Achievement Gap

Why is the income achievement gap increasing?

It is not clear that the growing income achievement gap is due to rising income inequality. The gap may be growing because for more affluent families, there is a growing correlation between family income and academic achievement. For example, differences in family income now corresponds to 30-60% more difference in academic achievement than it did in the 1970s (Reardon, 2011, p. 2)

The historical debt and others

Ladson-Billings (2006) believes that rather than talk about the achievement gap, we should focus on the historic debt, which refers the legacy of inequality that Black students face. For example, African-Americans were forbidden to be educated during the period of slavery. Black students in the south did not have access to universal public secondary school education until 1968 (p. 5)

Balfanz & Byrnes (2006) study in Philadelphia around achievement gap

Balfanz & Byrnes (2006) found that 3 high-poverty middle schools in Philadelphia, that adopted comprehensive reforms around instruction, teacher support and the learning environment saw gains in mathematics achievement for multiple cohort (*this could be a good conclusion that you need to address instruction, teacher support and learning environment to make gains in the achievement gap). (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2006)

Factors that may help a student make gains in math achievement

Behavior, attendance rates, effort in math class, percentage of homerooms that were high-gain - this last one (high-gain) means what percentage of students in the class had made high gains in mathematics When both the student factors (such as attendance) and teacher factors (such as strong instruction) come together, then the achievement gap begins to close. (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2006, p. 151

Trends in advanced course gap

Black high school students in the "academic track" incrased from 28% in 1972 to 41 percent in 1992 (-I assume in contrast to students on a vocational or non-college prep track). This corresponds with a narrowing of the achievement gap However, more recently, a narrowing of the advanced course gap has not correlated with a corresponding narrowing of the achievement gap, based on NAEP data. According to NAEP data, from 1990-2005, there is a steady narrowing of the Black-white course gap, with convergence in 2005. However, significant reductions in the achievement gap did not also occur during this time period. It is possible that the course titles do not accurately reflect the rigor of the course, so it is impossible to fully ascertain the significance of this data. At the time this report was written: "student grouping practices do not seem to be a promising avenue for understanding changes in the gap, because the data are unavailable to examine how practices may have changed over time. However, future investigations employing controlled experiments may yield useful results" (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 11) *Great quote for significance of my study

Coleman Report

Coleman Report (Coleman et al., 1966) was the first national study to describe the disparities in academic achievement between ethnic and racial subgroups. Since then, educational leaders and researchers have devoted their lives and careers to a better understanding of the gap, why it exits and how it might be narrowed ( (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 448)

Widening gap

After approximately 2 decades of a decline in the achievement gap, the gap began widening in the 1990s. In the 1980s, there was a movement to create more rigorous national academic standards. In the mid-1990s, reformers focused on accountability to measure student outcomes and to provide consequences for low performing schools. There is a question about whether and how either the new standards or the accountability movement led to the widening achievement gap (Harris, D. N., & Herrington, 2006)

Achievement gap trends

Racial and ethnic achievement gaps narrowed during the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, these gaps began widening. The Coleman report in the 1960s focused the country's attention on inequities in student outcomes across racial groups. Differences in student outcomes plays a role in longer-term gaps, such as in higher education, employment and earnings. Lee, J. (2002). Racial and ethnic achievement gap trends: Reversing the progress toward equity?. Educational researcher, 31(1), 3-12. (Lee, 2002)

Effects of ability grouping (Jencks, p. 330)

obviously, students in low ability groups generally learn less or cover less than students in higher ability groups. The question is whether the lower ability students would learn more in heterogeneous group settings (Jencks, p. 330) - * This is what my study is attempting to uncover Not sure whether charts on p. 331 and 332 are helpful. Almost all studies using comparison groups are in mathematics (p. 333)

reproduction of social class differences

"Because schooling is the major sorting mechanism, persons in positions of power and advantage will use schooling to preserve their positions and those of their children" (Gamoran, 2001, p. 144) "Becasue of the strong role of educational background in reproducing educational inequality, most of the racial gap in education can diminish even as occupational differences remain" (Gamoran, 2001 p. 146)

Impact of advanced classes on achievement gap

"Enriched and accelerated classes probably do increase the test score gap between high and low scorers, since they benefit students who already score high" (Jencks, p. 335)

Math achievement gap in middle school

"For many high-poverty students, the middle grades are a period in which achievement gaps in mathematics become achievement chasms" A review of student achievement data show that it is typically between fourth and eight grade when US students in general, and minority and high poverty students in particular, fall behind in terms of levels of achievement. (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2006, p. 143)

Black-white test score gap empirical trend

"The black-white test score gap is a robust empirical regularity" (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 447). Black students score approximately 1 standard deviation below white students on standardized tests, even after controlling for a wide range of covariates, such as socioeconomic status, school and teacher quality, family structure and neighborhood characteristics.

Coleman Report quote

"The social [class] composition of the student body is more highly related to achievement, independent of the student's own social background, then is any school factor (Coleman et al., 1966, p. 325) in Saporito & Sohoni, 2007, p. 1230). Recent research supports Coleman's results and continues to corroborate the notion that low-income students who attend schools with a higher percentage of more affluent students, generally perform better academically than low-income students who attend schools with higher-levels of poverty [*Is the same true within a class, not just within a school? - this info may be better placed in the tracking section of the lit review] (Saporito & Sohoni, 2007, p. 1230)

Black-White gap

"the black-white test score gap does not appear to be an inevitable fact of nature" (p. 2) Based on: - Environmental context has an impact on IQ scores - gaps in academic achievement have narrowed throughout the 20th century -When black children are raised in white homes, their test scores increase significantly "if racial equality is America's goal, reducing the black-white test score gap would probably do more to promote this goal than any other strategy that commands broad political support. Reducing the test score gap is probably both necessary and sufficient for substantially reducing racial inequality in educational attainment and earnings. Changes in education and earnings would in turn help reduce racial differences in crime, health and family structure..." (Jencks, p. 4) Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) show that the income of black male workers who test at or above the 50th percentile on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, is much closer to the earnings of the average white male worker than for those whose test scores fell below the 50th percentile. (Jencks, p. 6)

Ron Ferguson: What can schools do to reduce the test score gap? (Jencks, p. 29)

- Teachers have lower expectations for Blacks than for Whites. Lower expectations affects Blacks more than Whites. -On reason for the lower expectations, is that Black students behave worse than White students. B/c teachers often base their expectations on past performance and behavior, this perpetuates racial disparities Suggested solution: provide professional development opportunities that provide teachers with opportunities to see disadvantaged black youth performing at high levels (Jencks, p. 30) -smaller class sizes seem to have a positive impact on test performance -higher teacher quality, based on teacher's own test performance seems to have a positive impact on test performance Meredith Phillips found that a school's racial mix did not have a consistent influence on black students' math scores (p. 31) - this finding is "puzzling"

Specific reasons why the income achievement gap may be increasing

1) Growing income inequality over the last 40 years 2) Higher income families invest more time and resources in their children's academic development than low income families 3) Higher income families have access to more and higher quality socioeconomic and academic resources than lower income families, including higher quality schooling (the rich get richer, the poor get poorer) 3a) Increased segregation based on income may contribute to this trend

Why do Fryer & Levitt's results differ for students entering kindergarten

1. Better sampling, including random sampling 2. Gains made over time by cohorts of Black students (especially since this data set has younger students than other data sets that typically have older students. The younger students would be most susceptible to change 3. Identification of better covariates (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 448)

Why do Black children lose ground in their first four years of school?

1. They attend lower quality schools - data seem to show that this is not particularly important 2. Because of parental and environmental factors 3. Differences manifest themselves as the Black students are required to answer higher-order questions - at kindergarten level, students are tested on general achievement, as they get older they are tested on more specific aptitudes (p. 273) 4. We conclude that neither school quality nor tracking within schools is the primary explanation" for the gap (Fryer & Levitt, 2006, p. 273)

Questions to consider (Jencks, p. 42-43)

1. Can we explain more of the gap? - "if we did more experiments, we might eventually develop better theories." For example, we should look at the way black and white children respond to the same classroom experiences (*this is what I am trying to do) 2. Can we narrow the gap? - cut class size - hire teachers with higher test scores (while also remaining committed to a diverse teaching corps) - raising teachers' expectations for all students is challenging and unclear how this will be accomplished in a systematic way - eliminating tracking or ability grouping is politically sensitive - we should be working on getting more blacks into advanced classes, rather than eliminating this as an option for whites -we have to consider factors and policies outside of the education realm that will help reduce the achievement gap. Example: help Black parents - maybe through Head Start - improve parenting practices to focus more on cognitive development

Why the gap may have closed in the 1970s and 1980s

1. Changing family characteristics, such as education of parents, family income, marital status 2. Federal investment in early education programs and nutrition, such as Head Start and Title I 3. More students taking more rigorous courses. For example, Black high school students in the "academic track" incrased from 28% in 1972 to 41 percent in 1992 (-I assume in contrast to students on a vocational or non-college prep track) 4. Desegregation - this certainly seems to be a factor in the closing of the gap in the 1970s and 1980s, but it is unclear why this trend didn't continue as desegregation continued after the 1980s. 5. Class size (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 10)

Why the achievement gap matters

1. College admissions (Jencks, ch. 12-13) 2. Skills and gap in wages (Jencks, ch. 14) Black men earn less than White men b/c they enter the labor market with fewer basic skills and becasue they get less work experience early in life. "The black-white gap in basic premarket skills remains a prominent cause of black-white earnings inequality" (Jenks, p. 495)

Policy questions re: accountability and achievement gap

1. How did policy improve educational equity leading up to the 1990s? 2. Is there evidence that accountability policies reduce the achievement gap? (Harris, D. N., & Herrington, 2006)

Reasons for the gap

1. In the 1960s, researchers believed that Af Am students were victims of culutrally deficient lifestyles and home lives that placed them at a disadvantage 2. Coleman and his peers believed that it was important to place students in racially integrated classrooms and that a variety of factors, including the demographic makeup of a school, teacher quality and students' family backgrounds all contributed to academic achievement. This last point, of course, became the part that everyone focused on. 3. Stereotype threat (Steele) and lack of culturally relevant curriculum and culturally proficient instruction Ladson-Billings, 2006

Ways to possibly narrow the gap

1. Individualized instructional strategies. The use of technology to provide individualized instruction to all students should help narrow the achievement gap, provided different subgroups of students have equal access to technology. 2. Higher standards and accountability. Data collected from international school systems suggest that high-stakes testing is associated with higher levels of productivity, but that it may also be associated with wider inequaility. A study conducted in Scotland showed that testing and inequality were linked when access to academic programs was limited to certain students (Gamoran, 2001, p. 147). Ultimately though it is difficult to definitively prove that such a link exists. Testing may be used to generate improvements in curriculum and instruction for all students.

Bias to consider in tests

1. Labeling bias - when tests claim to measure one thing, but actually measure something else. For example, intelligence tests do not measure innate intelligence, but also measure environmental influences on a person's cognitive abilities 2. Content bias - when a test is biased in one way or another for a test taker. For example, if a French-English vocab test was given in English, then English speakers would do better. 3. Selection system bias - a selection system that emphasizes test scores is biased when performance may also depend on skills not measured by test scores. A way to solve this issue is to use performance-based selection tools in addition to or instead of test-based selection tools; however, this can be logistically difficult. (Jencks, p. 59)

Reasons why black-white test score gaps exists

1. Socioeconomic differences: Whites tend to have parents with higher levels of education and more income. These differences account for approximately 1/3 of the disparity in academic achievement outcomes. Similarly, improvement in socioeconomic conditions of blacks during the 20th century, including level of parent education and smaller family size, accounted for much of the narrowing in the achievement gap. 2. Discrepancies in the quality of schooling. There are studies that show that most of the achievement gap appears during the summer and that Black and White students generally make the same amount of progress during the school year. This evidence indicates that racial differences in achievement are primarily the result of differences outside of school and that schooling helps limit the widening of the gap. Blacks may also be exposed to lower quality teaching and learning because of placement in inferior classes. Blacks are typically over represented in non-advanced classes, which aligns with lower socioeconomic status and the lower test scores they receive when compared with their white counterparts. Black student also appear to do better when class size is smaller. 3. Genetics has been ruled out a possibility - [*I have to address this argument.] Scores on IQ tests rose during the 20th century, so IQ scores are not immutable. 2) Schooling and other interventions makes a difference for all students' scores. 3) Desipite numerous studies, no experiment has been able to identify a genetic component in racial outcomes. "In sum, the most relevant studies provide no evidence for the genetic superiority of either race, but strong evidence for a substantial environmental contribution to the IQ gap between blacks and whites (Nisbet, 1998 in Gamoran, 2001, p. 138). 4. Oppositional culture and lack of cultural competency. Ogbu's argument about Blacks acting white. This argument seems to be contradicted by more recent studies that show that Blacks have similar attitudes to schooling as their white peers 5. Lower expectations. Lower academic achievement among Black students is a self-perpectuating cycle, since Black students do worse than White students which reinforces the cycle of lower expectations for Black students (Gamoran, 2001 p. 135-140)

Why the gap may have narrowed between 1970s and 1980s

1. There is a narrowing in the education attainment gap between black and white adults (ages 26-35) in the years 1970s-1980s (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 16) - can look at graphs on p. 16 2. There is a narrowing in college graduation rate gap (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 17) - see graphs on p. 17 and 18 3. Early childhood development adn expereinces, such as birth weight, health status of child and mother, preschool attendance, mobility and a nurturing parent/child relationship (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 19) 4. Strong neighborhoods and social capital

Other factors in the Black-White test score gap

1. Unclear whether there should be different instruction for Black and White students (at the time this book was published, not enough research had been completed). Ultimately, probably doesn't matter too much. 2. Do Black students benefit from having Black teachers - again, probably not so much. Except, at the time of this book, studies had been conducted that show that black teachers of lower socioeconomic status produce more gains in mathematics. White teachers if high SES also produce more gains for black students in mathematics. (Jencks, p. 349)

Possible reasons for the middle-grades mathematics achievement gaps

1. Weak curricula 2. Lack of highly qualified math teachers 3. Unequal opportunities to be challenged in mathematics 4. Undermotivated students 5. Social and emotional issues related to adolescence Even with the recent drive for more accountability and more rigorous standards, we have not seen the middle-grades math achievement gap shrink More expensive and difficult reforms - such as effective instructoinal programs, better support for teachers and improved learning climates - have not been adopted. Also, we may not have fully identified the cause of this achievement gap, because there is a lack of in-depth longitudinal studies on this issue (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2006, p. 144)

Family structure graphs (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 23 & p. 26)

1. percentage of children under the age of 18 living with one or no parent mirrors the Black-White achievement gap (Barton & Cole, p. 23) Percentage of males who were incarcerated from 1950-1970s (p. 26)

2005 NAEP data and achievement gap

According to 2005 NAEP data, the gap b/w Black 4th grade students and White counterparts was more than 26 points for reading scaled scores. IN fourth grade mathematics, the gap was more than 20 points. In eighth grade reading, the gap was more than 23 points and in eighth-grade mathematics, more than 26 points Ladson-Billings, 2006, p. 4.

Gap trajectory in early years

According to Fryer and Levitt (2004), Black students lose approximately .20 standard deviation compared to white students from the beginning of kindergarten until the end of 1st grade. The authors believe that this gap may occur b/c Blacks attend lower-quality schools than white students as measured by variables that they deem non-traditional, such as: percentage of students on free lunch, gang incidents, amount of litter, hall pass policies and PTA funding. (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 448). "systematic differences in school quality for blacks and whites may explain the divergence in test scores ( (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 457) Other reasons the trajectory may exist: 1. Parental and environmental factors - worse home and neighborhood environments 2. standardized tests do a poor job of measuring achievement equally across racial subgroups 3. black students are not as successful generally in school for poorly understood reasons

Black-white achievement gap at kindergarten

According to Fryer and Levitt (2006), Blacks enter kindergarten already behind their White peers. However, based on their study of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), the authors believe that this gap was narrowing in the early 2000s (*note - I believe some of the research maybe in article #1 disputes this author's conclusions). By the end of the third grade, the Black-White test gap, even after controlling for covariates, "is evident in every skill tested in reading and math" (Fryer & Levitt, 2006, p. 252). When controlling for other factors, such as age of mother, number of books in home, socieconomic status and others, the data show that Blacks score only slightly worse in math when entering kindergarten, but that the gap in achievement widens as they progress through school. (Fryer & Levitt, 2006)

Reasons behind the current widening gap

According to Lee (2002), the reasons why the gap may have narrowed in the 1970s and 1980s, do not fully explain why the gap is widening now - especially since there is a trend toward greater equity in the society at large. Lee suggests that in order to better understand the gap, we are going to need to investigate a broad range of factors from multiple data points and across a wide spectrum of scholarly disciplines. For example, need to look at immigration, desegragation, funding, standards-based education reform, high stakes testing and more (Lee, 2002, p. 10)

Impact of ability grouping on test score gap (Jencks, p. 32)

According to Ron Ferguson's work, ability grouping has no significant effect on test scores of middle or low performing students. May have a weak impact on high performing students. Grouping students by ability within a heterogeneous class appears to increase math achievement for all students, but this conclusion is based on a limited empirical data (p. 32) *Important - this is a gap in the literature.

Test Score Gap Jencks, C., & Phillips, M. (Eds.). (1998). The Black-White test score gap. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Af Am students score lower than European Americans on vocab, reading and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure aptitude and intelligence. The gap appears before children start kindergarten and continues through adulthood. The typical Black student scores below 75-85% of White students (Jencks and Phillips, 1998, p.1-2)

How to close the achievement/opportunity gap

All students should have "equitable and optimal opportunities to learn mathematics, free from bias" and "all students need to the opportunity to learn challenging mathematics from a well-qualified teacher who will make connections tot he background, needs and cultures of all learners" (NCTM, 2005 in Flores, 2007, p. 37). Specifically closing the achievement gap in mathematics: 1) Focus on conceptual understanding and computational fluency 2) Have high expectations for and belief in all students 3) Require students to justify their reasoning (Flores, 207, p. 38)

Quantifying the gap

As of 2006, the size of the gap b/w Blacks and Whites was at least .80 to 1.14 standard deviations (Harris, D. N., & Herrington, 2006)

African American Adult Males

Breakdown of the African American nuclear family structure may also play a role in the achievement gap. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, also known as the Moynihan Report, which was published in 1965 as an internal government white paper controversially brought this issue to light and predicted much of the demographic trends that exist today. According to the report, the African American family was breaking down due to causes like prejudice, discrimination, the structure of the welfare system and ongoing unemployment since the Great Depression. "the single-parent rate would continue to rise unless the nation did something positive" ominously warned Moynihan (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 21). The gap in the percentage of children under the age of 18 living with one or no parent mirrors the Black-White achievement gap (see graph on p. 23). The steep rise in Black children being raised without fathers coincides with the lack of progress made in narrowing the achievement gap (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 24) There are also significant gaps in employment rates, particularly for Black males. In 2010, the employment rate for Black males with 12 years of school was 68%, compared to 87% for White males. For adult males with higher levels of education, this gap narrows to 89% and 95%, respectively. By contrast, there is a growing gap in terms of the number of adult males who have been incarcerated. 9% of 26-30 year old Black males, with 9-11 years of education, who were born b/w 1950-1954 were incarcerated. This number goes up to 19% for Black males of the same age, with the same level of education, who were born between 1960-1964 and increases again to 26% for the same demographic subgroup born between 1970-1974. For White males of the same corresponding demongraphic subgroup, the percentages are 2, 4 and 5 respectively (see graph on p. 26) (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 25)

Problems with the term achievement gap

By calling the disparities in academic performance between subgroups an achievement gap, it implies deficiencies in specific characteristics of the specific subgroup, rather than identify the root causes of the disparity. Flores (2007) argues that rather than an achievement gap, the discussion should be framed as an opportunity gap. Black students are less likely to have high quality, more experienced, teachers who challenge them to think critically about the content. Black students are also less likely to have access to computers or to use the computers in the classroom to complete higher level work. Black students are also more likely to be placed in lower level classes than their White counterparts, even when the students have the same test scores (Flores, 2007, p. 32)

Achievement gap data

By eighth grade, 91% of African American students and 87% of Latino students are deemed not proficient in mathematics, as measured by the NAEP assessment (Flores, 2007, p. 30). Conversely, only 63% of White students and 53% of Asian students are not-proficient at this grade level. In fact, Black and Latino students in the 12th grade generally perform as well as White 8th grade students on the NAEP assessment. A similar gap exists for students from poor families, an students not from poor families. (Flores, 2007, P. 30.

Period from 1970s and 1980s

By the 1970s and 1980s, the country's educational system was facing new pressures. SAT scores were declining and there was a growing consensus that academic rigor was declining in schools and that standards were being diluted in order to provide an education for all students. In 1983, A Nation At Risk report was published by the National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE, 1983), which declared that "our once unchllanged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation," was being "overtaken by competitors throughout the world," as a result of our the public school system (Harris & Herrington, 2006, p. 213). The NAR report pushed educational leaders to focus on developing a more rigorous curriculum based in academic content and on providing salary and training incentives to develop a higher quality corps of teachers (Harris & Herrington, 2006)

Income achievement gap

Definition of the income achievement gap: average achievement difference between a child from a family at the 90th percentile of the family income distribution and a child from a family at the 10th percentile. (also known as the 90/10 income achievement gap). The income achievement gap in 2001 was approximately 30 to 40% wider than the income achievement gap 25 years earlier. In addition, the income achievement gap is nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap. By contrast, fifty years ago, the inverse was true. The income achievement gap is large when students enter kindergarten and remains relatively constant throughout a child's school progression. (Reardon, 2011, p. 1)

Coleman Report and achievement gap

Ever since the Coleman Report of 1966, researchers and educational leaders have recognized that black achievement scores are lower than white students. This issue has risen to the forefront of educational policy and reform discussions starting in the late 1990s. (Clotfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, 2009)

Does the gap widen after students enter school (Jenck, p. 230)

Different schools of thought: One school: Black students enter school at a disadvantage compared to White students, b/c of environmental factors that are outside of the school's control. For that reason, the gap persists in school. Second school: Black and White students either start out the same or with Black students performing weaker than White students, but the gap persists, b/c teachers have lower expectations for Black students and/or b/c they don't know how to teach Black students. As evidence, this school of thought points to the fact that Black students are typically one year behind White students in elementary grades, but are 3-4 years behind by 12th grade (Jenck, p. 230) General consensus, based on longitudinal study data, is that the math and vocabulary gaps do widen between 1st and 12th grade, whereas the reading gap remains fairly consistent. However, for students who start off elementary school at approximately the same test score performance, they finish elementary school with similar math scores, but lower reading and vocab scores. Students who start high school with the same scores, essentially finish with the same test scores. Another way to think of this: White students who start elementary school with tests scores at the mean, are likely to complete high school with test scores at the mean. For Black students who start elementary school with test scores at the mean, they are likely to decline to .35-.40 standard deviations below the mean. This would be the equivalent of declining about 35-40 SAT points (Jencks, p. 253). This authors' research suggest that policymakers need to address factors that cause Black students to start off school performing worse than their White peers and that policymakers need to address factors that cause Black students to then perform worse and learn less over the course of their academic careers than their White peers. (p. 232) - *My research aims to do the latter of these. At best, the test score gap remains roughly constant from kindergarten through 12th grade. At worst, the gap widens (Jencks, p. 273)

Low-performing and high-performing students

During the 1970s and 1980s, experts point to the rise in achievement of low-performing minority students as the primary reason that the achievement gap was narrowed. When the achievement gap began widening in the late 1980s and 1990s, it was higher-performing White students who saw the biggest increase in academic achievement outcomes. These results correspond to a similar push for academic intensity and more rigorous learning standards that took place around the same time (Lee, 2002, p. 5) achievement gap narrowed,

Traditional explanations for closing the achievement gap seem not to be working (Jencks, p. 9-11)

Educational experts are largely at a loss in terms of how to close the achievement gap. This is b/c the gap still persists, despite the following: - number of affluent black families has grown substantially since the 1960s, but even test scores of affluent black students lag behind their white peers. "Income inequality b/w blacks and whites appears to play some role in the test score gap, but it is quite small" (Jencks, p. 9) - schools have officially desegregated and generally speaking, school districts spend the same amount per black pupil as per white pupil - studies that control for family factors, such as single parent v. two-parent homes, show that whether a mother is married has less effect on her children's test scores than whether she is poor. This debunks conservatives' arguments that black students do more poorly b/c of weak family structures Other explanations for the gap, include Ogbu's arguments that blacks equate academic success with "acting white" as a result of a history of oppression. Also Claude Steele's theory of stereotype threat

Period from WWII to Civil Rights

Following WWII, soldiers, including minority soldiers, came back home and took advantage of the GI Bill to further their educations. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Ed ended segregation in the schools and provided more access to higher quality schools for Af Am students The Civil Rights movement advocated for equal access and opportunity, which led to resources being funneled to schools, such as Title I funding and Head Start programs

Trend in test score gaps

From 1999-2008, the trend narrows, particularly in reading. (Barton & Coley, 2010).

Comparison to gender inequality gap

Gamoran (2001), attempts to draw parallels between disparities in educational and life outcomes by gender with the black-white achievement gap. He notes that women lagged behind men in most academic and career areas for the majority of the 20th century. Over the past few decades, however, that gap has come close to disappearing. For example, by 1992, women were more likely graduate high school and graduate from college than men (Gamoran, 2001, p. 140). That said, the near elimination of the male/female achievement gap does not guarantee anything about the white/black gap [for example, women have not experienced institutionalized slavery in this country]

Achievement gap graphs (Flores, 2007, p. 31)

Good graphs using NAEP data from 1978-2004 (Flores, 2007, p. 31)

How to solve the achievement gap

In order to narrow the achievement gap, we must identify ways to support the health of individual families, what Barton & Coley (2010) call our "smallest school[s]" (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 34) and look beyond the family to individual neighborhoods. "The idea of a substitute for the institution of raising children is almost unthinkable, although stronger support for the family is not" (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 35). Barton & Cole (2010) make clear that trends in the achievement gap will not be reversed by "single or simple solutions" (p. 37).

Narrowing of the gap between 1971-1996 (Jencks, p. 186)

Look at charts on p. 186 and 187. The charts show that during this time, black reading and mathematics scored improved, while white scores stayed generally the same, with only slight improvement. In the 1990s, the gap incrased again, b/c black reading scores declined and white scores rose more than black scores in mathematics. Reasons for the narrowing: - Some family changes, such as an increase in parent level of educational attainment -Impact of Head Start programming -More rigorous curriculum across schools and more Blacks enrolled in advanced courses -Desegregation of schools - both as a policy statement (black student education is valuable) and due to more equal access to higher quality education -Reduction in class size has most impact for disadvantaged student populations

Class size and test score gap graphs (Jencks, p. 363)

Look at graphs on p. 363 - avg class size and B-W test-score gap in reading and mathematics, 9 year olds. Graphs show that smaller class sizes have less gap, especially in mathematics - *this may be an important variable in my research. I should find out how big the class sizes were for each teacher

Why does the math achievement gap matter?

Low mathematical proficiency at the end of 8th grade precludes many poor and minority students from taking and succeeding in the more rigorous college-preparatory mathematics classes that correlate strongly with lifelong success. (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2006, p. 144)

Racial achievement gap over first for years of school chart (Fryer & Levitt, 2006, p. 258)

Might need some help interpreting this chart. First four columns shows differences in means. (Fryer & Levitt, 2006, p. 258) chart on p. 261 is the same, except for reading instead of math

Teacher variables in achievement gap

Minority students are more likely to be placed with teachers who are less prepared, have less experience and who have worse value-added data. Also, with teachers who have a higher turnover rate ((Harris & Herrington, 2006, p. 224). Over the past 50 years, minority students have made gains in having more equal access to higher quality teachers, but gaps still remain (Harris & Herrington, 2006, p. 224)

NAEP gap data

NAEP data is often used as a national measure of the achievement gap. From the early 1970s until just before the turn of the millennium, NAEP data show a small or moderate extent in overall student achievement in reading and mathematics. During the first half of this time period, until the mid-1980s, NAEP data show substantial improvements in Black and Hispanic achievement outcomes and a corresponding narrowing of the achievement gap. This narrowing of the achievement gap in the 1970s and 1980s was primarily thought to have occurred because of increases in Black achievement levels, while White students' achievement level remained flat (Lee, 2002, p. 3) When the gap started growing in the late 1980s and through the 1990s, White student achievement rose, while Black student achievement stayed flat. SAT score gaps showed similar trends as the NAEP data from the 1970s through the end of the 1990s. See Lee p. 4 for black-white average score gap trends in NAEP reading and mathematics

Did NCLB help to close the gap?

NCLB was passed in 2001. Early on in NCLB, there were data that showed the gap narrowing, which lent credence to NCLB's supporters, who pointed to NCLB's requirement that school districts disaggregate test scores by subgroup as a possible reason for the gap narrowing. However, 2008 NAEP data showed that gaps did not change between 2004 to 2008, although achievement scores for both Black and White subgroups improved overall during this time period. (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 14)

What causes the gap to widen after students enter school (Jencks, p. 256)

Neither traditional socioeconomic differences (such as family composition, househould size, parents' educational attainment, income) nor differences b/w schools sufficiently explain why Black students with similar scores as White students perform worse over time than equivalent White peers (Jencks, p. 256).

Cycle of persistent inequality

One issue is that the inequality is persistent. For example, the reading scores of 13-year olds in 1971, whose parents were high school dropouts were 32 points below students whose parents had completed a high school education. This test score difference remained essentially unchanged until at least 1999. Parents who have lower levels of education also parent differently, have different habits and language use, which puts their children at a distinct disadvantage in an educational system that emphasizes middle-class values and practices. (Gamoran, 2001 p. 144)

Achievement gap

Refers to the differences in scores on state or national achievement tests b/w various student demographic groups Historically, most attention around the achievement gap has focused on the differences in achievement scores b/w white students and Af-Am students on national assessments, such as the NAEP. NCLB also required schools to look at the gap at the school and district level, to compare the performances of different racial and ethnic subgroups against one another. Though there are other achievement gaps, this study will focus on the gap in mathematics achievement between white students and African American students (p. 549) (Anderson, Medrich, Fowler, 2007).

Why is black-white test score gap important

Researchers have shown that the 8th grade test score gap correlates to disparities in wage earning among adults. (Fryer & Levitt, 2004)

Teachers' perceptions and contribution to achievement gap

Ron Ferguson explores in depth how difficult it is to measure teacher bias in terms of biased perceptions of students potential abilities. Nevertheless, he concludes that "teacher perceptions, expectations, and behaviors, probably do help to sustain, and perhaps even to expand, the black-white test score gap. The magnitude of the effect is uncertain, but it may be quite substantial if effects accumulate from kindergarten through high school" (Jencks, p. 313). However, Ferguson points out that successful interventions have the potential to outweigh the negative effects of biases in expectations (Jencks, 1998, p. 313).

Schools that are closing the gap

Schools that are closing the gap, are not necessarily solving the problem. Though the performance of African American students might be improving relative to White students over time, it is possible that the gap is closing because of weaker performance by White students and not because of stronger performance by Black students Anderson, Medrich & Fowler, 2007

achievement gap and inequality

Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, declared in 2004 that "the academic achievement gap is the major driver of racial inequity in this country" (Clotfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, 2009, p. 398). Certainly the achievement gap has been the driving force behind accountability policies, such as No Child Left Behind.

Gap graphs (Jencks, p. 4)

See NAEP score gap chart on p. 4 (this is probably a good chart to include in the final dissertation) (Jencks, p. 4)

Accountability conclusions

Seems that government based accountability increases overall achievement, but it is not clear that it helps narrow the achievement gap ((Harris & Herrington, 2006)

Reasons for gap trends

Some research indicates that the gap narrowed in the 1970s and 1980s because of improvements in Black family and housing conditions. For example, during the time the gap was narrowing, the discrepancies in terms of parental level of educational attainment - in terms of earning a high school degree- was also narrowing. However, Black family conditions remained the same or improved in the 1990s, even as the gap increased, which indicates that family and socioeconomic conditions are not the exclusive causes of the achievement gap. Another factor that might contribute to patterns in the achievement gap might be "classroom opportunity-to-learn," which is defined by students' access to advanced courses. Since the 1970s, there has been an increase in the number of African American and other minority students taking advanced courses, and the discrepancy in the number of Black students enrolled in advanced courses, as compared to White students, has dropped. This factor, therefore, may have helped to narrow the gap in the 1970s and early 1980s, but doesn't explain why the gap widened after that (Lee, 2002, p. 9) More Black students have dropped out of high school since the late 1980s, whereas the drop out rate for White students - which has also been lower - has decrease dramatically (Lee, 2002, p. 10) (Lee, 2002, p. 7) Segregation within schools may also play a role. Beginning in the 1960s, schools became less segregated, and this trend was reversed in the last decade of the 20th century. By 1997, for example, 69% of Black students attended minority-majority schools (where minorities comprised the majority of the school population), as compared to 63% in 1987 (Lee, 2002, p. 10)

History of measuring the achievement gap

Starting in the 1990s, researchers began using nationally representative data to measure the extent of the achievement gap. Data used included NAEP data and Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) data. Generally speaking, the Hispanic-White gap tends to be smaller than the Black-White test score gap. (Clotfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, 2009, p. 400)

Racial bias in high school track placement

Studies from the 1980s and 1990s find no evidence of racial bias in high school track placement, when controlling for socio-economic status, test scores and past performance. I suspect, however, "that track placements are more racially imbalanced in highly integrated schools. I would also expect to find in the same schools that track placements are more racially skewed...with fewer blacks at the highest levels" (Jencks, p. 336) - This is true in Shaker Heights If track placement affects test performance, and more blacks are placed in less challenging and/or advanced classes, then it follows that tracking exacerbates the achievement gap.

Effects of family background (Jencks, p. 20)

Studies have been done to attempt to determine how and whether different family characteristics correlate with children's test scores. Hundreds of different family characteristics correlate with children's test scores. This book summarizes a series of studies conducted using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY) and measuring children's aptitude using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) - parental schooling, particularly a mother's level of educational attainment seems to correlate with test scores - and there is a gap b/w white mothers' and black mothers' level of schooling -racial disaprities in parental wealth "have almost on effect on children's test scores" once you control for income, schooling and a mother's test scores. (p. 23). This means that income inequality alone does not explain the test score gap. -When controlling for mother's family background and test scores, and ed. attainment, having a single-parent household as compared with a two-parent household has no appreciable impact on test scores -parenting strategies appear to have a statistically significant relationship with test score performance. This can have a long term effect, since it can take multiple generations for families to adopt "middle class" attitudes and parenting practices (p. 25)

Success for All program

Success for All is a program, typically implemented in high-poverty, urban and minority school districts that focuses on reading skills and that has been shown to have had an impact on improving Black student achievement According to some studies, class size might also be good to reduce achievement gap - smaller class size primarily benefits Af Am student achievement (Slavin & Madden, 2006)

Does government-based accountability help narrow or widen the achievement gap?

Supporters believe that govt based accountability (GBA) helps put pressure on low performing schools to offer a higher quality education to minority and disadvantaged students Or, it is possible that accountability possibilities help all students, but doesn't narrow the gap. Opponents argue that the highest performing students do best on GBA measures, so it doesnt not help reduce the gap, and it probably exacerbates it. Although studies have been done to attempt to measure the impact of accountability policies on student outcomes, scholars have been unable to reach consensus about whether the policies help or hurt student achievement outcomes in terms of narrowing the achievement gap ((Harris & Herrington, 2006, p. 219). promotion or graduation exams, such as the New York Regents, may help reduce the achievement gap, since they provide incentives for all students to take challenging courses (Harris & Herrington, 2006) It's possible that public reporting mechanisms, such as school report cards might have the effect of identifying weaknesses in schools which can then be addressed, but it also might have the effect of generating political and economic pressure (from the housing market) for higher performing schools to maintain higher grades. (Harris & Herrington, 2006)

Ability grouping and self esteem (Jencks, p. 341)

Teachers play a central role in the way that students perceive their ability to achieve, regardless of which track a student falls in (Jencks, p. 341) "The fundamental problem is not ability grouping or tracking"..."Instead...the problem is the expected quality of instruction for the students about whom they are most concerned" (Jencks, p. 342). Teaching must really be tailored to meet students' needs.

Historic legacy of discrimination

The Black historical and cultural legacy and inheritance is a root cause of the achievement gap and inequality. For example, a Jewish immigrant family from the 20th century, though perhaps poor and non-native English speakers would still be expected to earn enough money to send their children to higher education with the expectation of entering the professional career ranks. English who settled New England came with a culture of hard work, known as the "Protestant work ethic." Black slaves, by contrast, even once they were technically free, were barred from earning an education and from equal access to employment opportunities (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 28). In the 1960s, nearly a full century after the Civil War, Black families were excluded from affluent neighborhoods through redlining practices. This historic legacy means that Black family median income remains lower than White families and that Black families typically reside in higher poverty areas than their White counterpars (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 29) "Children in htese neighborhoods, on average, are impaired in their development, lack family capital, and face hostile neighborhood environmnets. They are also likely to attend lower-quality schools staffed by lower-quality teachers....Children growing up in these places are hit with a triple whammy in the home, neighborhood, and school" (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 33).

History of achievement gap

The Black-white achievement gap "is arguably the most important of all educational problems in the U.S." After Brown v. Board of Ed., educational leaders and social scientists believed that disparities in academic performance would be a thing of the past. The narrowing of the gap that started in the 1970s, likely occurred due to Title I, desegregation and other improvements in the basic schooling of Black students. (Slavin & Madden, 2006, p. 389).

Achievement gap beyond test scores

The achievement gap also exists in terms of dropout rates, numbers of students taking advanced placement examinations, or who are enrolled in honors and advanced classes, and who are admitted to colleges (Ladson-Billings., 2006, p. 4.)

Achievement gap factors

The achievement gap has been attributed to many factors, including: -socioeconomic and family variables, such as level of educational attainment, number of parents in the household -famliy and youth culture -student behaviors, such as effort for learning and drug/alcohol usage -instructional resources, such as teacher quality and classroom make up -schooling conditions (Lee, 2002)

Possible explanations for gap

The black-white test gap "is not simply an artifact of standardized testing" (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 448) 1. Genetic factors 2. Differences in family structures 3. socioeconomic poverty 4. Differences in school quality 5. Cultural biases in testing 6. Differences in culture (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 447)

Chart of school policy reforms and achievement gap trends (Harris & Herrington, 2006, p. 215, p. 228)

The chart does a good job of showing how the gap has changed in conjunction with policy trends. (Harris & Herrington, 2006, p. 215) Also, see chart on p. 228, which shows something similar by decade.

Black-white score gap trends graph (Lee, 2002, p. 6 & p. 7, p. 8)

The first graph (Lee, 2002, p. 6) shows gap trends in SAT data in math and verbal (both Black/White and Hispanic/White gaps) The second graph shows how students at different percentile subgroupings performed over time (Lee, 2002, p. 7) - this graph might help explain why the gap narrowed from the 1970s-1980s The third graph (p. 8) includes a graph that shows the gap between students taking advanced courses between 1978-1998 - definitely use this (possibly refer to this in Chapter 1, under definitions section for advanced course gap)

Achievement gap graphs (Clotfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, 2009, p. 402 and p. 406)

The graphs are good, b/c they show the achievement gap in raw data b/w Black students and White students (and other racial groups). The gap aligns with existing literature of a little less than 1 standard deviation gap b/w Black and White performance The adjusted graph shows that a gap still exists that cannot be explained by the other variables (gender, age in the spring of third grade, parental education, eligibility for free or reduced lunch and type of district or region of residency), even when controlling for other variables. (Clotfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, 2009, p. 407)

Solution to achievement gap/education debt

The only thing that we might be able to do is "declare bankruptcy" and use that proces sto "reoganize and design more efficient schooling options" We have to "begin from the ground up to build the kind of education system that would aggressively address the debt" Ladson-Billings, G., 2006, p. 10

Problem with intelligence testing

The problem with intelligence tests is that many people assume that they measure innate intelligence, or ability, when in fact they measure developed abilities (Jencks, p. 62)

Impact of Coleman Report

The report showed that the socioeconomic composition of a school's student body has a significant impact on the educational achievement outcomes of individual students, regardless of their own, individual, family backgrounds. This report has led many educational policymakers and researchers to call for increasing integration of poor and non-poor students. Though Coleman's report focused specifically on socioeconomic status, scholars agree that there may be a racial component to the maintaining schools that are not deeply integrated. (Saporito & Sohoni, 2007, p. 1229)

Do ability grouping and tracking widen the B-W test score gap? (Jencks, p. 325)

The vast majority of elementary schools use ability grouping for reading. Most US high schools organize instruction around curricular tracks. 1. Are Blacks students distributed among ability groups and course tracks in equal proportion to their representation in schools? No. 2. Is there evidence that tracking and ability grouping is racially biased? According to Ferguson, there are no consistent racial biases when controlling for socio-economic status and past performance (p. 326) 3. Does ability grouping and tracking exacerbate the B-W test score gap? Unclear. According to Ferguson, without major changes in teacher training, there is little reason to believe that outcomes will change drastically. Also, "children can succeed or fail under a variety of grouping arrangements" (Jencks, p. 327). ** This is a really good quote.

Opportunity gap graphs (Flores, 2007, p. 33-34, 36)

These charts show how different access to opportunities may correlate with lower performance (Flores, 2007, p. 33-34) [*as part of my conclusion - the research indicates that it is important to provide all students with access to a high quality education]

Graphs of students in advanced math courses (Flores, 2007, p. 39)

These graphs show how students performed based on the math course taken and also show the demographic composition of advanced math course completion

Fryer & Levitt early childhood study

They use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K) n=20,000+ students entering kindergarten in fall of 1998 Observe racial differences in raw data test scores for students entering kindergarten. However, the gap is eliminated when controlling for characteristics such as age, weight, SES, mother's age and number of children's books in the home. These results are different than previous studies However, similar to previous studies, the paths diverge as students progress through school (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 447)

Early years data table (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 461)

This data shows evidence of specific skills that there are black-white gaps in b/w Kindergarten and 1st grade (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 461

Early years data table (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 450 &451)

This data shows evidence of the black-white test score gap and other related variables in Kindergaten through first grade (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 447)

Early years data table (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 450 &451)

This data shows evidence of the black-white test score gap and other related variables in Kindergaten through first grade (Fryer & Levitt, 2004, p. 450) p. 451 shows test gap in fall of kindergarten in relation to white students

Trend in White-Black Test Score Gaps graphs (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 5-6)

This is a great series of graphs that show trends in the score gap. The gap stabilized or narrowed from 1999-2008 across almost all areas. (Barton & Coley, 2010, p. 5-6)

Clotfelter et al., study in NC

This study, published in 2009, looked at five consecutive cohorts of public school students in North Carolina as they progressed from third grade to eighth grade. Study confirmed that test score gaps b/w Black and White students remain sizeable, even when controlling for covariates. However, the study did not find that the gap widened as students went through school (p. 412) The study also controlled for variables by using a regression analysis that could overlap with race to determine if a racial gap still existed. These variables include: gender, age in the spring of third grade, parental education, eligibility for free or reduced lunch and type of district or region of residency (p. 405) (Clotfelter, Ladd, Vigdor, 2009)

History of achievement gap measuring

Until the 1960s, studies of the test-score gap between black and white students largely dependent on samples of convenience. This changed in 1965, with the Equality of Educational Opportunity (EEO:65) survey. The survey was the first large scale statistical study that measured student performance across the nation and also include a measure of race (Jencks, 149). Other similarly large data surveys, include the National Longitudianl Study of the High School CLass of 1972 (NLS: 72), the High School and Beyond Survey of 10th adn 12th grade students conducted in 1980 and 1982, the National Longitudianl Surveys of Youth of 1980, the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was established in 1969 to monitor and measure the academic achievement of 9, 13 and 17 year olds. A survey of the data show that the test score gap had decreased from the 1970s to the late 1980s (Jencks, p. 167) The gap was at its narrowest in 1988 when teh median black student scored b/w the 26th and 28th percentile of the white distribution, approximately 15 percentile points higher than in 1971.

Impact of parents on gap (Jencks, p. 137)

When black and white parents have attended the same schoools and have the same amount of schooling and have the same skills, then the gap is reduced. ALso, it takes at least two generations for changes in parental socioeconomic status to have a full impact on parenting practices (Jencks, p. 137). Black-white differences in family income do not appear to have a major statistically significant impact on the Black-white test score gap, when controlling for other variables (such as level of ed attainment, etc.).

Specific black-white achievement gap trends

When the gap narrowed, in the 1970s-1980s, lower performing Black students made greater gains than lower performing White students. When the gap started widening, higher performing whites out-gained higher performing Black students (Lee, 2002, p. 5) - see graph on Lee, 2002, p. 7

Why the achievement gap matters (2)

income and class status has become "increasingly determined by educational success." The gap in achievement is no longer a reflection of socioeconomic inequality, but a cause of socioeconomic inequality Harris, D. N., & Herrington, 2006, p. 210