Sunday, April 11, 2010

Closing the Achievement Gap
Jennifer Arcolesse

Closing the achievement gap has become a priority in the United States schools. It has been studied since it was first documented in 1966 (Coleman Report), but has really been given a priority since No Child Left Behind was enacted. The idea that all students will be proficient by the year 2014, sent the school systems into a whirlwind of school reforms that were meant to help alleviate this problem. In 1970, The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was started to track educational progress. These tests showed that black and Hispanic students were approximately 4 years behind their white counterparts by the age of 17. Over the years some gains have been made in the gap and according to John Chubb and Tom Loveless, in their book Bridging the Achievement Gap (2002), the situation may finally be changing.

America’s public schools spend billions of dollars each year trying to close the achievement gap between low-income and/or minority students, who score lower on tests, and upper-income and/or white students. Family income levels play a large part in identifying lower performing students. Research has shown that there is a direct correlation between students qualifying for free or reduced lunch and those students with low scores on standardized tests. New Jersey (and many other states) has provided school districts with standardized test scores, at various grade levels, broken down by socioeconomic and racial status. We have been able to identify the areas of most needed attention by studying these results. Programs, such as tutoring, early childhood education, and reducing class sizes, have been put into place within the school districts to combat the achievement gap. Alan B. Krueger and Diane M. Whitmore, in their chapter, “Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap?” found that black students who were enrolled in smaller class sizes in grades K-3, when taking college entrance exams, scored 8% higher than other black students, not enrolled in those small class sizes. This is a significant difference in the gap, as it shows more than a 50 percent reduction in the college entrance exams gap. Class sizes have been debated as being an effective solution to bridging the gap and these studies go a long way in proving that they can be effective when used in early childhood classes. Many countries have children attend school earlier than children do in American schools. The US might do well in spending more funds towards early childhood education.

Former US Education Secretary, Rod Paige, along with Elaine Witty, has recently written a new book on the achievement gap. He calls it “the greatest civil rights issue of our time.” They have found that African-Americans score below 75 percent of white students on most standardized tests. Young white students are two times more likely to earn a college degree and three times less likely to go to prison. Dr. Paige feels that closing the gap will require a shift in thinking, in terms of where African-American leaders commit their energy and effort. They agree that schools alone cannot close the gap. Home life and economics play a huge part in how a student progresses academically. If prominent leaders in the community concentrate in being role-models for disadvantaged and minority students and fund programs aimed at keeping these students in school and helping to show them that education is important to their future, we might be able to close the gap even more.

There is no denying that this is an important issue in this country. Many years have been spent researching this issue and we still have not found the exact way to combat it. After all the studies and research we have only been able to pinpoint some of the causes of the achievement gap, but no absolute solutions to solving this huge problem. Research will continue to show that early childhood education will improve the scores, along with school nutrition programs, and extended school days and years, but until changes are made to the students’ home and community issues, it is likely this will be an ongoing problem in our country.

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