Closing Achievement Gaps: Examining the Roles of School Background and Process

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452198944
Author(s):  
Huang Wu ◽  
Jianping Shen ◽  
Jessaca Spybrook ◽  
Xingyuan Gao
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
White Students ◽  
Science Achievement ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
School Level ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Closing Achievement Gaps

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of school background and school process in closing achievement gaps between White and non-White students in science. To answer the research questions, a series of two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) was performed on the fourth-grade U.S. portion of the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data. Results indicate that (a) the science achievement gap between White and non-White students is 0.21 standard deviation, holding student and school background constant; (b) the science achievement gap varies across schools; (c) none of the school background variables are associated with the achievement gap in a school; and (d) school emphasis on student academic learning is not only associated with higher school-level science achievement, but also with a narrower science achievement gap between White and non-White students. However, teacher collaboration is not associated with school-level science achievement but is associated with a larger achievement gap. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for further research are discussed.

scholarly journals Can students themselves narrow the socioeconomic-status-based achievement gap through their own persistence and learning time?

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haigen Huang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
International Student ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Learning Time ◽  
International Student Assessment

Despite decades of educational reforms, the achievement gap based on socioeconomic status (SES) persists in the United States. Not only does the SES-based achievement gap persist, it has also been widening. This study focused on the role of students, hypothesizing that students might reduce the SES-based achievement gap by increasing their learning time and persistence. I used both ANOVA and two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) to analyze the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) United States data. The findings suggested that students viewing themselves to be persistent were likely to perform better than those viewing themselves to be less persistent. Also increased time learning in school was associated with increased achievement. However, high-SES students generally spent more time learning in school and viewed themselves to be more persistent. Thus learning time and persistence were not likely to address the SES constraint on achievement for a majority of low-SES students unless schools provided them extra classes and learning opportunities.

Are Achievement Gap Estimates Biased by Differential Student Test Effort? Putting an Important Policy Metric to the Test

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (12) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
James Soland
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
White Students ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Content Mastery ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Subgroup Differences ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Background Context ◽  
Differential Test

Background/Context Achievement gaps motivate a range of practices and policies aimed at closing those gaps. Most gaps studies assume that differences in observed test scores across subgroups are measuring differences in content mastery. For such an assumption to hold, students in the subgroups being compared need to be giving similar effort on the test. Studies already show that low test effort is prevalent and biases observed test scores downward. What research does not demonstrate is whether test effort differs by subgroup and, therefore, biases estimates of achievement gaps. Purpose This study examines whether test effort differs by student subgroup, including by race and gender. The sensitivity of achievement gap estimates to any differences in test effort is also considered. Research Design A behavioral proxy for test effort called “rapid guessing” was used. Rapid guessing occurs when students answer a test item so fast, they could not have understood its content. Rates of rapid guessing were compared across subgroups. Then, achievement gaps were estimated unconditional and conditional on measures of rapid guessing. Findings Test effort differs substantially by subgroup, with males rapidly guessing nearly twice as often as females in later grades, and Black students rapidly guessing more often than White students. However, these differences in rapid guessing generally do not impact substantive interpretations of achievement gaps, though basic conclusions about male–female gaps and changes in gaps as students progress through school may change when models account for test effort. Conclusions Although the bias introduced into achievement gap estimates by differential test effort is hard to quantify, results provide an important reminder that test scores reflect achievement only to the extent that students are willing and able to demonstrate what they have learned. Understanding why there are subgroup differences in test effort would likely be useful to educators and is worthy of additional study.

scholarly journals Values Affirmation Intervention Reduces Achievement Gap between Underrepresented Minority and White Students in Introductory Biology Classes

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. ar41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Jordt ◽  
Sarah L. Eddy ◽  
Riley Brazil ◽  
Ignatius Lau ◽  
Chelsea Mann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
White Students ◽  
Psychosocial Interventions ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Values Affirmation ◽  
White Majority

Achievement gaps between underrepresented minority (URM) students and their white peers in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classrooms are persistent across many white-majority institutions of higher education. Attempts to reduce this phenomenon of underperformance through increasing classroom structure via active learning have been partially successful. In this study, we address the hypothesis that the achievement gap between white and URM students in an undergraduate biology course has a psychological and emotional component arising from stereotype threat. Specifically, we introduced a values affirmation exercise that counters stereotype threat by reinforcing a student’s feelings of integrity and self-worth in three iterations of an intensive active-learning college biology course. On average, this exercise reduced the achievement gap between URM and white students who entered the course with the same incoming grade point average. This result suggests that achievement gaps resulting from the underperformance of URM students could be mitigated by providing students with a learning environment that removes psychological and emotional impediments of performance through short psychosocial interventions.

Income Segregation between School Districts and Inequality in Students’ Achievement

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Owens
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Low Income ◽  
White Students ◽  
High Income ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
White Families ◽  
Income Segregation

Large achievement gaps exist between high- and low-income students and between black and white students. This article explores one explanation for such gaps: income segregation between school districts, which creates inequality in the economic and social resources available in advantaged and disadvantaged students’ school contexts. Drawing on national data, I find that the income achievement gap is larger in highly segregated metropolitan areas. This is due mainly to high-income students performing better, rather than low-income children performing worse, in more-segregated places. Income segregation between districts also contributes to the racial achievement gap, largely because white students perform better in more economically segregated places. Descriptive portraits of the school districts of high- and low-income students show that income segregation creates affluent districts for high-income students while changing the contexts of low-income students negligibly. Considering income and race jointly, I find that only high-income white families live in the affluent districts created by income segregation; black families with identically high incomes live in districts more similar to those of low-income white families. My results demonstrate that the spatial inequalities created by income segregation between school districts contribute to achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students, with implications for future research and policy.

School Counselors: Closing Achievement GAPS and Writing Results Reports

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 2156759X1201600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Hartline ◽  
Debra C. Cobia
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
School Counselors ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Marginalized Students ◽  
Asca National Model ◽  
Closing The Achievement Gap ◽  
Additional Training ◽  
National Model ◽  
Closing Achievement Gaps

Charged with closing the achievement gap for marginalized students, school counselors need to be able to identify gaps, develop interventions, evaluate effectiveness, and share results. This study examined100 summary results reports submitted by school counselors after having received four days of training on the ASCA National Model. Findings indicate that school counselors were able to identify gaps and develop interventions but needed additional training to evaluate outcomes and report findings.

scholarly journals Wider-community Segregation and the Effect of Neighbourhood Ethnic Diversity on Social Capital: An Investigation into Intra-Neighbourhood Trust in Great Britain and London

Sociology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 1011-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Laurence
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Models ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Community Segregation ◽  
Do So

Extensive research has demonstrated that neighbourhood ethnic diversity is negatively associated with intra-neighbourhood social capital. This study explores the role of segregation and integration in this relationship. To do so it applies three-level hierarchical linear models to two sets of data from across Great Britain and within London, and examines how segregation across the wider-community in which a neighbourhood is nested impacts trust amongst neighbours. This study replicates the increasingly ubiquitous finding that neighbourhood diversity is negatively associated with neighbour-trust. However, we demonstrate that this relationship is highly dependent on the level of segregation across the wider-community in which a neighbourhood is nested. Increasing neighbourhood diversity only negatively impacts neighbour-trust when nested in more segregated wider-communities. Individuals living in diverse neighbourhoods nested within integrated wider-communities experience no trust-penalty. These findings show that segregation plays a critical role in the neighbourhood diversity/trust relationship, and that its absence from the literature biases our understanding of how ethnic diversity affects social cohesion.

scholarly journals Relationship between Cycling Infrastructure and Transportation Cycling in a Small Urban Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Richard Larouche ◽  
Nimesh Patel ◽  
Jennifer L. Copeland
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Linear Models ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small City ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Past ◽  
Low Prevalence ◽  
The Relationship

The role of infrastructure in encouraging transportation cycling in smaller cities with a low prevalence of cycling remains unclear. To investigate the relationship between the presence of infrastructure and transportation cycling in a small city (Lethbridge, AB, Canada), we interviewed 246 adults along a recently-constructed bicycle boulevard and two comparison streets with no recent changes in cycling infrastructure. One comparison street had a separate multi-use path and the other had no cycling infrastructure. Questions addressed time spent cycling in the past week and 2 years prior and potential socio-demographic and psychosocial correlates of cycling, including safety concerns. Finally, we asked participants what could be done to make cycling safer and more attractive. We examined predictors of cycling using gender-stratified generalized linear models. Women interviewed along the street with a separate path reported cycling more than women on the other streets. A more favorable attitude towards cycling and greater habit strength were associated with more cycling in both men and women. Qualitative data revealed generally positive views about the bicycle boulevard, a need for education about sharing the road and for better cycling infrastructure in general. Our results suggest that, even in smaller cities, cycling infrastructure may encourage cycling, especially among women.

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