Income And Socioeconomic Status Based Differences

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.

In their article “The Upside of Income Inequality” authors Gary Becker and Kevin M. Murphy argue that the solution to income inequality is to have more and more students attend and graduate from colleges. Becker and Murphy imply that students from “broken households” earn lower grades and test scores, therefore reducing their chances at entering and staying enrolled in colleges due to subpar cognitive skills. Throughout the article, charts are shown to show promising statistics of students of all ethnicities being successful in colleges. However they later state:

For students at RYP, the achievement gap, referring to the disparity of educational performance of students by race and income stems from overlapping societal injustices

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.

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

According to Zwick’s research, “Academic researchers investigate the fairness of the SAT based on how well it predicts college grades for each racial group” (321). Rather than arguing for racial bias on the SAT like Lemann, Zwick argues that such bias does not exist. Unlike Lemann, she does not believe that the SAT underestimates racial subgroup’s scores, rather, she claims “ [that] SAT scores tend to predict higher college grades than were actually attained by African-American, Latin, and American Indian students and lower grades than were actually attained by Asian American and white students” (321). Zwick explains how the SAT helps minorities get into the college of their choice, not how it hinders them. In fact, in the UC system, “the main barrier of all ethnic groups in admissions is the failure to complete college preparatory courses” (324). Now she qualifies her argument by agreeing with Lemann on the way to successfully and efficiently integrate students of all ethnicities into colleges: “improve K-12 education so that college applicants will be better prepared for the SAT” (324). By making a strong, uniform high school curriculum, all students will be equipped with the core fundamentals of learning, which will better their chances of joining the elite. Like Lemann, she desires to help the meritocratic system become a fair system for all

Einstein once said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Likewise, if a poor test-taker is judged by their SAT score, they could be forced to attend an inadequate institute of higher education. For decades, the SAT has been “the test” that makes or breaks a student's chances of getting into their top college. Generally, the privileged populace do well, but minorities and women do not come out as strong and are therefore limited to college choice. The SAT has proven to be an unsuitable, biased method for predicting success of students in college.

By using standardized tests to measure a student’s academic ability and achievement, the education system is giving the upper hand to higher-class, racial majority students. Standard exams are racially biased and include questions that favor white students. One study showed that average reading SAT score for white students was 99 points higher than the average reading score of black students on the same test (Jaschik). An explanation for such a drastic difference in scores lies within the

Databases from The College Board reveal that this gap in achievement also translates into SAT scores, and later acceptance into college. Individual standardized test scores rise with the income of the student’s parents (College Board, 2013). A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania went a step further to examine the college graduation

A shocking and disturbing trend that the public has always noted in standardized tests is that minority examinees tend to score lower on standardized tests than their White, male counterparts. This has caused academic scholars to research this topic more to figure out what is preventing minority examinees from doing as well as their White, wealthy and/or, male counterparts and, thus, not having access to some of the same opportunities. These standardized tests consistently put these students at a clear disadvantage and this is counter to the nation’s overall goal to improve diversity in all aspects of life. This essay will discuss specific factors that put minorities at a disadvantage when it comes to standardized tests and

Socio demographic factors are factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, religion,which affect society and are present in statistics. These factors have a significant effect on income because a person with a university degree is able to increase their income as they may look for more specialized jobs in relevance to their degree thus allowing them to generate higher levels of income in comparison to somebody who has a lower education level for example GCSE’s who would look for jobs in line with their current qualifications. In order for me to analyse how socio demographic factors affect income I have chosen to look at 3 independent variables; Education, Gender and Religion to see the level of statistical significance in relation to income. In terms of a previous literature I have reviewed different types of literature in order to understand the relationship of these independent variables to income and have looked at the Theory of human Capital in regards to education by Becker (2009), theories that discuss the gender pay gap, and also Max Weber’s renowned book of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism which examines the effect of religiosity in increasing levels of income amongst Protestants. After exploring this literature I will carry out Analysis of Variance and Regression; both linear and multiple to see how much of an impact the variables of Education,

Over the past decade, several researchers have released evidence proving a bias in standardized testing towards minority students. In this paper I will argue in favor of those supporting the idea of a bias in standardized testing. A bias in standardized testing would not only effect the students it is biased against, but the public and other students as well. This is why it is important that we take the time to educate ourselves with the evidence provided. In order to make a decision as to whether or not standardized testing is indeed biased, we must educate ourselves on the amount of test preparation the test requires, as well as how it is created.

Most children who live in lower income communities have few resources compared to those in higher income