The Achievement Gap

1
The Achievement Gap

• An Examination of History and Contributing
  Factors
• M. Ann Levett, Ed.D.
• Yale University

2
Definition

• An 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, and socioeconomic status.
• Wikipedia

3
Seek First To Understand

• Without attention to the history and causes, the
  achievement gap cannot be fully understood and
  the ambition to address it appropriately and
  successfully may be short-circuited.

4
Lack of Access and Opportunity

• What happens when students of color and students
  of poverty have limited or no access to quality
  educational experiences?
• Poor skills - Low level jobs
• Poor quality of life health, housing
• Unbroken cycle of poverty

5
Research Suggests That

• There is an achievement gap in most countries
• The lowest achieving groups have a history of
  past discrimination leading to low socio-economic
  status
• Some social scientists use the gap to promote
  blame the victim social policies which increase
  the probability that the gap will persist

6

• Students and Teachers Voices
• On Schooling

7
The Process of Schooling

• Neither power neutral or culture neutral
• Used as a sorting tool
• Functions as a system of privilege and
  preference, reinforced by power, favoring certain
  groups over others
• Gary Howard, 2002

8
History of Schooling Root Cause

• Began as a rite for the elite
• Enslaved blacks forbidden to read and had no
  access to schooling
• Few immigrants could afford schooling or were
  encouraged to attend school

9
Education Denied An Example

• After 1865 the majority of the states had
  established public school systems and nearly half
  of the free children were getting some formal
  schooling
• The Negro education that emerged was based on
  the preparation of freedmen to maintain their
  place in the existing social order

10
Education Denied An Example

• White planters opposed any education for freed
  slaves on the grounds that it would spoil good
  field hands
• The Hampton-Tuskegee model was advanced to have
  blackswork with their hands, have few wants,
  and to stay in their natural environments,

11
Separate but Equal

• A dual system of education emerged but with a
  vast resource gap between black and white schools
• In 1900 there was 1 Black teacher for every 93
  black children of school age
• The normal schools produced teachers for these
  schools. These teachers had the equivalent of a
  10th grade education

12
Separate but Equal

• From 1880 to the mid 1930s almost all the rural
  areas and nearly half the urban areas failed to
  provide high schools for Blacks
• In many areas, nothing beyond a ninth grade
  education was available or encouraged.

13
Separate but Equal

• Black teachers were paid less and had to go out
  of state for advanced degrees
• Some capital improvements, land and supplies were
  supplied by the Black communitya system of
  double taxation
• Textbooks were often handed down from the white
  schools

14
History of Schooling- Root Cause

• Differentiated schooling began in early 1900s
• High schools offered academic core and vocational
  courses, including domestic sciences
• Created an efficient schooling system that
  would select best minds for mental training and
  the best bodies suited for manual training

15
Integration or Desegregation?

• The Brown decision effectively dismantled many
  highly effective historically black public
  schools
• Integration meant that Blacks would attend
  white schools
• Black administrators and teachers were displaced

16
Integration or Desegregation?

• Many Black students were re-segregated once in
  previously white schools and assigned to low
  status classes
• Black teachers,parents, and administrators had
  less influence in the newly integrated schools
• Conflict and distrust characterized the
  relationships and a sense of community was lost

17
Integration or Desegregation?

• Brown decision was also followed by white flight
  from schools, neighborhoods, and cities
• Resources followed those leaving

18
Perpetuating Conditions

• Family and Economic Factors
• Access to services (education and social)
• Preschool
• Word gap
• Parental attitudes
• Family support/resources
• Mobility

19
Perpetuating Conditions

• Personal/Psychological Factors
• Acting white
• Internalized inferiority
• Study Habits
• Television/Electronics Habits

20
Perpetuating Conditions

• Cultural Bias
• The schools are steeped in and reflective of the
  dominant culture of white, middle class European
  heritage. This not fitting this culture are
  treated as foreigners.

21
Perpetuating Conditions

• Educational Factors
• Disparate conditions and opportunities
• Facilities
• Personnel
• Courses
• Experiences

22
Perpetuating Conditions

• Educational Factors
• Teacher attitudes and beliefs
• Inadequate instruction and support
• Biased policies and practices

23
Closing the Gap

• This condition has its genesis deeply embedded in
  the historical, social, political, cultural and
  economic fabric of our country.
• Failing to close the gap cannot be seen solely as
  the failure of educators. It must rightly be
  viewed as the failure of the sum of our
  political, social, and economic institutions.

24
Why Is This Important?

• There are huge economic and cultural
  implications of a continued failure to fully
  prepare millions of poor and minority children
  for a complicated society.
• The success of ALL students is critical to the
  continued existence and economic stability (and
  growth) of this country.

25
Why MUST We Address the Achievement Gap?

• To not know about it is bad.
• To know about it and not do anything about it is
  worse.

26
Why MUST We Address the Achievement Gap?

• To know about it, know what works and not do
  something about it, is unthinkable.
• To know about it, know what to do about it, and
  not care enough to address it is unforgivable.