This digest examines findings from two studies on the minority achievement gap in suburban schools. The first study, by Ronald Ferguson, analyzed data on middle and high school students from the Minority Student Achievement Network. In the second study, John Ogbu investigated how K-12 African American students' identity as an oppressed group affected academic achievement and school experiences. The digest describes the fundamentals of the two arguments and points to the key differences in the authors' perspectives on how schools should help minority students be more academically successful. The first study concluded that schools should never assume systematic group-level differences in student effort or motivation and that schools should identify and respond to particular groups' specific skill and knowledge deficit problems, provide encouragement routinely, and offer more educational resources and learning experiences. The second study found that many African American students did not consider schooling preparation for future job success. They felt disparaged and disrepresented in the community, despite appearances of racial harmony. Whites considered the achievement gap due to social class, while blacks considered it due to racism. African Americans were unengaged in attitudes and behaviors needed for school success. They recognized the need for effort to meet high academic standards but chose not to make the effort. They were often not educated in honors or advanced placement classes because they had been assigned to less academically rigorous tracks in lower grades. (SM)