Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Closing the Achievement Gap
Amy Hubbs

The “achievement gap” in education refers to the differences in academic performance between groups of students. According to the National Education Association, these groups can include racial and ethnic minorities, English language learners, students with disabilities, boys and girls, and students from low-income families. However, most often the term refers to the differences between the test scores of minority and/or low-income students and the test scores of their White and Asian peers. This “achievement gap” shows up not only in the test scores, but in grades, course selection, drop-out rates, and college-completion rates.

The discrepancies in achievement are often blamed on socioeconomic factors. Historically, there has been a higher percentage of Hispanic and Black children under the age of eighteen living in poverty. This usually results in fewer educational resources at home, poor nutrition, and health care, which can lead to lower academic performance. Research has also shown that drop-out rates tend to be higher for children that live in poverty. Additionally, Education Week stated that many minority students attend inner-city schools which are often under funded. Therefore, these students tend to receive poorer-quality instruction, have fewer high-caliber teachers, and have access to fewer resources. It is a fact that teachers in high-poverty schools report less favorable working conditions than their counterparts in wealthier schools. Additionally, the percentage of one-parent households is two and a half times higher among black children than white children, as stated by Allan C. Ornstein and Francis P. Hunkins. One-parent households most likely leads to a lack of parent participation in school matters.

Unfortunately, socioeconomic factors are not only to blame for the achievement gaps. Achievement gaps vary from school to school, district to district, and community to community. In today’s society, television and video games have become a popular activity for children in all communities. These activities take precedent over reading a book or even having a conversation with family members. Schools may even have inexperienced or inadequately prepared teachers. Finally, a lack of funding may play a large part in the achievement gaps--even in wealthier districts, as experienced in today’s economy.

Closing the achievement gaps has become a priority in the United States. For example, Early childhood initiatives have been developed to orient preschool students toward academic achievement and rigorous standards have been adopted to demand academic excellence from all students. Smaller class sizes and additional educational supports, such as tutoring or after-school, weekend, and summer programs, have also been tried.

Achievement gaps exist in urban, rural, and suburban schools at all economic levels. As educators, we must continue to work at closing these gaps and help our students succeed. After all, these are our nation’s children. According to Jayme Boyd-Zaharias and Helen Pata-Barn, “our nation will profit or pay for whatever these children become”.

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