Closing the achievement gap

Shannara J. Williams

Closing the achievement gap

The U.S. Department of Education describes the achievement gap as the difference in academic performance between different ethnic groups. In California, the gap is defined as the disparity between white students and other ethnic groups and between English learners and native English speakers, socioeconomically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged, and students with disabilities as compared to students without disabilities (closing the achievement gap, achieving success for all … http://www.closingtheachievementgap.org/cs/ctag/print/htdocs/about.htm). There was a superintendent in California that is implementing a plan for closing the achievement gap. He plans to do this by charging his California P-16 Council to provide recommendations on what the State can do differently to assist local education agencies.

There has been a new urgency at the federal level. Recent changes in Federal education policy have put the spotlight on the achievement gap. The NCLB requires states to set the same performance targets for children From economically disadvantaged families, With disabilities, With limited English proficiency, and From all major ethnic and racial groups http://www.subnet.nga.org/educlear/achievement/. Schools are currently being considered successful only if they can close the achievement gap. There are a lot of schools that are struggling to meet the goals expected of them. I believe that overall many schools are closing the gap but it is not something that is going to happen over night. It will take time but from a good amount of the research I reviewed the gaps are closing slowly and steadily.

There are many ways that the achievement gap can be closed. One site showed a comparison of academic performance among African American, Hispanic, and white students on standardized assessments. Data form the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that reading scores for 17 year olds narrowed dramatically for both African American and Hispanic students from 1975-1988. From 1990-1999, however, these gaps either remained constant or grew slightly in both reading and mathematics http://www.subnet.nga.org/educlear/achievement/. Based from that data, the Education Trust concluded that minority students whom make 12^th grade, which many don’t, tend to be about four years behind other young people. It was also stated that African American and Latino 17 year old students tend to have similar academic abilities as a 13 year old white student.

Another way to measure the achievement gap is to compare the highest level of educational attainment for various groups. Hispanic and African-American high school students are more likely to drop out of high school in every state. Of these high school graduates, college matriculation rates for African-American and Hispanic high-school students remain below those of white high-school graduates – although they have risen in recent years. Furthermore, of those students enrolling in college, Hispanic and black young adults are only half as likely to earn a college degree as white students http://www.subnet.nga.org/educlear/achievement/.

Overall, it is important for all academic leaders to know how to work effectively with all students regardless of their home life style or ethnicity. We need to develop ways to close the gap of students with disabilities, different social economic statuses, and language barriers. This is going to take great time but I do believe it can be accomplished especially since there have been great breakthroughs with the closing of the racial disparity achievement gap.