Dropout Factories and the Achievement Gap

So 1 and 10 out of every high schools in the country are dropout factories, meaning that at least 60 percent of students who enter high school as a freshmen drops out before they can graduate. I supposed for many, this would seem as a major shock. But sadly, for individuals who study education policy, it isn't that surprising.

The article I have linked to doesn't just get into dropout rates, but briefly delves into multiple problems that pretty much indicate the poor quality of public education in the United States today. These include poor test scores for minorities, the traditional lack of value for education in the South, the troubling correlation between poverty and academic failure, the poor quality of GED programs, and so on. All of these, of course, are just pieces of what makes up the great American education problem of our time, the achievement gap.

I have been studying education for a year and a half now, and trying to learn as much about the achievement gap as possible. I have also been looking at several different articles, blogs, etc. that try to come up with policies to solve it. So far, I am no closer to coming up with an answer. I am not sure most education policy experts are either. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. What the hell do we do about this?