The Gap Of The Achievement Gap

Whether on the scale of a school district, a state, or the nation, achievement gaps exist. Wealth seems to be the deciding factor, with race coming in at a close second, but these do not (and should not) be deciding factors. The State of Texas has developed The P-16 Initiative which seeks to close theses performance gaps between the poor and wealthy. Our textbook reads: “The P-16 is an effort to work with stakeholders collaboratively to foster a more integrated education system, while addressing issues of college readiness standards, teacher education, and educational

When relating poverty to the achievement gap, one can see the correlation. The achievement gap is the discrepancy in academic performance between groups of students, it is more often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between African-American and Hispanic students at the lower end of the performance scale. Many students who are living in poverty fall within these backgrounds and it is understandable why their grades and school performances are suffering. Abraham Maslow’s pyramid of hierarchy needs show that before a child is able to learn or perform any kind of activity, the basic needs must be met, food, shelter, and water (Shaffer, 2014, pp 158).

Throughout decades, education inequality is still one of the most deliberate and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation. Poor districts obtain less educational funds while rich districts obtain more, which create an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas. In other words, the education gap is the root of inequality in America. Inequality in education is linked to the major problems in the society. The need for studies to be done to find ways of overcoming these inequalities is very inevitable. The means of mitigating these inequalities are important for the entire world. This is something of great interest due to the fact that children need quality education which is a pillar for a guaranteed future. Generally speaking, the distinctions among races, genders, and classes in the society have caused the educational inequality in America.

The data is compared to those students come from affluent socioeconomic status and backgrounds. The data is sourced from several diverse locations in order to give the broadest view of the disparities that exist. Howard (2010) compares data in reading, mathematics, SAT results and disciplinary rates. This data is a formidable beginning to the content of the book because it provides context for the reader to better understand the achievement gap.

The achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the performance groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point averages, drop out rates, college enrollment and completion rates. The Black-White achievement gap is a critical issue in modern society’s education system. Although data surrounding the issue clearly indicates that the racial performance gap exists in areas of standardized tests, graduation rates, dropout rates, and enrollment in continuing education, the causative reasons for the gap are ambiguous—therefore presenting a significant challenge in

The “achievement gap” in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. The achievement gap is shown in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, among other success measures. It’s most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between African-American and latino students, towards the lower end of the performance scale, compared to their white peers, and the similar academic differences between students from low-income families and those who are privileged. In the past decade, scholars and policy makers began focusing their attention on other achievement gaps, such as those based on sex, English language and learning disabilities.

How should society handle the perceived differences between races when it comes to education? The goal of both researchers is to narrow the academic gap between white and black students. Both authors attribute the gap between the academic scores of black and white students from opposite sides of racial identity. As Dr. Beverly Daniels Tatum, President of Spelman College and clinical psychologist has written an article entitled “Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Her approach is from the perspective of the student and how they perceive their role and upper limits while maintaining their place in their peer group's expectations of their race. Dr. Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, has written an article entitled "The Facts about the Achievement Gap.” Her approach is from the perspective of how schools and society implicitly or explicitly cast students into achievement tracks based on their race. Both approach the same idea about racial identity, but they have different solutions, such as peer groups, the school board, and who is right about the solution.

This paper includes a reference list of literature relating to the impact socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity has on academic achievement and what can be done to combat the achievement gap. In general, the literature seems to indicate that socioeconomic status has a greater impact then race or ethnicity on achievement. However, these constructs are often intertwined. The greatest source for combatting the achievement gap are teachers high in self-efficacy, strong and well directed principal leadership, having a positive and accepting racial climate, smaller class sizes, less harsh discipline with more support

The Achievement Gap is a term that represents the difference of academic success in certain groups of students such as race, gender, and

the term receivement gap is useful because it focuses attention on educational inputs-what the students receive on their educational journey, instead of outputs-their performance on a standardized test. This refocusing also moves attention away from the students as the source of these disparities, and toward the larger structure and forces that play a role in their education and development (p. 417). Venzant-Chambers (2009) asserted the issue of the Black and White achievement gap must be viewed through other lenses opposed to the single view of Black students cannot perform as well as White students. Venzant-Chambers (2009) offered other avenues by which to examine the achievement gap such as school tracking, examining the

In debates about public education, what is the “achievement gap?” What policies have been implemented to address this

access had not led to equal achievement. Imagine an elementary school where all teachers are able to differentiate their students’ lessons daily in order to meet their individual learning needs; that would be a school where all students would be making academic gains in all subject areas. However, the truth of the matter is there is not enough time for one teacher to make individual lesson plans for each child in her classroom. As a result, students in the same classroom receive the same lesson even if they are three grade levels behind. The reality is, not all students are at the same level and although teachers do their best to close the achievement gaps, by the time some of these students get to the third grade, the gaps are often much wider. The gap seems to be continuously growing. Students entering the third grade have gaps that range from kindergarten skills, where they are unable to pronounce letters, to second grade skills where they cannot comprehend what they are reading. The ideal state would be having all students ready to enter kindergarten.

It is an “inherent right of every child in America” (Heafner & Fitchett, 2015, p. 245) to have equitable opportunities to learn, yet this right is being denied to numerous students due to the concept of the opportunity gap. Reflecting on my elementary school days, I witnessed and experienced what I now understand as the opportunity gap in action. The opportunity gap concept is a systematic imbalance of educational opportunities for students that are less fortunate regarding educational resources and programs or communities, which ultimately affects student academic achievement and may explain achievement gaps (). I believe I got the long end of the stick, having received a quality education that pushed me intellectually and socially. However,

Immediately after the "d" word was mentioned, Shankar Vedantam, the host of the podcast, turned his focus toward relationships and supported this notion with more data and more science. What matters most concerning the achievement gap (which is a multi-layered and complex issue) in the classroom is how we connect to our students. When students and teachers form strong bonds, test scores improve, students are far more likely to complete high school, and overall academic achievement improves. The academic numbers then translate to future earning potential and success post-schooling. And those are the numbers that matter; those post-secondary achievement numbers are the ones that ultimately improve the lives of our students.

However this achievement gap is not a new discovery in fact this achievement gap has been around for years, according to the government figures in 2008 the gap between the number of rich and poor pupils getting good GCSEs had widened, at GCSE and equivalent, 62.8% of wealthy pupils got five or more A* to C grade GCSEs, compared with 35.5% of disadvantage pupils (Lipsett, 2008). This shows that from 2008 to 2013 the disadvantage children GCSEs pass rate has improved slightly, however so has the non-disadvantage children which means the gap has not narrowed since at least 2008. Therefor if it was obviously a clear problem in 2008, the government are failing disadvantage young people in taking so long in putting in place initiatives for young people to help them achieve. The governments new education policy have set up actions to narrow the gap in achievement of disadvantage children, one way they intend to do this is by investing £136 million through the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) which is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement, ensuring that all children regardless of their background can fulfil their potential (EEF, n.d.).