality.