The Achievement of Disabled and Minority Students - Case Study Example

Achievement Gap In education, achievement gap is the consistent disparity in academic performance experienced among different students as defined by a standardized measure 1such as ethnicity, and income level among others. Achievement gaps take place “if some students perform better than others and the difference in their average scores is statistically significant”2 The gap in achievement that puts aside economically disadvantaged students and those of color from enabled students still remains a controversial issue and has attracted a heated debate over time. The achievement of disabled and minority students is a major challenge in education. Today, most students still suffer from racism and this interferes with their achievement with many black students falling behind in school drops out of school, and is therefore less likely to earn a middle class living. Studies reveal various factors that are linked with the achievement gap such as student’s racial or economic background, school funding, teachers’ expectations, peer influences, curricular or parents’ level of education among others. These differences may create further gaps including the kinds of jobs students secure as adults. This paper particularly explores and provides statistics of achievement gaps in Mississippi and how it has been dealt with in Mississippi. It also discusses how achievement gaps generally affect private schools and public schools. Mostly, students experiencing achievement gaps include ethnic minorities, disabled students as well as those from low-income households. Some of the indicators of achievement gaps include access to key opportunities in studies, performance on tests, or attainment of diploma, degree or even employment. In the United States, the commonly debated achievement gap is the disparity in national standardized-test scores between white students and Asian-American students scoring higher on average, versus African-American students and Hispanic students scoring lower on average. Some of the most affected students by achievement gaps include whites, blacks, and those from high income versus low-income families. More so, native English speaking students and students learning English, disabled and non-disabled students and students whose parents have a college degree and those whose parents have no degrees are affected by the academic achievement. The most affected ethnic groups by this gap include American Indians, Asian Americans, Blacks and Hispanics as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. Despite the presence of many initiatives to curb achievement gap, it has not narrowed or reduced. The achievement gap does not increase while students are in school, for instance, studies confirm that the extent to which the achievement among blacks grows is equal to that among the whites. However, there is differential distribution of opportunity to learn between black students and white students in that the black student on average fails to get the kind of schooling they require, for instance, they need to have knowledge required to succeed in performance assessments. Accordingly, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that Mississippi is the lowest performing state. Mississippi is one of the states at the bottom for reading scores among black graders, the education of many students’ starts with lack of early childhood education, and it has the lowest kindergarten enrollment rate. Generally, in many Southern states, students of color have made important achievements and in some countries like Mississippi, the black-white gaps have significantly reduced and are not experienced anymore. Studies revealed that the average score for the blacks in states like Wisconsin was reduced as opposed to that for blacks in Mississippi. In Mississippi, the average reading scores between black and white students were 53 percent and 44 percent respectively3. Arguably, the preparation gap starts before elementary school and so increased poverty and weak education affects children studies and achievement. Many students in Mississippi are from low-income households and students in high-poverty schools are less likely to be taught by teachers who are highly qualified and so, Mississippi students score lower as compared to their peers in others states during NAEP testing. A related study confirmed that black students formed a larger part of the fourth grade population in Mississippi. Moreover, the highest percentage of Mississippi population consists of young black boys and studies indicate that many black and male poor children lack access to high quality education. The rising socio-economic disparities between the blacks and others are one of the main reasons of the existence of the academic gap. In addition, researches include disadvantages in vocabulary development and lack of participation in extracurricular activities. Ensuring that there is high quality pre-school education for disadvantaged children and improving the child’s early learning can help close the achievement gaps in Mississippi. Mississippi needs to improve its education quality in orderto reduce the gap. Promoting quality pre-school is very important for children and can really help in bridging this gap. High-quality early childhood education is the best approach that Mississippi can use to narrow its achievement gap. Notably, graduating from high school in Mississippi needs one to pass each of the four subject area tests and various studies confirm that black students lag behind their white colleagues. In order to curb achievement gap, students too need to be involved because most black students lagging behind whites are not even aware of this. Poverty and unfavorable socioeconomic class are the major causes of achievement gap as they contribute to minimized access to studying chances and support from the family. More so, minority status promoting racism and institutionalized predispositions whereby in some schools there is lower academic expectation from the minorities really affects educational achievement. In addition, the presence of lower quality schools with ineffective teaching and inferior educational resources in economically disadvantaged communities greatly contributes to the increasing achievement gap. Furthermore, parent and family issues such as low educational attainment and unemployment leads to reduced academic motivation and this in turn affects students’ achievement in education. Inability to understand English or speak it fluently causes educational underperformance and higher rates or school dropouts. Notably, the achievement gaps affects many academic institutions both privet and public. There is a continuing discussion on whether private or public schools focusing on bridging the achievement gap.4 Black and white students are not likely to equally attend private schools and socioeconomically advantaged schools with reduced class size.5 According to national test score analysis, private schools play a leading role in bridging the achievement gap experienced between the black and white students as they continue with their studies. According to NAEP, test score differences are experienced between black and white students in both public and private schools. However, studies reveal that private sector achievement gap is narrower when students reach their 12th grade than in their fourth grade. On the contrary, there in wider achievement gap in public schools at 12th grade level as compared to the fourth grade. Reports show that the achievement gap reduces faster in private schools because black private school students learn at a higher rate than students in black public schools do. More so, the graduation rate in private schools is high and this leads to private sector achievement gap reductions. As the students dropping out of private schools tend to perform poorly, they stop taking tests and so their absence leads to increase in the average test scores of the remaining students. Studies show that many whites as compared to their black peers occupy most private schools and so they are more likely to take an academic curriculum.6 Additionally, the achievement gap in public institutions is a major challenge in the education system of some countries like in the United States.7 Race is a major contributing factor to the achievement gap mostly in public schools and this has created a heated debate among educators and researchers.8 In most public schools, the majority are the minority group children as these groups attend schools with high segregation index.9 Accordingly, black students are more likely to attend public schools and that public schools consist of low-income students.10 Achievement gap impacts negatively on the country’s education system and so increasing achievement gap in both private and public schools may lead to production of unsuccessful minds. The United States for instance, remains behind in academic performance due to the rising achievement gap.11 Therefore, this gap should be eliminated and should not be allowed in any academic institution so as produce effective and creative mind in industries. More so, academic achievement and civic engagement are closely related in that individuals with high education level are more likely to vote than their uneducated counterparts.12 There many solutions that have been tried to reduce or bridge the achievement gaps experienced in education sector. Some of the attempted solutions include preschool reforms, teacher reforms, instructional reforms, and standards- based reforms. Many studies on preschool programs reveal early gains in achievement and that the academic importance of preschool programs is less likely to be sustained for black children as opposed to their counterparts. According to many research findings, white students are more likely to participate in preschool programs as compared to their black peers and as a result, they are more likely to attend schools of high quality. Moreover, it is important to understand the teacher’s quality and studies have focused on teacher effectiveness in increasing student achievement. Truly, the effect of teach quality is very important and most people believe that the best way to bridge the achievement gap is to emphasize on having an effective teacher in all classes. In order to solve the achievement gap, there must be more gains for black students than the whites and so if every teacher is effective, an effective and qualified teacher will probably teach all students, both blacks and whites, and so the student achievement would significantly increase. Actually, bridging the achievement gap implies the enhancement of black students’ achievement at a higher rate than white students do. More so, teachers’ expectations of their students influence their achievement in that if teachers expect more from their students, such students are likely to achieve more. Furthermore, many believe that when black teachers teach black students, these students achieve more as opposed to when they are taught by white teachers. In addition, instructional intervention has been put in place to try reducing the achievement gap and it involves strategies such as success for all and reduced class size among others. Class size reduction and employing effective teachers in every classroom will significantly reduce the achievement gap; arguably, enhancing the quality of teachers is a crucial step in eliminating the achievement gap13. Standards-based reforms are also another way in which the achievement gap has been addressed and through this, the central aim is to improve students’ achievement. Accordingly, the opportunity issue should also be considered when addressing the achievement gap as studies show that black students have less access to high quality teachers and less access to good materials as compared to white students. In conclusion, the achievement gap exists in many public and private schools and it remains to be a challenging issue in the sector of education. The gap is unlikely to be completely eradicated by school reforms, but education reforms that provide greater learning opportunities can significantly reduce the gap. Additionally, ensuring that there is high quality preschool programs, effective teachers in all classrooms, a challenging curriculum of enriched classes contributes greatly to students’ academic performance and all these are likely to bridge the achievement gap. Therefore, to enhance the academic achievement levels of the disadvantaged individuals in the society, the major concern should be creating high standards, challenging curriculum and putting effective teachers in place. References Ballantine, J. H., & Spade, J. Z. (2008). Schools and society: A sociological approach to education. Los Angeles: Pine Forge Press. Ikpa, V. W., & McGuire, C. K. (2009). Narrowing the achievement gap in a (re)segregated urban school district: Research, practice, and policy. Charlotte, NC: IAP Information Age Pub. McKinsey & Company. (2009).The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools. Meece, J., and Eccles, J. (2010). Handbook of Research on Schools, Schooling and Human Development. London: Routledge. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). (2009). Achievement Gaps. National Center for Educational Statistics. Nnawuchi, N. (2010). Achievement Gap in Public School Education. Tate Pub & Enterprises Llc. Office of the General Counsel, United States Commission on Civil Rights. (n.d). Closing The Achievement Gap The Impact Of Standards-Based Education Reform On Student Performance: Draft Report For Commissioners Review. DIANE Publishing. Rahman, T. (ed). (2011). Achievement Gaps: How Hispanic and White Students in Public Schools Perform in Mathematics and Reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). DIANE Publishing. Read More