Gap Analysis: 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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

Research shows that on average, there is an educational gap between different ethnicities. This gap is called the racial educational achievement gap and is often looked at as the difference in education between black, hispanic, and white students. Even though this gap is not true in all situations, it is a big enough problem that several organizations have taken extensive research to find out exactly what causes the racial achievement gap. Pinpointing the cause however is difficult because many factors contribute to the racial achievement gap. The more outstanding of

Although educational programs have been introduced to address the achievement gap in low-income and urban communities, the educational outputs of these areas remain below the national average (Tierney & Jun, 2001; Ng, Wendell & Lombardi, 2012). For example, the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree in Camden city

The achievement gap is defined as the an unequal or inequitable distribution of educational outcomes and benefits. Researchers have identified a variety of reasons why the achievement gap between whites and blacks continues to persist. Fryer and Levitt (2002) argue that initially there is no difference between equivalent Black and White children upon entering kindergarten. Supsequently as they continue in school they take very different paths due to Black children falling behind their White counterparts. Jencks and Phillips (1998) found that family experiences and preschool are instrumental in creating the achievement gap. They also argue that there is already a significant disparity between Black and White students as they enter kindergarten, which is different than the assertions of Fryer and Levitt.

An achievement gap describes the differences in education growth between a certain minority (African-Americans or Latino-Americans) as compared to white, middle SES students. There is such a drastic gap between black and white students because most black students attend a 48% black population school, where most white students attend a 9% black population school. Achievement is also the lowest in a school with a high population of black students, this is because these schools are usually in low SES urban areas where there aren’t as many resources as mainly white populated schools. These mainly black populated, low SES schools are including families who aren’t as involved in helping their child’s education. In low SES schools, there are more less qualified teachers with less experience who may impact a student’s learning than those teachers who are more experience.

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

“The achievement gap is an aperture of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by socioeconomic status, ethnicity and gender” (Valerie, http://www.teachability.com/). The imbalance in test scores is a key factor in closing the gap. Presently minority students score lower than European Americans on grammar, pronunciation, literacy and mathematics test on graded test work and on test that measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence.

The achievement gap is the education gap between the performance group of students in which these groups are usually defined by their social status, race or gender.

In the literature, the gap is sometimes called an opportunity gap and sometimes it is called an achievement gap. The opportunity gap refers to the undeniable difference that exists between the opportunities for minorities versus their white counterparts. There seem to be several factors that influence this gap. A study by Oakes, Rogers, Silver, Horng, & Goode, (2004), observed that modern day schools in some California cities do not even meet the criteria for the landmark case Plessy vs Ferguson (Oakes et al., 2004). These schools are still segregated and there is an extreme disproportion of funds between the schools that service mainly minorities and those that service mainly whites. The schools that have a white majority usually tend to receive funding from local community members or the parents of the students that attend. While the schools that are made up of minority students, usually tend to be underfunded and the conditions inside the schools are not always the best (Oakes et al., 2004).

The achievement gap is an aperture of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by socioeconomic status, ethnicity and gender (Valerie, http://www.teachability.com/). The imbalance in test scores is a key factor in closing the gap. Presently minority students score lower than European Americans on grammar, pronunciation, literacy and mathematics test on graded test work and on test that measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence.