The Effects Of The Achievement Gap On Minority Students

Authors Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton in Chapter Five of Courageous Conversations About Race broach the topic of race, by asking the reader to evaluate his or her own consciousness of race. According to the authors, in order to address the achievement gaps between African American students and White students, educators should shift their energy towards focusing on the factors that they have direct control of inside the classroom rather than on the factors that influence this achievement disparity between races outside the classroom.

A school setting provides opportunities where issues of social justice, oppression, and discrimination can be addressed. According to Bemak and Chung (2009), students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. These disparities in academic

Ever since the establishment of equal education in the United States, there has been a disparity in academic success between children of different races. The education of African American children has become a prime example of this. As discussed in the historical text, A Letter to My Nephew, which was written during the time of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s, African Americans were not given equal opportunities to succeed educationally and could do little to change their futures for the better. They had to work much harder than whites to receive even a portion of the recognition and success that whites achieved (Baldwin 1). Although many today believe America has overcome this problem, it still remains a pressing issue in many aspects of society, arguably the most important being education. The racial achievement gap, an important term to familiarize with when discussing this topic, refers to the disparity in educational performance between students of different races (National Education Association 1). As of now, although the education achievement gap has been narrowing, there still remains a large disparity between African Americans and their racial counterparts. According to a study by Roland G. Freyer and Steven D. Levitt, professors at Harvard University and W.E.B Du Bois Institute, respectively, African American students enter kindergarten already significantly behind children of other races, and their test scores continue to drop

After reviewing the Government laws and policies that have been in placed and replaced in history and more currently to contribute and correct the issue. The most important question of all remains. Why does the Achievement Gap still exist? According to former Secretary of Education John King (2016) “Black and Hispanic students continue to lag behind their White peers in achievement and graduation rates.”After so many attempts made by the Government to close the Gap and create equality, clearly there is something that is not being addressed across American Public Schools. Frederica Wilson (2013) former state senate member stated in the Brown vs Board Documentary There is such a difference in going to one school in one community and going to another in another community. Why don't we tackle that problem instead of testing the students predicting they will fail, watching them fail and denying them a good life?”The question now that remains how exactly are the schools different in different communities?

“The socioeconomic achievement gap in education refers to the inequality in academic achievement between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures” (Ansell, 2017). Typically, when discussing the achievement gap, educators are comparing the academic progress of African-American students or Hispanic students to the progress of white students. More-often-than-not the white students will have more educational achievements than their non-white colleagues (Ansell, 2017). The most widely accepted theory as to why students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) do better academically is high parental involvement, access to economic resources and access to highly qualified teachers (Huang, 2015. Pg.6). Students of low socioeconomic status often live in poverty. This means that the student may not have sufficient school supplies or even someone at home to help him with his homework. There are numerous children in the United States’ school systems that are failing due to the achievement gap. These students are at a disadvantage because the school systems and teachers do not notice or even care about their home life and how it comes into play in their education. It is important for our nation to not only understand the achievement gap but take steps toward correcting it.

studied, and achievement gaps between minority and white students have begun to shrink in a

Historically, African-American, Latino and Native American students were educated in wholly segregated schools whose funding rates were several times lower than schools made up of all white students. These minority students were also being excluded from many higher institutions (Darling-Hammond). This happened until legal segregation came to an end in the 1960s and many efforts were made to equalize school funding. These efforts have made a substantial difference for student achievement and significantly narrowed minority and white

One way to close the achievement gap among white students and minority students is to establish better teacher-student relationships,TSR. In order to establish better teacher-student relationships, the teachers must support and engage with their student. Building some sort of trust plays a major role in TSR. Teachers must talk to and interact with their students and show them that they genuinely care. TSR would also help promote a positive class environment. With a great relationship and positive setting students are more likely to do better in their academic work; which is a great way to close the achievement gap. Improving TSR in the education system has proven to increase students progress and help close the achievement gap on more than one occasion and especially in Black and Latino students. For

African American students in an affluent, suburban district have not successfully closed the achievement gap. These students’ are generally lower performing that whites and Asians and sometimes lower than Hispanic and/or socio-economically disadvantaged. According to Sohn (2012) the phenomenon of the black white achievement gap has returned. Slaven and Madden (2006) assert “The gap in academic achievement between African American (as well as Latino) children and their White peers is arguably the most important of all educational problems in the U.S.” (p. 389). This leads to continued disparity in educational goals and mastery and ultimately adulthood successes.

The racial achievement gap is a highly talked about issue within education in the United States. It refers to the differences in standardized test scores between black students and white students. Even though this issue is still prevalent today, it has improved greatly from the past. Ever since Brown v. Board of Education, where the supreme court ruled that it was unconstitutional for schools to be racially segregated, the racial achievement gap has become smaller. However, it still exists which has led many people to wonder why and design experiments to figure out what could be causing it. The racial achievement gap is a big issue because it shows that black students are falling behind in school which can lead to them not going to college or dropping out. It is also an issue because all students deserve to have an equal education and they should all have a chance to succeed in life. In order to fulfill equal education for everyone, the reasons for the achievement gap need to be found and fixed. Some people have already investigated independent variables that could impact the achievement gap such as personal faith, self-affirmation, and students schoolmates. However, not many experiments have been done to test the impact of unequal spending per pupil on the racial achievement gap. In this paper, an experiment will be designed to investigate the possible effects it has on the gap with a hypothesis that the unequal spending increases the achievement gap.

The article, “Why Does the Gap Persist?” by Paul E. Barton is an attempt to try and make sense of why our minority students continue to struggle. Barton brings up the point that research has shown that equal access to education has not equated to equal achievement. Mr. Barton points out fourteen factors that affect student achievement. A summary of some of these points will follow.

Data form the National Association of Academic Progress (NAEP) reveal information on the achievement gap. To close the achievement gap, schools must restructure to support student achievement. Per Williams (2002) this restructuring must include appropriate data to address critical areas. This restructuring must

The achievement gap is unfortunately a commonality in America citizens’ language. The achievement gap has affected students for many years. Research has demonstrated the controversies that exist on the causes of the gap, but still we are talking about it in the 21st century. Researchers and public policy officials are examining the dimensions of the achievement gap in America’s school. Unfortunately, the lack of addressing the “real problem” will continue to impose heavy and often tragic consequences of colored students more specifically lower earnings, poverty, and higher rates of incarceration.

The achievement gap is often described as the academic discrepancy in the test scores of minority and other low-income students and the test scores in their White and Asian peers. However the gap in scores affect many different groups across many different walks of life in America. Different groups may trail behind their peers at different points in their academic careers. Classic examples are boys in their early years of schooling and girls in high school math and sciences. The differences between students from various backgrounds are more apparent on the large-scale standardized tests. The gaps in test scores more than often lead to longer-term gaps, including high school and college completion and even in the kinds of jobs these

It is to our understanding that students from all backgrounds can succeed at the highest levels of education when they are given the support they need to succeed. Therefore, I do not believe the government should be fully responsible for closing the “minority gap” as students, parents, teachers, and the school plays a significant role as well. Webb and Thomas discussed the importance of narrowing the gap if students attend an early education during their childhood, parents should expose children to a variety of experiences and spend quality time with children, schools need to make students feel welcome and belong in the school community, and the teachers should be more involved, “culturally relevant and generally sincere with and respectful to students” (2015, p. 5) Government should only provide resources and funding to school district to improve learning for all