The purpose of this comparative qualitative study examined the impact of the achievement gap on the lack of highly qualified teachers instructing African American students consistently from K–12th grades and its effects on high-stakes testing. In addition, the study examined teacher perceptions that could also be contributing factors of the achievement gap that exists between African American and Caucasian students. The study included two suburban charter high schools in metropolitan New Orleans, LA. School A had a predominantly African American faculty and student population, while School B had a diverse faculty and student population, but the majority of the faculty and student population was Caucasian. The educators from both schools participated on a voluntarily basis. The majority of each faculty participated in the study. The participants were educators, including teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, social workers and school administrators. The instrument that was administered is the Achievement Gap Survey (2007), designed by the School Improvement Network. The instrument consisted of questions that were rated on a Likert-scale, with a few open-ended questions. The data indicated that when African American students are given "highly qualified teachers" to catch up with their Caucasian peers their high-stakes test scores improved, as evidenced on the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program high-stakes test given in Louisiana yearly. Between 2007 and 2009, more students moved from the "unsatisfactory" and "approaching basic" categories to "basic," "mastery," and "advanced" categories in mathematics and English Language Arts.