American schools do a pretty good job of focusing on top achieving students and also demonstrate a lot of accountability for helping the lowest achievers. But when it comes to the vast middle range, our society is leaving a lot of “unclaimed lottery tickets” on the table argues TC alumna Danielle Moss (Ed.D. ’06). Appearing on CBS This Morning, Moss, CEO of Oliver Scholars, which helps prepare underserved black and Latinx students for college, said there’s nothing wrong with being average, but also suggested that average performance may mask far greater potential. “We all have average moments,” she said, recalling that, during her own middle school years, her mother enrolled her in summer school even though her grades were perfectly respectable. As a result, she connected more strongly with teachers and improved her performance. Moss, who has given a widely viewed TED Talk on this topic, concluded with a plea for “college access, not college only,” arguing that all adults owe young people the respect of believing they’re capable of something more, “even if we don’t always get to write the end of their story.”