Closing the Achievement Gap

Closing the Achievement GapCassandra Brann 2010

What is the Achievement Gap?

The noticeable and measurable disparity between the academic performance of white or middle class students and minority, or low-income students.

Some current statistics:-In high poverty schools, an A is often the equivalent in college preparedness to a C or D from a more affluent suburban high school-Less than 17% of African American and Latino students will finish high school and graduate from college-More than 50% of minority and low-income students have vision or medical problems that interfere with their academic work

(The Academic Achievement Gap: Fact and Figures. http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news/article.htm?id=5183 . 2005

Separate But Not Equal

Schools are still highly segregated Urban schools have more teachers that teach

outside of their content area or do not have certification at all

Gifted and talented programs are highly segregated even in urban schools and do not represent minority students

Lower teacher expectations for low income students lead to lower achievement

Minority students are far more likely to receive punishment (detention, suspension) and lose class time consequently.

(Sleeter, Un-Standardizing Curriculum: Multicultural Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom. 2005.

Herbert Kohl, “I Won’t Learn From You” and Other Thoughts on

Creative Maladjustment. 1994

Thesis: Minority students will actively refuse to learn when their intelligence, dignity, or integrity are compromised by a teacher, institution, or society.

Creative maladjustment=not learning, where not learning is an active resistance to participating in school, and has nothing to do with intelligence.

Kohl believes that the failure of minority students to succeed in schools is largely the fault of cultural insensitivity on the part of educators. As a tool for cultural preservation, students will resist the efforts of teachers and staff.

Impact of Culture in Schools

EVERYONE is cultural! No aspect of different cultures is inherently better than another.

Features of culture: Styles of dress, ways of greeting people,

importance of time, concept of fairness, rules of polite behaviors, attitudes about personal space and privacy, work ethic.

So where does problem lie?-In the treatment of cultural differences

(Banks and Banks, 2010)

Cultural Borders vs. Cultural Boundaries

Banks and Banks, 2010

Cultural Border- treatment of cultural differences as grounds for different rights or privileges Example: Shaming or correcting a child’s use of Ebonics

dialect.Cultural Boundary- the simple presence of cultural

differenceExample: Youth development professional discusses the situations where standard English is preferable (writing papers, job interviews) without demeaning a youth’s home dialect.

***Significance? When differences are treated as cultural borders, the mainstream culture if forced and assimilation is prioritized. The 2nd culture skills are taught as MORALITY or the RIGHT WAY and this stimulates resistance.

Culturally Relevant Curriculum

Gloria Ladson-Billings, 1994

“Pedagogy that empowers students, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural reference to import knowledge, skills, and attitudes

-Culturally relevant curriculum creates a safe “Third Space” and a bridge between home and school.

-The backgrounds, knowledge, and experience of students of many different backgrounds is utilized to inform the teacher’s lessons. Impact=culture is LEGITIMIZED, and not threatened, and

students can feel safe to learn and form positive relationships with teachers and other youth development professionals.

Another problem= Narrow definitions of

intelligence -With the standards movement in schools, there is a heavy

reliance upon IQ tests and standardized testing scores to track students and analyze academic abilities.

-teachers often lack an appreciation for the broad talents and difference intelligences of students especially in terms of communication styles and knowledge of subject matter.

Impact of culture: African American students often perform better in group work as there is a cultural discomfort when competing against one another

Implications: find ways for students to demonstrate abilities outside of typical written assessments

(Sleeter, Un-Standardizing Curriculum: Multicultural Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom. 2005)

Personal Example

I had an 8th grade student who was failing my history class. For one assignment, students had to write an essay on Shay’s Rebellion. He had failed the assignment and said it was “boring”. I asked him how he could show me that he knew the material. He decided to perform a rap about the rebellion. He performed this in front of the class and it was perfect. He included all the content and major players, and understood the implications of the event at an incredibly high level of analysis. And he also had FUN!

Are schools quality settings for Positive Youth Development for

minority students?

National Research Council’s Qualities for Positive Settings: Physical and psychological safety Supportive relationships Opportunities to belong Positive social norms Support for efficacy and mattering Integration of family, school, and community efforts**Schools can be considered failing on all of these

qualities for low income and minority students through cultural insensitivity and segregation.

(Keith. Expanding Web Connections: Scholarly Publications Relating to Community Sectors Impacting CYD and PYD, ppt, 2010)

What Can Youth Professionals Do to Work Towards Closing the

Achievement Gap? Work politically and legally to increase the resources available to all

youth, not just those in wealthy districts and not just those in gifted and talented programs

Work to expose youth to culturally relevant knowledge in and out of school

Work to build economically and racially integrated communities

Work to support prenatal care for all pregnant women

Support Head Start programs for all eligible children

Use tests for diagnosing rather than dismissing students

Use assets approach to find the abilities of youth and work with them

Maintain high standards for all students , and show the relevance of education to student lives

(NEA, 2007 http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/mf_CAREbook0804.pdf)

Review

I would highly recommend the Kohl and Banks & Banks texts for anyone involved in education and youth development. Much of the information is particular to schools, but there is also so much insight into the way that culture impacts our day to day life and about the relationships we form with our youth.

The Ladson-Billings text offers insight on the importance of exposing youth to knowledge about their own culture, even if it is not a part of their school curriculum. It is dense with educational theory and pedagogy and might not be as useful for anyone outside the education field.

Bibliography

The Academic Achievement Gap: Facts and Figures. http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news/article.htm?id=5183. Columbia Teachers College, 2005.

Banks, and Banks. Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 7th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.

Kohl. “I Won’t Learn From You” and Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment. New York, NY: The New Press, 1994.

Ladson-Billings. But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. http://people.ucsc.edu/~marches/PDFs/Ladson-Billings%20But%20That's%20Just%20Good%20Teaching.1995.pdf. 2007.

National Education Association. CARE: Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gap. http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/mf_CAREbook0804.pdf. 2007.

Sleeter, Christine E. Un-Standardizing Curriculum: Multicultural Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press, 2005.