The GAP. It's referred to in almost every report on public schools. So, what is it? It's not about fashion or clothing. It is the Achievement Gap, the divide between the achievement levels of white and Asian students on the one hand and Latino and African-American students on the other.

Consistently, over time, students scoring lowest in reading and math are Latino and African-American students. Some people may try to make that fact into a causal relationship where none exists. Latino, African-American and poor children do not do poorly in school because they are minorities or poor. They do poorly in school because we do not teach them well. Closing that achievement gap by improving instruction and learning is what it's all about.

Schools cannot change the conditions from which students come, like income levels, home language or a lack of parent involvement. Schools can only control and change what happens in the classroom; what is taught and how it is taught.

It won't be easy to close the achievement gap. Records show that the gap has existed for more than 50 years. During that time, federal and state education programs have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on attempts to close that gap. These have ranged from special funding for disadvantaged or poor students to bilingual education, to preschool programs to library programs. The gap has not closed.

No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration's attempt to close the gap, has seen an increase in achievement in reading and math for both higher and lower performing students. This is good news and a tribute to the principals and teachers who have worked so hard.

And yet the achievement gap persists. That's the bad news.

This achievement gap must be closed, and can be, by methodically narrowing the gap every school year. That is a goal that has been set by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and administrators, teachers and school boards across the state.

For far too long, lower achieving students have been neglected even as programs were developed especially for them. Often, these programs did not hold lower achievers to the same high standards as other students. Many special programs deviated from the regular curriculum and often required using instructional materials that were different from the textbooks used for higher achievers.

It has become clear that expecting less from poor performing students, based on the assumption that higher standards are too difficult for them, has maintained and even widened the achievement gap. It is equally clear that the gap can only be closed by holding all students to the same high standards and providing whatever support it takes to help every student succeed.

Important to closing the gap, however, is figuring out what it will take to improve student achievement enough to close the gap. One year of growth for every year of instruction will never let lower achievers catch up. Here are some suggestions:

Any solution based on more money will fail. State funding for schools goes up and down year after year.

My suggestion: Take the roughly $7,000 per year per student, and reallocate the majority of it directly to the location most likely to make a difference to student achievement -- the school. This would allow principals and teachers to make decisions about allocations of staff, class size and pay for additional instructional time for students who need it. It would also give schools the ability to buy services from the district or from the private sector. Then hold principals and teachers accountable for results.

Any solution based on reliance on the state Legislature will fail. This year, for example, the leadership of both chambers spent a lot of time on an initiative to reduce the requirements of term limits so they could get re-elected more easily but failed to pass a crucial bit of legislation to fund a statewide database system for tracking the performance of every public school student.

My suggestion: Require principals and teachers to use the student data they currently receive to adjust instruction for each child daily. Train and retrain principals and teachers to effectively use these data to improve instruction and student achievement for all students, especially underachievers. Then hold principals and teachers accountable for results.

Any solution based on the current allocation of instructional time will fail. Some students will need more instructional time during the day, week, month or year in order to catch up with the top 50 percent of the students in their schools.

My suggestion: Allow principals and teachers the flexibility to use money and time to extend learning time for those students who need it. Require students to attend until they have met grade level standards. Then hold principals and teachers accountable for results.

Any solution based on doing the same old thing over and over again until it works will fail.

My suggestion: Principals and teachers should seek out schools that have developed solutions. They are all around the state. Some are regular public schools. Some are charter public schools. There, teachers and principals are narrowing the gap. Don't wait for someone to publish a list. Look up the data and find them. Schools with persistent gap problems should use what they learn from successful schools to improve instruction and narrow the gap.

The law requires that every public school student receive a "free and appropriate" education. We know what free means. What does appropriate mean?

My suggestion: Appropriate means whatever it takes for each child to be successful in meeting the same high expectations for all students. That could close the gap.

Ken Noonan is superintendent emeritus of the Oceanside Unified School District and president of the State Board of Education. He lives in Oceanside.