Closing the Achievement Gap October 2006

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Closing the Achievement GapOctober 2006
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A Hundred Years From Now

• it will not matter what my bank account was, the
  sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I
  drove---but the world may be different because I
  was important in the life of a CHILD

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Objectives You will know and un

• 1. History of Achievement Gap
• 2. Contributing Factors of Achievement Gap
• 3. History of Assessments/Standards
• 90/90/90 Schools-All Students Can Learn
• Closing The Achievement Gap
• a. Culture-Systemic Addressing Affective
• Domain
• b. Systemic Addressing of Cognitive Domain

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History of the Achievement Gap

• The 1966 Coleman Report, the landmark study
  Equality of Educational Opportunity led by James
  S. Coleman, was instrumental in promoting racial
  balance between schools. Coleman, then a
  professor in the department of social relations
  at Johns Hopkins University and Ernest Q.
  Campbell, of Vanderbilt University, presented a
  report to the U.S. Congress which found that poor
  black children did better academically in
  integrated, middle-class schools.
• Coleman studied 600,000 children at 4,000
  schools and found that most children attended
  schools where they were the majority race.
  Further, schooling between white and minority
  schools were similar
• Coleman found that where a student attended
  school was the most important determiner of
  achievement . The socio-economic level of the
  majority of students in a school was the critical
  factor for high academic achievement. Further,
  schooling between white and minority schools were
  similar. Teachers' training, teachers' salaries,
  and curriculum were relatively equal. The
  results, however, found that minority children
  were a few years behind that of the whites and
  that the gap widened by the high school years. In
  conclusion, the academic achievement was related
  to family background in the early years, but
  going to school allowed for a greater disparity
  between the academic differences between whites
  and blacks.

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School Factors Contributing to the Achievement Gap

• Black and Hispanic students tend to take
  less-rigorous courses. Though there are more
  black and Hispanic students taking academically
  rigorous courses now than in the past, whites and
  Asians still tend to be overrepresented in such
  courses. In part this situation results from the
  lack of advanced courses at high-minority
  schools. In particular, researchers have found
  that schools in high-minority or high-poverty
  areas often offer a less-rigorous curriculum to
  begin with. They thereby fail to challenge
  students, since they cover less material or give
  less homework. This is a problem because research
  has found that students enrolled in challenging
  coursesin topics such as algebra, trigonometry,
  chemistry, and advanced Englishusually have
  higher test scores than their peers.

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Factors

• There is a lack of experienced teachers. Kober
  points out that black students are more likely to
  be taught by less-experienced teachers than white
  students. Researchers have cited this factor as
  one of the most critical variables for explaining
  the achievement gap there is a correlation
  between higher teacher certification scores and
  higher student achievement scores. Teachers in
  districts where there are high percentages of
  black or Hispanic students tend to have lower
  scores on their certification tests.

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Factors

• Teachers set their expectations low. Studies have
  suggested that teachers sometimes have lower
  academic expectations for disabled, poor, and
  Black and Hispanic minority children than they do
  for whites or Asians. Kober warns that by setting
  expectations low, teachers run the risk of
  perpetuating the achievement gap since they do
  not encourage black and Hispanic students to
  follow a rigorous curriculum.

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FACTORS

• Resource disparities handicap schools.
  Low-minority schools tend to be much better
  funded and have all-around stronger resources
  than do high-minority schools. The same
  relationship holds true for schools in
  low-poverty versus high-poverty areas. There is
  persuasive evidence that this factor contributes
  to the achievement gap. For example, data from
  the National Assessment of Educational Progress
  show the achievement gap between low-poverty and
  high-poverty schools increased throughout the
  1990 and into 21st century.

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Factors

• Low-income and minority students tend to be
  concentrated in certain schools. Kober notes that
  if a school has high levels of poverty, that can
  depress achievement for all the children in that
  school, even if they are from higher income
  families. This fact hits black and Hispanic
  children the hardest, since they are more likely
  to attend higher poverty schools than are whites
  or Asians.

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Factors

• Student performance anxiety hampers minority
  disabled and low socio-economic students . Some
  research has suggested that minority students can
  become anxious about corresponding to negative
  racial stereotypes in their academic work. The
  result, researchers say, is a kind of vicious
  circle black students can be so worried about
  seeming stereotypically ungifted academically
  that their anxiety actually makes them perform
  less well than they could or the Asian child who
  is an averages student but is expected to be an
  academic star.

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Factors

• Peer pressure may cause students to scorn
  academic success. Kober notes that there is some
  dispute as to the effects of peer pressure. Some
  researchers, for example, have pointed to a
  phenomenon in high-minority schools whereby black
  students who perform poorly actually criticize
  their academically successful peers for "acting
  white. Hispanic girls are not expected to
  achieve and not to go on to higher education .
  These researchers have charged that black
  students and more and more all students, no
  matter what their ethnicity tend to idolize a
  youth culture that scorns academic achievement..

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Factors

• Access to high-quality preschool is a necessity.
  Since minority children are more likely than
  whites to live in single-parent households and to
  enter school already developmentally behind, then
  high-quality preschool is imperative for these
  children. Nonetheless, Kober finds, children of
  lower income households are much less likely to
  attend preschool than are children of more
  affluent families.
• The schools disciplinary atmosphere also plays a
  role. Minority students are less likely than
  white students to attend schools with good
  facilities and a well-controlled.

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Community and Home Factors Contributing to the
Achievement Gap

• Poverty affects achievement. Kober admits that
  differences in family income are not a sufficient
  explanation for the achievement gap. But there is
  unquestionably a relationship here. Kober says
  that there are many factors associated with
  poverty that can depress achievement
• health problems poor nutrition low birth
  weight substandard housing high violence
  substance abuse

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Effective Schools Research 1978-Present

• Ron Edmonds, Harvard University found schools
  through out the USA that were effective
  students were achieving at high levels-refuting
  the Coleman Report
• 90/90/90 Schools
• ninety percent low socio-economic levels
  (SES)
• ninety percent minority
• ninetieth percentile on standardized
  tests/national
• assessments
• Ron Edmonds and Larry Lezotte began Effective
  Schools research to document the similarities of
  these schools
• Establish the 7 Effective School Correlates

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7 Correlates

• Clear School Mission - In the effective school,
  there is a clearly articulated school mission
  through which the staff shares an understanding
  of and commitment to instructional goals,
  priorities, assessment procedures and
  accountability. Staff accept responsibility for
  students' learning of the school's essential
  curricular goals.
• High Expectations for Success - In the effective
  school, there is a climate of expectation in
  which the staff believe and demonstrate that all
  students can attain mastery of the essential
  content and school skills, and the staff also
  believe that they have the capability to help all
  students achieve that mastery.
• Instructional Leadership - In the effective
  school, the principal acts as an instructional
  leader and effectively and persistently
  communicates that mission to the staff, parents,
  and students. The principal understands and
  applies the characteristics of instructional
  effectiveness in the management of instructional
  program

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7 Correlates

• Frequent Monitoring of Student Progress - In the
  effective school, student academic progress is
  measured frequently. A variety of assessment
  procedures are used. The results of the
  assessments are used to improve individual
  student performance and also to improve the
  instructional program.
• Opportunity to Learn and Student Time on Task -
  In the effective school, teachers allocate a
  significant amount of classroom time to
  instruction in the essential content and skills.
  For a high percentage of this time students are
  engaged in whole class or large group,
  teacher-directed, planned learning activities.
• Safe and Orderly Environment - In the effective
  school, there is an orderly, purposeful,
  businesslike atmosphere which is free from the
  threat of physical harm. The school climate is
  not oppressive and is conducive to teaching and
  learning.
• Home - School Relations - In the effective
  school, parents understand and support the
  school's basic mission and are given the
  opportunity to play an important role in helping
  the school to achieve that mission.

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Assessments and Standards

• National Assessment of Education Progress
• NAEP Measuring Student Progress Since 1964
• NAEP began in 1964, with a grant from the
  Carnegie Corporation
• to set up the Exploratory Committee for the
  Assessment of Progress in Education. The first
  national assessments were held in 1969. Voluntary
  assessments for the states began in 1990 on a
  trial basis, and in 2002, 2003, and 2005,
  selected urban districts participated in the
  assessment on a trial basis.

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• The History of NAEP
• NAEP has grown and changed in many ways since
  the first assessment in 1969-1970. Several
  changes are illustrated in the brief history of
  NAEP partners as follows.
• 1969 NAEP was administered by the Education
  Commission of the States (ECS) through 1983 under
  several grants and, for at least one assessment
  cycle, a contract.
• 1983, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) won
  the grant competition and assumed responsibility
  for administration of the project.
• 1989, the project was switched to a contract
  vehicle, which ETS won for 1990-1992. NAEP
  operations project tasks included sampling, data
  collection, scoring, analysis, and reporting. ETS
  subcontracted sampling and data collection tasks
  to Westat, Inc., and scoring, printing, and
  distribution responsibilities to National
  Computer Systems (NCS).
• 1994 four cooperative agreements were awarded to
  ETS

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• 1996 to 2002For 1996-1998, and then again for
  the 2000-2002 assessment cycles, cooperative
  agreements were awarded forscoring, analysis,
  and reporting and sampling and data collection.
  These awards went to ETS and Westat, Inc.,
  respectively.
• 2000-2002 cycles,
• ETS conducted the scoring, analysis, and
  reporting cooperative agreement, with
  subcontracts to American Institutes for Research
  (AIR) for background questionnaire development
  to Pearson for printing, mailing, and scoring of
  test booklets and to Aspen Systems Corporation
  for meeting logistics. Westat, Inc., conducted
  the sampling and data collection cooperative
  agreement.

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KERA 1990

• ALL STUDENTS CAN LEAN AT HIGH LEVELS
• All means all

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'No Child Left Behind' Act/ESEA

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
  (ESEA), renamed the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB)
  Act of 2001, established laudable goals -- high
  standards and accountability for the learning of
  all children, regardless of their background or
  ability, but No increase in federal funding

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How many effective schools would you have to see
to be persuaded of the educability of poor
children? If your answer is more than one, then I
submit that you have reasons of your own for
preferring to believe that pupil performance
derives from family background instead of school
response to family background. We can, whenever
and wherever we choose, successfully teach all
children whose schooling is of interest to us. We
already know more than we need to do that.
Whether or not we do it must finally depend on
how we feel about the fact that we havent so
far. Ronald Edmonds, Harvard University 1978
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All Children Can Learn-Ron Edmonds
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Closing the Achievement Gap

• Continuously and Consistently
  Addressing
• Cognitive Domain Affective Domain Achievement

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Cultural Conditioning

• is the passing on of that cultural groups
  knowledge, expectations, values, beliefs,
  language, and attitudes about appropriate modes
  of interaction and patterns of activities common
  to that group. It is the messages that are
  sent/transmitted/transferred by our parents,
  grandparents, families, and cultural groups with
  which we are associated.

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• CULTURE

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Cultural Conditioning cont.

• These messages play either consciously or
  sub-consciously, in terms of determining how we
  feel about ourselves, and how we value other
  people. We are provided with a mental map of
  life, through the agency of people who share that
  culture. It is our paradigm, model or frame of
  reference.

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Focused efforts
Long Term RESULTS
Attitudes
Short Term RESULTS
Beliefs
Values
Patterns
CULTURE
Ceremonies
Actions
Behavior
Language
Rituals
10 Maybe
90 Focus
Q. How do you impact the culture of students?
A. Relationships
Typical School and Instructional Efforts
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What then is meant by relationship?   
A successful relationship occurs when emotional
deposits are made to the student,
emotional withdrawals are avoided, and
students are respected.    
Are they boundaries to the relationship?     
Establish expectations.     
Honor students as human beings worthy ofrespect
and care is to establish a relationship that
will provide for enhanced learning.
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     First and foremost in all relationships
with students, is the relationship between
each teacher and student, then between each
student and each administrator, and
finally, among all of the players,
including student-to- student relationships.   
   What then is meant by relationship?      A
successful relationship occurs when two people
make emotional deposits and emotional withdrawals
are avoided, and students are respected.
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No significant learning occurs without a
significant relationship.Dr. James Comer PhD
Yale University
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Children do not care how much you know until
they know how much you care.
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Minority and White Relationships (True or False)

• Minorities
• Know more about whites
• Could not afford to ignore whites
• Needed whites
• Always been exposed to whites
• Could readily read about whites
• Could hear whites on the radio and see them on
  television

• Whites
• Dont know a lot about minorities
• Could ignore minorities
• Did not need minorities
• Have not always been exposed to minorities
• Could not readily read about minorities
• Could not often hear minorities on radio or see
  them on television.

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The key to achievement for students from poverty
is in creating relationships with them.Because
poverty is about relationships as well as
entertainment, the most significant motivator for
these students is relationships. The question
becomes, how does a formal institution create
relationships?
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Creating and Building Relationships

• Relationships are created and built through
  support systems, through caring about students by
  promoting student achievement, by being role
  models by insisting upon successful behaviors for
  school. Support systems are simply networks of
  relationships.

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Creating Relationships
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Creating Relationshipswith Students In
Poverty
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Few understand the courage it takes to return to
a place where he failed yesterday, the day before
and in all probability will fail again the next
day.        
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Four (4) Stages of Relationship Building

• Stage 1 Rejection
• Minority, disabled, or poor child basically
  denies teacher intimate access to his/her person,
  but persistent and caring will wear down
  resistance and gain trust.
• Stage 2 Acceptance
• Minority, disabled or poor child lets his/her
  guard down and permits the teacher to come in and
  be friends.

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FOUR (4) STAGES OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

• Stage 3 Stage of Decision
• -Which leads to a second rejection by some, a
  dividing of the ways by some and an entry into
  the fourth stage by others
• Stage 4 Healthy, Cooperative Existence

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RELATIONSHIPS

• Hopefully, relationships will help motive
  children to learn and compensate for the lack of
  experiences that separate and put them at a
  disadvantage with their white peers.

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TO DO OUR BEST FOR CHILDREN, WE MUST TREAT EACH
CHILD AS AN INDIVIDUAL, RECOGNIZE THEIR
SELF-WORTH, ACKNOWLEDGE AND RESPECT CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES IN ORDER TO TO ALLOW THEM TO REACH
THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.