Using the readings from Session 7, define the achievement gap and write a 1-2 page brief on the reasons why the achievement gap exists and several measures that can be used to try to ameliorate it. Respond to one other posting. Due by Sunday, March 16th.
32 comments:
Lynaya Hernandez- Initial Response
The achievement gap is a consistent and significant chasm in the educational achievement between groups of a higher socioeconomic class, and groups of a lower socioeconomic class. For example, staggering differences have existed, and continue to exist, between the achievements of Asian and White students as opposed to Black, Latino, and other minority students. The achievement gap is blaringly obvious in standardized test scores, grade-point averages, college enrollment, and dropout rates. Many exceptions to the achievement gap exist, but the vast majority of America’s students fall into their perspective pre-determined roles within the achievement gap spectrum. The causes of, and remedies for, the achievement gap have been at the heart of debate and education reform for many years. However, despite countless attempts to “close” the achievement gap, it still exists and shows few signs of improvement to date.
Williams writes that, “The most widely-accepted explanations for the achievement gap include assumptions about such issues as poverty; academic coursework and instruction; peer pressure; student attendance and mobility rates; disparities in resources; parenting; preschool; teacher quality and attitudes; stereotype threat; teacher expectations; television; test bias; and genetics (Williams, 2003, p.3).” Williams criticizes these explanations using the argument that certain factors that contribute to the achievement gap are true for some groups and not for others. Williams discounts these assumptions because they lead to reforms that attempt to create a “band-aid” for all low-performing groups despite differing cultures, values, and other issues indicative to specific groups.
Many reform strategies like standards-based education reform and increased accountability for schools and districts only fuel the problem. These reform initiatives assume too much and change too little. Williams calls these reforms superficial and fragmented, lacking in theoretical coherence, and overall inadequate (Williams, 2003, p. 4). Williams also states that “many reform approaches assume the problem is located in and limited to a lack in the culture, in abilities, in motivation, or in coping skills of children and their families (Williams, 2003, p. 5).”
Williams proposes that closing the achievement gap must begin with a shift in the attitudes of educators. Williams writes that educators should “begin with a belief in the “transformative role of education, the value of accessing diversity, a faith in the potential success of every student, a commitment to collaborative and political linkages with parents and communities, then mustering the inventiveness to create new ways of organizing on behalf of children would be the logical, moral, and just thing to do (Williams, 2003, p. 5).”
Williams suggests certain major themes needed in reforms aimed at closing the achievement gap. They involve a shift from reforms aimed at simply focusing change on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Reforms should also challenge the current “at risk” characterization of urban students. Just because some cultures and values may differ from the typical “American ideals” should not mean that they should be discounted or viewed as “problems in need of fixing.” Williams also references Dewey’s valid point of taking each student’s local communities and social surroundings into account when creating and structuring learning experiences. Dewey’s philosophy reiterates the idea that a connection between knowledge and experience is still the most meaningful way to educate students from any socioeconomic class.
Caroline Onwuemeli
EDUE 720
Online Session 7
The idea of closing the achievement gap has become an educational phenomenon that has placed many pressures on the educational system. In terms of the achievement gap it primarily relates to schools located in low income areas that are failing mainly in the subjects of literacy and mathematics. Author Gloria Ladson-Billings (2006) the author of From the Achievement Gap to the Educational Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S Schools, expresses several definitions to exemplify an explanation of the achievement gap and to whom and why it exist in the first place.
Through Gloria’s research in determining a sound definition of the achievement gap, she herself found different but correlating definitions to why the gap or disadvantage exists. However, before I tap into her specifics of this quite popular phrase in education, I for one believe that the achievement gap exist among all racial backgrounds, economic and social levels and even more importantly among different academic abilities. The professional and educational stance is to help those students that lack the academic and language proficiencies despite the financial backing that a school may or may not have, compared to other students on a regional and national level to have an opportunity to acquire the same challenging education as other students of the same age group among the nation. Ladson-Billings (2006) indicates, “that the achievement gap according to the National Governors’ Association is ‘a matter of race and class. Across the U.S., a gap in academic achievement persists between minority and disadvantaged students and their white counterparts’.” (p. 3).
The reality is, that even though, this is what is happening in the classroom, some students are so far behind academically, that attempting to close the achievement gap has become a losing battle, for various reasons. These reasons are based on inadequate learning facilities, not enough teaching materials such as books, pencils, and technology advancements, and unqualified teachers all of which is based on funding. It also depends on the length in which a students’ family has resided in the United States, i.e. those students that have English as a second language. This has impacted our educational system tremendously that this in itself has become a phenomenon that will not dissipate anytime soon. These types of students are struggling with not only learning English but then faced to pass state exams that require them to read and write in English. Low income areas where schools are located has also aided in promoting the academic achievement gap, it is a reality that these areas lack the educational and economic support to ensure communities competitiveness in education compared to that of suburban areas.
I’m sure that there are many more reasons to why this gap is extremely prevalent in the U.S; however there are ways in which we can attempt to overcome these difficulties. One is by electing government officials that have a plan to change the educational system for the betterment of these low income areas. Second, administrators, teachers, students, and parents discussing the negative issues in the educational system and then creating plans of actions to raise money, writing letters to companies to donate school materials, and motivating the community to be more involved in the school by creating programs to help the community further their education and other programs that can enable parents to be more supportive for those students that have English as a second language. Then finally if the teachers pay could be increased then maybe schools would have a more competitive edge in hopes of obtaining more qualified and professional teachers to instruct in the classroom.
Reference:
Ladson-Billings, G. From the Achievement Gap to the Educational Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S Schools. Educational Researcher, (p.3).
Lynaya Hernandez- Response to Caroline Onwuemeli
It is easy for these scholarly articles to simply list ways that we can close the achievement gap, but how realistic are the changes they suggest? You wrote, “...some students are so far behind academically, that attempting to close the achievement gap has become a losing battle...” Sometimes, I get lost in the hopelessness of it all.
For example, some General Education students in my ninth-grade inclusion class struggle with their basic times tables (one times two...). I am supposed to be teaching them how to evaluate formulas, but they can’t even solve the simple operations with these more complex formulas. Moreover, they have difficulty entering these basic operations into their calculators correctly.
I am working to close a gap so wide, that it would probably take at least two years of intensive remediation to get even my General Education students to a point where they could function productively within a high school math class. It’s difficult not to sound pessimistic or void of hope when discussing the realities of the achievement gap. There is such a gigantic basic knowledge and understanding gap with even my General Education students, that I’m not sure electing an education-friendly politician or raising more funds could even make a dent in such a wide gap.
All these scholarly solutions are well and good, but are their solutions really going fix such a profound problem that is so deeply rooted in our societal norms? It’s difficult not to sound pessimistic or void of hope when discussing the realities of the achievement gap, but how can one have hope when the odds are stacked so high against our students?
I guess the least we can personally do is expect excellence and significant progress from our students, and base our sense of success on individual student progress and not the state of the achievement gap as a whole.
The achievement gap, as defined by Ladson-Billing, is a gap in academic achievement that is between minority and disadvantaged students and white students(2006). Ladson-Billing compares the gap in terms to economics; dept and deficit. Deficit is a short term short fall and dept is the accumulation of all the deficits. The achievement gap is more short term, however it has accumulated to an “Educational dept” (2006). The achievement gap can change year to year while people try to do this and that, but the dept always remains. This dept is caused by “historical, economic, socio-political, and moral decisions and policies that characterize our society” (Lanson-Billings, 2006, p.5).
Efforts that are put into education in my school might close this gap for a year or even more. However, big picture time, the gap will always be there. We had a gap when education first started and the dept has grown since then. There were inequities in education from the start; from race, class to sex. Some have closed, but not so much with race.
Another reason for this dept is the amounts of money spent on white and minority students. Almost needless to say, whites receive more.
Minorities are underrepresented in the political process so they have a hard time advocating for the education of their youth.
I believe that there are two things that could be down to get the achievement gap/ educational dept down. First, equal funding and all students have equal access to all schools. Second, and this might not happen, Whites needs to give up some power and wealth and share it with the rest of the country. Corporations also need to look at their effect on the country and make decisions not based solely on profits but on the good of society.
Reference
Landon-Billings. (2006). In The Achievement Gap to the Educational Dept.
Response to lynaya
I largely agree with you Lynaya. I have been hearing and an educational gap since the 80’s. With all the brain power that has been applied to the problem you would figure the problem would be fixed by now.
A major part of the problem is like you said; the students that we are trying to teach are so far off being on par with other richer whiter schools. You did not say it in your response but I also feel that the students themselves do not care about their education. We as educators cannot care enough for them to get them to change. Unfortunately, trying to close this gap seems to fall totally on the teachers
The achievement gap is the widening disparity of academic performance
(including test scores) between minority students and white students
that take into consideration race, and other socio-economics factors.
There are a multiplicity of reasons that contribute to the achievement
gap. Historically race, socio-economics, and other demographics have
been indicators that point to the disparities in test scores between
different ethnic groups. "The presense of significant differences in
measures of performance among African American students who generally
fall on the lower end of the achievement spectrum, with larger numbers
of White and Asian students more likely to be found at the higher end
has been accepted as normal and appropriate" (Noguera and Akom, 2007).
> Other school based variables suggest that segregation between students
also affect academic achievement of minority students. "John Ogbu
writes of a "cultural ecological" model in which minority students
perceive ongoing patterns of discrimination and prejudice when
comparing their experiences of those of their majority peers, which
then inhibits academic achievement (Challenging Assumptions About the
Achievement Gap. (Ramirez, A & Carpenter, D (2005). The race factor is
especially pronounced when we look at the data from standardized tests
(which many in the educational community identify as bias) the minority
children are consistently lagging behind in their academic performance.
> The Education Trust has shown , through its research on science and
math education, that even students of color who meet the criteria for
access to advanced courses are more likely to be restricted based on
the recommendation of a counselor or teacher. They are also more
likely te be placed in remedial and special education classes, and to
be subject to varying forms of school discipline.
(www.inmotionmagazine.com) This research indicates that there is a
direct correlation between family background and the students ability
to achieve. If this is the case than the Education Trust is on point
because many of the student per capita funding for education does not
always trickle down to urban areas whose students never see enough
funding. Coleman says that "the resources devoted by the family to the
child's education interact with the resources provided by the school -
and there is greater variation in the former resources than in the
latter" (Families and Schools, Educational Researcher; 1987.
> In order to ameliorate the achievement gap, Williams suggests that
states, districts, and schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged
and culturally diverse students must implement the reforms referred to
by President Bush and delineated in the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 (NCLB Act) -In Closing the achievement gap: A vision for changing
beliefs, 2003) This would be nice but would take a lot more time and
would not really benefit the students matriculating through school now.
I personally am a proponent for home schooling. I think education is
too important to leave up to the powers that be.
> However, I also realize that home-schooling is not a good option for
everybody. In that case I am for the total privatization of the
educational system, where state. local, federal, corporations,
non-profit organizations, community and civic organizations as well as
parents and guardians design a new prototype for education that would
benefit all of our students.
> References
> Coleman, J. (1987). Families and schools. Educational Researcher,
Aug-Sep p. 32-40
> Ramires, A. & Carpenter, D. (2005). Challenging assumptions about the
achievement gapl p 599-603
> Williams, B. (2003) What else do we need to know and do? In Closing
the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs p. 13-24
The achievement gap is the “disparities in standardized test scores between Black and White, Latina/o and White, and recent immigrant and White students” (Ladson-Billings, 2006, p. 3). The reasons why this gap exists are various, most point to the socioeconomic disparities that exist between the same groups. Wealthy students perform better on standardized tests than do poor, or disadvantaged, students. This achievement gap can be measured in other ways as well: reading and math scores, numbers of students who enroll in honors classes, dropout and graduation rates, and the percentage of students who attend and complete higher education. The numbers are far in the favor of White students.
This evidence of the achievement gap’s existence has led to numerous reform efforts focused demographically. In our city’s schools, for example, there are intensified math and reading programs. In an effort to provide highly motivated and committed teachers, programs like Teach for America and the New York City Teaching Fellows fill the schools with young teachers. There is extensive testing to measure the students’ progress towards achievement. All of these measures have been put in place in the hopes that the achievement gap will be filled, that miraculously a bridge will appear and all of the under-achieving students will race across it to academic success. But I find, with my personal experience in the school system, that this is a pipe dream which is intentionally unattainable.
Ladson-Billings (2006) likens the achievement gap to national debt. Both are momentous challenges that are not easily overcome without significant investment. In order to sizably reduce the achievement gap, there has to be support to close the educational deficit (2006, p. 5). Schools face a multi-faceted challenge as they seek to educate students. Historically this gap we face has deep trenches, with education having been denied to certain minorities. Socially and politically, minorities have been excluded from civic processes (2006, p. 7). Economically, schools are not equally funded. In the face of these challenges, the achievement gap can never decrease. In order for us to close it, we must fund it. This means funding the schools so that the educational opportunity is equalized, regardless of the socioeconomic status of the school community. It means funding from a federal level so that schools in the Bronx mirror schools in White Plains. The educational offerings need to be equitable. When that happens, then the achievement gap can begin to close.
References:
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
Initial Response of Kimberly P. Walters:
While many people speak of the “achievement gap” that exists within the educational system in the United States, primarily viewed through the lens of black and white students, or as Ladson-Billings (2006) so succinctly noted, “…the achievement gap…is ‘a matter of race and class...a gap in academic achievement persists between minority and disadvantaged students and their white counterparts’.” (p. 3), the issue of the ways in which this gap came to be perceived and the ways in which it is approached must be addressed. First, and foremost, this issue of why black students are consistently evaluated as testing, or achieving behind their white counterparts must be examined from a historical lens, if a true understanding of the problem, be it perceived or real can be tackled. To look at the issue in any other context ignores the critical factors that played a role in shaping this “gap,” and denies us the opportunity for a healthy dialogue that might serve to address this matter.
From a strictly historical perspective, for a significant period of time, it was a crime for people of African descent to be educated in America. This basic fact has provided people of European descent a distinct advantage. While education was initially for the wealthy and propertied whites, any person of European descent who possessed the good fortune and wherewithal to prosper economically found that access to the world of education was within their grasp. As the value of an educated populace began to enter the collective mindset of America, education became a resource that was made available to white citizens regardless of their wealth. The same consideration was not granted to those of African descent. As a result, when their white peers (for lack of a better word) were being exposed to concepts of art and the sciences, blacks were excluded from the process of learning. This basic fact meant that by the time black people were allowed access to education (separate from their white counterparts and often in inferior facilities), black children lagged behind their “peers” in all of the essentials of education. Additionally, a serious and long-standing debate raged between whether people of African descent, most newly freed from slavery, should focus on education or manual labor as a means of individual and collective upliftment.
This debate over how the black community could best be served was personified in the conflict that exited between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Dubois, with the former believing that education should take a backseat to work and the latter feeling that those blacks who were most capable of excelling should be granted access to education, both higher and otherwise. This debate was carried out in full force until Washington’s death in 1915.
As the value of education took root in the black community, issues of “separate but equal” which became the law of the land with Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Jim Crow laws all but ensured that although blacks would be granted access to the basics of education, they would receive little more in the way of instruction and opportunity. By the time the right fore a shared and “equal” education was made law via Brown v. Board of Education (1954), and black students were thrust into the world of direct academic with their white counterparts, they were already at a distinct disadvantage. When this disadvantage was coupled with instructors and curricula that were often openly hostile to black students, and educational funding plans which were deliberately designed to maintain the learning and economic status quo, black students were faced with much to overcome.
So, for me, the question of the achievement gap becomes akin to asking why the person on foot who started their journey at Union Square is behind, and never seems to be able to catch up with the person driving a car who started at 125th Street. Given this historical context, the findings of Williams in Closing the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs (2003), “…Of every 100 black students, 87 will graduate from high school, 54 will complete some college and 16 will obtain at least a bachelor’s degree…. Of every 100 white students, 91 will graduate from high school, 62 will complete some college and 30 will obtain at least a bachelor’s degree….” (p.1), is promising rather than disheartening.
Given this perspective, the real focus of closing or correcting the “achievement gap” should really center on issues of economic and instructional parity in the classrooms. For instance, do schools that service economically disadvantaged/minority students have access to the tools that are needed to prepare them for what Williams describes as the “information-based global market?” Are these schools staffed with experienced educators and administrators that possess the skills required to help prepare students of color (and the poor) for what awaits them when they leave the confines of the schoolhouse walls? Is attention being paid to what Rameriz and Carpenter adroitly referenced in their review of the words of John Ogbu, who noted that, “minority students perceive ongoing patterns of discrimination and prejudice when comparing their experiences with…peers…” (p. 2) in Challenging assumptions about the achievement gap (2005) Specifically, with the move to standardized testing, I wonder if we are taking a giant step back from a historical perspective and fostering the belief that the proverbial deck to success is stacked against them, which held by many children of color? When testing becomes the end-all and be-all of educational and economic advancement (see the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), a significant portion of the population who fail to test well regardless of their knowledge are bound to be left behind. Moreover, when these tests are structured in a way that fails to represent the realities of the students of color being tested, aren’t we in essence telling them that they are somehow deficient? Such changes in educational policy, while ostensibly enacted to benefit the children at the lower end of the educational ladder may in fact create a belief that failure is inevitable in the very children who are supposed to be helped by its enactment.
References:
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
Williams, B. (2003) What else do we need to know and do? In Closing the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs (pp. 13-24). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Ramirez, A. & Carpenter, D. (2005). Challenging assumptions about the achievement gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8) (pp. 599-603)
Response to Paula Benjamin:
I am in complete agreement that the human factors such as perceptions, be they prejudiced or paternalistic on the part of those who interact with our students must be taken into consideration. I also agree that issues of funding and the ways in which these funds are spent on and for the students must be taken into consideration. However, given the concept of the “achievement gap,” the idea that home schooling can really solve the problem leaves me feeling troubled. If all things were equal, I would support this initiative wholeheartedly. Sadly, all things are not equal. Case and point, I just completed a unit on Emmett Till in my 9th Grade class. One of the homework assignments I gave my students was to find out how segregation, Jim Crow Laws, and Medgar Evers impacted the Civil Rights Movement. Several of my lower-functioning students, who receive assistance in completing their homework from a family member returned with their assignments not done because their parent/guardian was unable to assist them. In situations such as this, before I could support home schooling, a mechanism that trains parents on the skills and information their children will need to function in today’s world must be provided. Absent such parental instruction, we could be setting our children up for disaster.
Response to Lynaya:
I definitely hear what you are saying and I do sympathize with your situation but not all teachers are doing everything that is necessary to make the best out of their circumstance. There are many teachers that I have seen curse at the students, talk down to their students, and basically do anything but motivate them. Some come into the school drunk, high, and not prepared to instruct.
I truly believe that change starts with those persons that have immediate and direct influence on our children. Regardless if your students can barely read, or computate math problems, or even sequence events in a text, it is the responsibility of the teacher and the parents to build an internal motivation for the students to not give up even though they are so far behind academically and socially. Students are intelligent enough to identify when a teacher or a parent is defeated before the battle has even really begun, so my support to you is not to be discouraged but use the things that are not working so well in the classroom as a motivation to create new ways to attack the problems and plan for more difficult ones to follow. I would also suggest in speaking with your colleagues that have faced these same challenges and see what advice and techniques they can provide you with.
The achievement gap has been at the heart of discussion in education for what seems like an eternity. There have been periods of time when the achievement gap was narrowing. These periods have been followed by moments of the widening of the gap. What is the achievement gap? The achievement gap is the differences in success between students whose families reside within the upper classes and students whose families reside within the lower socioeconomic classes. The achievement gap can also be seen in terms of race where students of white and Asian decent out-succeed students of black and Hispanic decent. The measures of success for the achievement gap are graduation rates, standardized test scores, drop-out rates, college entrance rates etc. All of the measures of success show that students in higher socioeconomic class outperform their lower class counterparts. The achievement gap has been a focal point of research and debate. The question at the heart of education has been how can we narrow the achievement gap? It is the purpose of the teaching fellows. To hire professionals with a limited background in education to teach in “high need” schools. Before the achievement gap can be narrowed however, its causes must be identified.
There are a bevy of explanations for the achievement gap. Early research yielded the following explanations poverty, cultural values, parental involvement, test bias, attendance, lack of funding, teacher expectations etc. (Williams, 2003) I believe that all these reasons contribute to the achievement gap. Additionally, the initial purpose of public education was to preserve the status quo. Fowler points out that the education system in the south values the preservation of status quo. This is probably the initial reason for the achievement gap in the early stages of public education in this country. Since the inception of public education the lower classes on the socioeconomic hierarchy have been fighting a never ending battle to end this gap, only to see very few of its members overcome the handicap of their socioeconomic status.
With all the research and time that our society has had to battle the achievement gap why has it not been narrowed? One would figure that with all the policies that have been enacted that at the very least the achievement gap would have been narrowed by chance. However, this has evidently not occurred. The field of education is an unforgiving one and as soon as a policy shows any sign of weakness it gets replaced. Many people feel that policies, and policy makers are not given ample time before they are replaced.
I would like to note however, that there are many interesting opinions on how to narrow the gap. Of particular interest is Dewey’s take on education that has withstood the test of time. Dewey stressed that the knowledge that a students gains in the classroom must be connected to real life in order to hold some value for the student. Educators must take in to account students communities and social surroundings. This has to be done carefully or else it could come of as patronization. (Williams, 2003) It is this very belief that the school I work in is based on. The name of my school is School for Community Research and Learning. The mission of the school is for the students to take what they learn and apply it to the community or to learn through research in the community. The school accomplishes this through electives where the students can pick different projects to complete within the community.
Fowler, F. (2004) Policy Studies for Educational Leaders: An Introduction. Pearson Education: New Jersey
Williams, B. (2003) What else do we need to know and do? In Closing the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs p. 13-24
I am awesome!
Response to Chris' response:
Chris I would not say that the students do not care about education. That is a very dangerous statement to make. I believe that some students become disenchanted with the education system and don't see a value in it. They don't see the point in learning the social political economical ramifications of Japan's geography since they will never leave the state. Aditionally, most of our students have been labeled as failures in life and in the education system for their entire lives. These students develop a bitter attitude towards education and they do not think public education is out to help them. They believe that education is out to get them and make them feel inadequate and ignorant.
To quote Gloria Ladson-Billings article in Educational Researcher, the achievement gap within American education refers to “the disparities in standardized test scores between Black and White, Latina/o and White, and recent immigrant and White students.”(Ladson-Billings, 2006, p.3). However, the causes of the achievement gap are not due to ethic differences, but rather wider social issues.
The causes of the achievement gap are complex and not easily covered in oversimplified statements. The causes of the gap cover the gamut of our society. In fact, the gap is the effect of a number of causes ranging from “socioeconomic status, home language (the use of Standard English), and parent involvement to such school-based variables as school segregation and teacher quality.” (Ramirez, 2005). While these causes are endemic to our society, there is one area that most affects the achievement gap, that area is the lack of Social Capital.
The erosion of Social Capital in our country is one of the prime causes of the disparity in education today. While a portion of this can be addressed in the educational setting, it is not social foundation provided by home and community. The environment that most effects children, is “the social environment of the household.”(Coleman, 1987, p.35). The socialization process received through the home environment is where children receive their “attitudes, effort, and conceptions of self” (Coleman, 1987, p.35). There is also the impact of Social Capital, or lack thereof, within the community.
When the Social Capital within the community ceases to act collectively in a child’s best interest by not imposing the norms of social behavior, even if it is another person’s child, a child’s school is limited in the impact they can make. This leads directly to the achievement gap. However, there are ways of addressing the problem.
Since a revolutionary change in our country’s social course does not seem to be on the horizon, the only other rational option for educational institutions to close the achievement gap is to set benchmarks for each grade and institute a no-pass policy. This policy would state that a student must be able to do/know/understand ECT XY and Z before they can pass on to the next grade level. This policy holds a number of potential fixes. Not passing on to the next grade makes sense for all the right reasons. This policy would alleviate thirteen-year-olds that are near illiterate. It would motivate students in a way that the current policy does not, and it would allow for more effective teaching by freeing an instructor to focus on the essential understandings attributed to that grade level. If we fail to do this we face dire consequences.
References
Coleman, J. (1987). Families and schools. Educational Researcher, Aug.-Sep., (40), 32-
38.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt:
Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12
Ramirez, A. & Carpenter, D. (2005). Challenging assumptions about the achievement
gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8).
Lynaya,
While I agree with Dewey’s perspective that there is a connection between knowledge and experience, I do not agree with William’s perspective. Much of a child’s sense of themselves, the world, and their place in it comes from the family, and the community. While I agree that the school environment plays a crucial role in shaping youth, its primary function is to help socialize the child into the world and to give them the academic skills needed to survive in that world. However, when the Social Capital involvement of the school is the only social capital being invested, or if it is in contradiction to the capital investment, or lack thereof from the community, then schools and educators are involved in a situation where gaps are going to occur and there is little that a teacher can do to teach a parent how to parent, or a community to actively care.
The Achievement Gap
The Achievement gap refers to the observed disparity on a number of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race, ethnicity, ability, and socioeconomic status. There are a lot of different gaps. The term has been used to refer to the disparities in standardized test scores between Black and White, Latino and White students, and recent immigrants and White students.(Ladson-Billings, 2006). The term has also been defined as consisting of the “multiple gaps that exist both between and within groups.” Socioeconomic status and participation in ESL have been identified as some of the most significant factors for all groups of students in determining the achievement gap.(Ramirez and Carpenter, 2005).
Research reveals that student achievement gaps for minority populations are large, begin early in life, and are persistent. Since the achievement gap became an issue of intensive debate in the first few years of this decade, economists, sociologists and anthropologists among others have been trying to figure out exactly where the gap comes from, why it exists, and why it persists.
In a study of 42 families, Hart and Risley(1995)found among other things that vocabulary growth differed sharply by class and that the gap between the classes opened early. Their research led them the conclusion that by age 3, children whose parents were professionals had vocabulary of about 1,100 words and children whose parents were on welfare had vocabularies of about 525 words. The children's I.Q.'s correlated closely to their vocabularies. The average I.Q. Among the professional children was 117, and the welfare children had an average I.Q. Of 79. Hart and Risley further addressed the question of what caused those variations, and found that the size of a child's vocabulary correlated most closely to one simple factor: the number of words the parents spoke to the child. That varied by class. In the professional homes, parents directed an average of 487 “utterances” - anything from a one-word command to a full soliloquy – to their children each hour. In welfare homes, the kinds of words and statements that children heard were 178 utterances per hour. They found that as the number of words a child heard increased, the complexity of that language increased as well. As conversation moved beyond simple instructions, it blossomed into discussions of the past and future, of feelings, of abstractions, of the way one thing causes another – all of which stimulated intellectual development. These findings led Hart and Risley to conclude tha language exposure in early childhood correlated strongly with I.Q. And academic success later on in a child's life. Another research finding agrees substantially with Hart and Risley but goes one step further. An anthropologist named Annette Lareau, investigated the same question from a cultural perspective. In her book “Unequal Childhoods, “ published in 2003, Lareau contended that the real advantages that middle-class children gain come from more elusive process: the language that their parents use, the attitudes toward life that they convey and that however you measure child-rearing, middle-class parents tend to give their children an array of advantages. As she points out, children from poor families might be nicer, they might be happier, they might be more polite – but in countless ways, the manner in which they are raised puts them at a disadvantage in the measures that count in contemporary American society.
What would it take to overcome these advantages? While accepting that closing these gaps is one of the most pressing challenges facing our public schools today, many people have wondered whether focusing on race and poverty in fact , serves any useful purpose anymore. Why not just concentrate on correcting the academic disadvantages of the poor people. Solve those, and the black-white gap will solve itself. Some of the measures that can be effective towards closing the achievement gap as research has shown include(but not limited to) to following:
Class Size Reduction: Closing the achievement gaps requires that educators have more opportunities to work with students who need greater assistance. The preponderance of research evidence indicates that learning increases as class size is reduced, especially in the early grades. Studies have shown that smaller class size provides lasting benefits for students, especially for minority and low-income students, and for students with exceptional needs.
High Quality Educators: A growing body of research confirms what school-based personnel have known—that the skills and knowledge of tachers and support professionals are the greatest factor in how well students learn. Federal policy should be directed toward providing states and school districts the resources and technical assistance to create an effective program of professional development and professional accountability for all employees. It should also help create the conditions in which teachers and education support professionals can apply their knowledge and skills most effectively to help children learn:support innovation in increasing workload issues, especially in struggling schools: and seek ways to ensure that all schools, no matter how challenging, are staffed by high quality education professionals.
Family and Community Involvement: An engaged community is a supportive community. Therefore, efforts to close the achievement gap should support policies and resources that assist communities in making schools the hub of the community and that help parents become more involved in their children's education.
References:
1.Ladson-Billings, G.(2006).From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher 35(7), 3-12.
2.Ramirez, A. & Carpenter, D. (2005). Challenging assumptions about the achievement gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8), 599-603.
3.Lee, V. E., & Burkam, D. T. (2002). Inequality at the Sharing Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School. Economic Policy Institute.
(Henry O. Uche)
Cohort 12.
The Achievement Gap
The Achievement gap refers to the observed disparity on a number of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race, ethnicity, ability, and socioeconomic status. There are a lot of different gaps. The term has been used to refer to the disparities in standardized test scores between Black and White, Latino and White students, and recent immigrants and White students.(Ladson-Billings, 2006). The term has also been defined as consisting of the “multiple gaps that exist both between and within groups.” Socioeconomic status and participation in ESL have been identified as some of the most significant factors for all groups of students in determining the achievement gap.(Ramirez and Carpenter, 2005).
Research reveals that student achievement gaps for minority populations are large, begin early in life, and are persistent. Since the achievement gap became an issue of intensive debate in the first few years of this decade, economists, sociologists and anthropologists among others have been trying to figure out exactly where the gap comes from, why it exists, and why it persists.
In a study of 42 families, Hart and Risley(1995)found among other things that vocabulary growth differed sharply by class and that the gap between the classes opened early. Their research led them the conclusion that by age 3, children whose parents were professionals had vocabulary of about 1,100 words and children whose parents were on welfare had vocabularies of about 525 words. The children's I.Q.'s correlated closely to their vocabularies. The average I.Q. Among the professional children was 117, and the welfare children had an average I.Q. Of 79. Hart and Risley further addressed the question of what caused those variations, and found that the size of a child's vocabulary correlated most closely to one simple factor: the number of words the parents spoke to the child. That varied by class. In the professional homes, parents directed an average of 487 “utterances” - anything from a one-word command to a full soliloquy – to their children each hour. In welfare homes, the kinds of words and statements that children heard were 178 utterances per hour. They found that as the number of words a child heard increased, the complexity of that language increased as well. As conversation moved beyond simple instructions, it blossomed into discussions of the past and future, of feelings, of abstractions, of the way one thing causes another – all of which stimulated intellectual development. These findings led Hart and Risley to conclude tha language exposure in early childhood correlated strongly with I.Q. And academic success later on in a child's life. Another research finding agrees substantially with Hart and Risley but goes one step further. An anthropologist named Annette Lareau, investigated the same question from a cultural perspective. In her book “Unequal Childhoods, “ published in 2003, Lareau contended that the real advantages that middle-class children gain come from more elusive process: the language that their parents use, the attitudes toward life that they convey and that however you measure child-rearing, middle-class parents tend to give their children an array of advantages. As she points out, children from poor families might be nicer, they might be happier, they might be more polite – but in countless ways, the manner in which they are raised puts them at a disadvantage in the measures that count in contemporary American society.
What would it take to overcome these disadvantages? While accepting that closing these gaps is one of the most pressing challenges facing our public schools today, many people have wondered whether focusing on race and poverty in fact , serves any useful purpose anymore. Why not just concentrate on correcting the academic disadvantages of the poor people. Solve those, and the black-white gap will solve itself. Some of the measures that can be effective towards closing the achievement gap as research has shown include(but not limited to) to following:
Class Size Reduction: Closing the achievement gaps requires that educators have more opportunities to work with students who need greater assistance. The preponderance of research evidence indicates that learning increases as class size is reduced, especially in the early grades. Studies have shown that smaller class size provides lasting benefits for students, especially for minority and low-income students, and for students with exceptional needs.
High Quality Educators: A growing body of research confirms what school-based personnel have known—that the skills and knowledge of tachers and support professionals are the greatest factor in how well students learn. Federal policy should be directed toward providing states and school districts the resources and technical assistance to create an effective program of professional development and professional accountability for all employees. It should also help create the conditions in which teachers and education support professionals can apply their knowledge and skills most effectively to help children learn:support innovation in increasing workload issues, especially in struggling schools: and seek ways to ensure that all schools, no matter how challenging, are staffed by high quality education professionals.
Family and Community Involvement: An engaged community is a supportive community. Therefore, efforts to close the achievement gap should support policies and resources that assist communities in making schools the hub of the community and that help parents become more involved in their children's education.
References:
1.Ladson-Billings, G.(2006).From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher 35(7), 3-12.
2.Ramirez, A. & Carpenter, D. (2005). Challenging assumptions about the achievement gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8), 599-603.
3.Lee, V. E., & Burkam, D. T. (2002). Inequality at the Sharing Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School. Economic Policy Institute.
(Henry O. Uche)
Cohort 12.
EDUE 720
Online session
Patricia Capella
Defining the Achievement Gap
The achievement gap has been identified as the difference in the results of standardized scores between various racial and cultural groups of students in this country. There is no question that the gap exists, and little debate about its economic and social effects. The winners and losers in the game of high stakes education is evident. What is less clear are the contributing factors that produce this gap, and what can be done to close it.
In Families and Schools, Coleman gives a brief overview of the short history of public mass education. According to Coleman, the transformation of education from a neighborhood and family based activity to a formal, publicly funded and supported institutionalized endeavor, subject to local, regional and national political agendas can be traced to the economic and social forces at work in the past few decades. Foremost among these forces are the imposed efficiencies of corporate production, and the negative impact such economic frameworks have on the social capital of families and their children.
In addressing possible causes of the achievement gap, it is clear that educational leaders cannot fall into the trap of embracing assumptions concerning the effects that race, family makeup, poverty, family education levels and other factors have on student achievement. In Challenging Assumptions about the Achievement Gap, authors Ramirez and Carpenter examine various assumptions regarding the impact that native language, segregation, teacher quality, and income, to name a few variables, have on student achievement. Discrepancies in outcome studies have lead the authors to caution educational leaders about shaping policies on studies that may be oversimplifying the relationship f such factors on student learning. The authors suggest that the most important factor educational policy makers and instructors should take into account is the understanding of the needs and strengths of individual students. However, such a premise certainly runs counter to the current national initiative of the NCLB Act of 2001, with its "…limited emphasis on standards and accountability that targets schools, teachers, and students (in a)… simplistic variation of the 'one-size-fits-all' factory model introduced in the early 1900s…"(Williams, 2003, p.2)
Perhaps what is needed is a fresh view of how we envision our schools. If school has become meaningless to a fifteen-year-old student, would it not be better for that student to interrupt their education, become apprenticed to a business or profession, and then given an opportunity to return to school and acquire the academic certification society deems appropriate? Why do high schools and colleges need to be based on a four-year curriculum of studies? Why does higher education need to be so expensive, considering the fact that information is widely available at the click of a mouse? The answer, I believe, lies in the elitist nature of education and educational leadership, which, with its emphasis on test scores, limited enrollments, financial basis in property tax, (and by implication, zip codes), is fundamentally designed to be exclusionary. Furthermore, it is my belief that what are missing from our educational system are sufficient alternative avenues of valid ingress into the ranks of those whom society has determined is "educated."
In his article, Coleman describes the current lack of "social capital," which he defines as the eroding interconnected interest of family and community in students' lives. The author sees what he calls the "inhospitable…relations" between adult and children as being a large factor in reduced academic achievement. (p. 37) In a revised educational view, extending the resources of schools of all educational levels to all members of a community might go a long way in restoring such capital. I am reminded of an incident that occurred in school last week. While working with my students who were individually engaged in using a structured, computerized reading program, I looked up and noticed that the classroom para was deeply engrossed in using the program herself. On reflection, I wonder, why not extend educational programs to those outside of the immediate school community? The resources are there. I think that restructuring the delivery of education as well as opening schools to learners of all levels and ages remains a largely unexplored avenue to closing the achievement gap.
References
Coleman, J. (1987) Families and schools. Educational Researcher, Aug.-Sep. (40), 32-38.
Ramirez, A. & Carpenter, D. (2005). Challenging assumptions about the achievement gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8), 599-603.
Williams, B. (2003) What else do we need to know and do? In Closing the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs (pp. 13-24). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Reply to Caroline:
Caroline,
I totally agree with you that achievement gap exists across cultures and socioeconomic strata of our society. It is also true that there are a lot of different achievement gaps – gender, ethnicity, class, etc. What is most important now is the fact that the country is discussing achievement gaps more openly and perhaps honestly now than ever before. We can, no doubt, both raise overall achievement and close gaps in the rates at which students pass state assessments. The only question is whether we will. Every teacher will of course, agree with the notion of a pay raise, and I share your views on this too.
Response to Chris from Paula,
I totally agree with Chris as it pertains to lowering the achievement gap. First, equal funding and all students have equal access to all schools. Second, those with the wealth need to give up some power and share it with the rest of the country.
This can be seamlessly done by corporations (who sometimes spend as much as 50,000 on Christmas parties and other perks). I think that the "haves" - have a social responsibility to give to the "have nots", in much the same way the U.S. gives aid to under-developed countries
Posted by me for Paula Benjamin:
Response to Kimberly,
I wholeheartedly agree with Kimberly about homeschooling, but I was specifically talking about educated parents, and utilizing learning centers like Sylvan and Huntington with vouchers so in a sense the kids would be getting a "private tutoring" with certified educators who know requirements for achieving success.
Paula
Jessi Beach
EDUE 720
Session 7 Online
The term “achievement gap” refers to the documented disparity in education achievement (as defined by test scores) between white and nonwhite students and between students from varying class backgrounds. Considering how often this term is invoked, by people on both ends of the political spectrum and among policymakers, educators, and the public alike, it’s extremely disappointing that so much of the literature on the achievement gap characterizes the issues using race- and class-based stereotypes. Furthermore, far too many policy initiatives meant to address the achievement gap invoke this same biased reasoning in formulating responses. As Belinda Williams writes in “Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs,” many explanations of the achievement gap are rife with “assumptions about such issues as poverty; academic coursework and instruction; peer pressure; student attendance and mobility rates; disparities in resources; parenting; preschool; teacher quality and attitudes; teacher expectations; television; test bias; and genetics.” (Williams, 2003, p. 3).
While the data used to describe the achievement gap is often broken down along racial and class lines, education researchers and policy debaters have largely “missed the mark” by defining the achievement gap as a “minority group phenomenon” instead of considering the myriad of issues that affect the educational life of individual children. (Ramirez & Carpenter, 2005, p. 2). Ramirez and Carpenter caution against lumping all nonwhite students into one statistical bracket, which they note may create a “phantom gap” that doesn’t take students’ individual needs and levels of achievement into account. (Ramirez & Carpenter, 2005, p. 2). There are far too many different ways in which to group and compare student achievement to characterize the achievement gap as a white/nonwhite binary. Doing so is bound to produce (and has) poor education policy whose effects can only be a stop-gap measure when major policy reform is needed.
In order to effectively address the achievement gap and begin to conceive of new ways to end the achievement gap, Williams argues that education policymakers need to develop a new framework in which to consider all racial, ethnic, and class groups in order to produce policies that are coherent and expansive, and that rely on educational theory and practice. In order to address the achievement gap effectively, reform policies must include all educators, all students, and the needs of all ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Kristine Engren ONLINE – Achievement Gap
EDUE 720 3/16/08
The achievement gap, as defined by Ladson-Billing, is a gap in academic achievement that is between minority and disadvantaged students and white students. This gap is commonly measured by standardized test scores, particularly in reading and math.
The gap is severe and an outcome of slavery and segregation, and other manifestations of exploitative racism and stereotyping which serve the interests of the powerful and maintain the status quo. The exploitation permitted the amassing of wealth and power in some sectors of society. This has created an “education debt” that Ladson Billings argues needs to be repaid. (Ladson-Billings, 2006)
Williams writes that, “The most widely-accepted explanations for the achievement gap include assumptions about such issues as poverty; academic coursework and instruction; peer pressure; student attendance and mobility rates; disparities in resources; parenting; preschool; teacher quality and attitudes; stereotype threat; teacher expectations; television; test bias; and genetics (Williams, 2003, p.3).”
Williams points out that this list indicates that this problem is complex and not well understood. Research and reform approaches and programs are fraught with assumptions. They tend to be fragmented and to be isolated approaches. In Williams view, there needs to be theoretical integration to define normal human development. And there needs to be an understanding that education is a dynamic interaction between teacher and student and better understanding of the structure of experience.
Vygotsky’s elaboration of the role of culture and social context in learning is important. During social interaction, the social context and the culture impact on the people structuring what the people experience and the schematas they elaborate as a result.
Historically, the structure of social interactions between students and family and teachers has been transformed. Coleman demonstrates that there has been a change in the locus of dependency and reduced incentives for parental responsibility in all classes as the government has taken over these functions. This is a wide and deep cultural change and it has happened rapidly.
Formerly, the child was trained in the household. As men left the home (and farm) for wage labor, and then women left in increasing numbers, the government has increasingly stepped in and picked up responsibility for raising children that was formerly part of the family and household domain. This transformation has continued.
In the past, family and extended kinship and community life overlapped. That is, within a person’s sphere of life, they had social networks where the social ties were multiplex and reinforcing. But in recent times even neighborhood structures have collapsed. Our society is highly mobile and sources of employment have changed. Relationships have become highly instrumental.
As the social changes in the division of labor have progressed over time, the norms, social networks and relationships between adults and children have greatly changed. Parental authority has been lost. And the relationship between parent and child is relatively shallow. This is a great impoverishment. It is in the household/community/kinship arena that effort, attitudes and self-concepts are developed. This aspect of personality interacts with the inputs from the school: opportunities, demands, and rewards. Basically, the former has dried up to a great extent leaving children adrift.
Coleman points to the high rate of suicide that we see among young people, which Durkheim predicted when there is a high value place on individualism, which becomes egoism, and the concomitant problems of a sense of social isolation. This is what Durkheim meant by ‘anomie’.
Strong family life continues in some ethnic groups, such as the Asian, and they have they highest rates of achievement. Research into drop out rates in religious schools where the students attend church or synagogue regularly have extremely low drop out rates. It appears that there are important community supports which soften the changes in family relationships in our society and provide normative and value structures for children. There needs to be further study of this issue.
As teachers, our interactions with students are very important and dynamic. We cannot change the problems students bring to school. We cannot take over more of the parental responsibility. We can try to draw parents into the education process in ways that will support parent/child interactions.
A high level of shared education is essential to a free, democratic society.
References
Coleman, JH. (1987). Families and schools. Educational Researcher, Aug.-Sep., (40), 32-38.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt. Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Reseacher, 35(7), 3-12.
Williams, B. (2003) What else do we need to know and do? In Closing the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs (pp. 13-24). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
From Kris Engren
Response to lynaya hernandez:
I agree that the gap is among all groups and severe and that the gap is huge. Like you, in my classes the tools minimal. The gap cannot be closed. The problems are complex and we need better understanding of how to improve things. I don't believe that reforms in the school will greatly change this. I believe, with Coleman, that the family and community needs to do more for children. Perhaps as a society we can provide some of those structures.
I agree with Coleman that there is a problem of egoism and social isolation. We can do our best to acknowledge our students as persons and to show them their worth in many ways as we teach.
NEED A PARTNER FOR POLICY PROJECT!
I HAVE A POLICY ACTION PROJECT. BUT I NEED A PARTNER. DON'T WANT TO DO IT ALONE.
EMAIL IS KRISANDROMEO@VERIZON.NET
The achievement gap refers to the obvious performance and academic differences between members of different groups based on gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. The gap is particularly evident in the math and literacy subject areas.
These differences are observable in markers such as state test scores, college enrollment, and dropout rates. Williams writes” the most widely accepted explanations for the achievement gaps include assumptions about such issues as poverty; academic coursework and instruction; peer pressure; student attendance and mobility rates; disparities in resources; parenting; preschool; teacher quality and attitudes; stereotype threat; teacher expectations; television; test bias; and genetics.
Action plans have been created at different levels of the educational system. States have designed programs to close the gap. Also, schools have executed their own practices to provide relief to the lower performing students. Financial incentives have been presented to high performing schools, teachers and students. Schools have introduced after school programs, teacher training, and tutoring. The most popular attempt to close the gap was offered in 2001( NCLB) In an effort to close the gap, the No Child Left Behind act of 2001 was presented. President Bush, January 2001 :“ [The No Child Left Behind Act expresses] my deep belief in our public schools and their mission to build the mind and character of every child, from every background, in every part of America.” (Williams 2003)
Although measures have been taken to narrow the gap, it is still a major problem in our educational system. I think it’s very important for school practices to be reviewed on an individual basis. As a teacher, I can see why a school may not provide adequate preparation for our students. Doesn’t a school need basic materials such as pencils, books, technology, reading and math programs in order to be considered a learning organization? Many of our schools DO NOT HAVE THESE RESOURCES! Why are politicians and educators puzzled? Its not that difficult to see the obvious differences in resources in lets say a public school in The Bronx and one in the city.
Researchers and politicians have discussed in depth the idea of providing a quality education across the board. All schools and students will have access to the same materials, opportunities and incentives. This may be the problem. If a school has a tendency to fail equality may not be the answer. These schools and students need MORE than others who are performing well with what they are given. Am I wrong?
Williams, B. (2003) What else do we need to know and do? In Closing
the achievement gap: A vision for changing beliefs p. 13-24
Response to Kris,
I too, believe that a student’s success is a group effort. It is very important that a child’s family be involved in the learning process. Parents should also be held accountable for their contribution to their child’s education. The importance of education needs to be reinforced not only in the classroom but in the home as well.
The achievement gap is the term that refers to the significant disparity in standardized test scores between white and asian ( including recent immigrants) as compared to black, latino and other minority students. As NYC teaching fellows, the main recruitment behind the program was to attract people dedicated to working in low achieving schools to close the achievement gap. The achievement gap is not just a matter of disparity between races but also it also a matter of disparity between classess. Poor minority students are not competing with their wealthy white counterparts. The achievement gap is a prevalent topic in current political educational policy debates. Although some feel that the term is too widely used and popularized the statistics do not lie. According to Ladson-Billings, " in the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress results, the gap between Black and Latino fourth graders and thier white counterparts in reading scores was more the 26 points,"(p.4). The same gap was seen in the various grade levels selected.
Research and policy makers often focus solely on races/minority status of students when they address the achievement gap. However, there is a need to consider other factors then race/ethnicity such as socioeconomic status, home language and parent involvement as well as school based variables such as school segregation and teacher quality (Ramirez & Carpenter, 2005). It is not therefore due to race, but the factors that impact Latino and Black students would impact any white student in the same manner. It is just that white students are not generally experiencing the same home and school based factors that Latino and Black students are.
Policy makers have offered genericc reforms to bbe applied to all schools, suburban and urban to close the achievement gap. The NCLB ACT approaches the closing of the achievement gap by demanding that states, districts, and schools serving socioeconomicaly disadvantaged and culturally diverse students implement the stated reforms. NCLB does not take into consideration individual differences or group differences and there is a tendency in the research to offer unexamined explanations of achievement gaps among groups. However, according to Williams, (2003). significant evidence exists showing that generic restructuring frameworks and designs will not sufficiently change urban, rural, or suburban schools to close the achievement gaps (p. 6). Williams suggests that a theoretical framework of normal human development, how kids learn, holds promise for closing the achievement gap. She addresses the idea that the major task would be not to " present new knowledge but to offer in a more provocative way, theory and research that has no been ignored, by the education theorists, researchers, policy makers, the education community, and the education reformers,"(williams, 2003, p.9).
Response to Farzana
I have to agree with the well thought out and supported response. The federal policy makers are changing reforms and initiatives without taking into considerations the actual conditions of the schools that teachers must work in and children must learn in. She is correct in that the federal government is pushing for "highly qualified" teachers but is failing to recognize the basic concept that schools do not have curriculum materials, technology or even books and papers sufficient for the amounts of students. The government also does not take into account that the ' highly qualified" teachers might want to teach in a wealthier district that not only has materials, as well as smaller class size and higher pay. The children in the school i work in all come form very poor urban areas. They come to school hungry ,tired, and sadly often dirty and lacking basic care. NCLB and the achievement gap can not be closed until poverty itself is addressed and remedied.
Reply to Joshua,
Joshua, I read your respons with interest. I agree with your interpretation of the Coleman article that identified the lack of social capital is a predominating factor in the achievement gap. Moreover, I belive that diminished social capital is effecting all students, and may be a contributing factor in the measure of achievement of American children against their conterparts in other developed countries. We should never forget that we need to help our students gaim the skills they need to compete in an increasingly global economy, which is a compplicating factor in any discussion about the achievement gap.
In response to your proposal to hold studnets to certain promotion benchmarks, I would like to call your attention to a recent article in the NY Daily News, 3/14/08 "Parents storm the department of education offices in rage over eight grade policy." The policy in question is a proposal by Klien to hold back 8th graders who fail one of four courses or fail the standardized math and reading tests. The article suggests that under this proposal, 18,0000 students would be at risk for being held back. Where would the system house these kids? Logistically, it is a nightmare.
The achievement gap is the difference in accomplishment – usually academic standardized test scores, although sometimes it refers to graduation and dropout rates, as well as college attendance and degrees conferred – between groups of students, usually on the basis of race: white, black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and recent immigrant groups. Sometimes the achievement gap is based on socio-economic status. The gap is often based on a comparison between white students and “ethnic” groups, although sometimes various non-white groups’ data are compared.
Gloria Ladson-Billings’ focus on the difference between the perceived achievement gap and the actual ‘education debt,’ comparable to the difference between the national budget deficit and the national debt, (From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools) is an approach that appeals to the pragmatist in me. Just as it is difficult to imagine the national debt being completely paid off, it is difficult to imagine the inequities of American public education ever being completely eradicated. I agree with Ladson-Billings that until American public schools are truly desegregated and equitably funded, the education debt will continue to grow. However, the pragmatist in me finds it hard to envision either desegregation or equitable funding.
As I see it, there are two major aspects which need to be addressed in order to ameliorate the achievement gap. The first aspect is what contemporary American public education is actually educating students for. The perceived gap between American-educated students and the contemporary workforce demands is what spurs politicians (especially those in or seeking national office) to make grand gestures concerning educational policies. Until we understand what the demands on future workers and citizens will actually be, we cannot form policies that will address those demands and prepare educators to prepare their students for life. The second major aspect is that raised by James S. Coleman (Families and Schools): what is the difference between the social capital which contemporary families are able to provide their children and that which is required of students in public school education? Once the workforce demands are understood, the need for social capital can be addressed by educators, and an educational system that truly serves the students can be designed and put into practice.
However urgent these two aspects of education are, there need to be some practical measures put into effect that will motivate students and educators alike, and which will help keep American public education from completely disintegrating before the long-term goals can be achieved. I would suggest widespread re-education of parents, educators, and politicians to make clear the extent to which public funding needs to be re-organized to support ‘troubled’ schools, especially those in urban / poor / immigrant neighborhoods. The more activist training there is, the better chance the most-needed schools will have of survival. I would also suggest that educators from mostly-white suburbs and small towns be brought into ‘troubled’ schools to see for themselves the results of the inequities of the current system. Finally, I would make visits to ‘poor’ schools mandatory for anyone in or seeking public office on any level. Until ALL politicians are motivated to realign the education system, it will be difficult to get public policies enacted that truly address the problems we face on a daily basis.
Susan Jones - response to Caroline Onwuemeli -
I like your practical approach. The bottom line is that we have to help our students, no matter our circumstances. Political activism (such as I suggested) is fine, but the emphasis must remain on helping the students. The measures you suggest will help the students and parents retain hope during the critical rebuilding of the educational system.
Kareem Simmons
Online Session-Achievement Gap
“According to the National Governors’ Association, the achievement gap is a matter of race and class. Across the U.S., a gap in academic achievement persists between minority and disadvantaged students and their white counterparts…This is one of the most pressing education-policy challenges that the states currently face”(Ladson-Billings, 2006, p.3). This gap is one of the most profoundly covered topics in the Teaching Fellows’ indoctrination process. However, our power brokers in political arenas are ignoring the true problem (if I may agree with Ladson-Billings), which is economics.
It is unfortunate that minority students don’t function academically as their white counterparts do, but the reason is not primarily found in the classroom. Many students come from situations at home where education is not valued by their parents. Parents, who are the initial motivators, are often the primary obstacles in student progress. There is a positive link between one’s own schooling and the schooling received by one’s children”(p.5). Food, clothing, and shelter are necessities that usually outweigh any and all aspects of academics in most low-income minority homes. Hence, students are usually the only ones who care about their immediate futures, basically on their own with out any support at home.
Although there has been much publicity in the courtrooms pertaining to the topic of educational equity, there is very little equality in our school systems. Most schools are going back to a new form of that old foe-segregation. The amount of money state are spending on schools is only truly benefiting high-income districts with low to no minority students. “…America’s public schools are more than a decade into the process of resegregation. Almost three fourths of black and Latino students attend schools that are predominately non-White”(p.9).
As a teacher I feel unbelievable pressure at times because everyone wants results, but no one wants to help us get the desired results. For example, most of the reasons that the achievement gap continues to exist are because we are not leveling the economic playing field. If we refine our communities, and create more informed participants/stake holders, we would be initiating proactive reform. When the level of access to economic resources is leveled, I believe the gap will begin to close. “…That we could have (should have) been investing in (primarily) low income kids, which deficit leads to a variety of social problems (e.g. crime, low productivity, low wages, low labor force participation) that require on-going public investment. This required investment sucks away resources that could go to reducing the achievement gap. Without the education debt we could narrow the achievement debt”(p.5).
Reference
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt:
Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7),
3-12.
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