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Education Achievement Gap

The “achievement gap” in education refers to the differences in academic performances between groups of students. Most often, the groups in question are defined by race/ethnicity, income, and gender. Means to assess the achievement gap include standardized-test scores, grade point average, course selection, dropout rates, and college-enrollment/-completion rates. Finding the best way to reveal the gap as well as a suitable strategy of closing it constitute the priority of many education reform efforts.

The size of the achievement gap: According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, Black and Hispanic kids are scoring significantly below their white and Asian classmates in all subject areas. The percentage of Black kids scoring in the top ranks of math, for instance, is 0.2 percent; it is 11 times higher for Whites and 37 times higher for Asians. At the end of high school, the average Black and Hispanic student are about 4 years behind the average White and Asian student.

There is no one clear cause of the achievement gap within schools. Rather, a mix of factors, such as school and teacher quality, reduced parental involvement, absence of an English speaker in the household, peer pressure (e.g. being accused of “acting white”), poverty, racial segregation, and even differences in IQ have been implicated, with further disputes over what constitutes IQ.

Many ways to close the achievement gap have been proposed, including adopting color-blind policies and affirmative action, making classes more heterogeneous (i.e. mixing high and low performing students), hiring more teachers with advanced or subject-specific degrees, and using more experienced teachers. Yet, these approaches have been found to have little or no positive effects.

At the same time, approaches proven successful by programs such as KIPP--incentivizing teachers to become better educators through pay-for-performance, allowing them to experiment with innovative teaching methods, and making the work environment more enjoyable--are often opposed by various constituencies and thus rarely implemented. So is introducing competition by significantly widening school choice.

This topic provides a look into the research concerning the nature and possible causes of the achievement gap as well as the different proposals aimed at solving the problem.

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The article argues that "if racial equality is America's goal, reducing the black-white test score gap would probably do more to promote this goal than any other strategy that could command broad political support. Reducing the test score gap is probably both necessary and sufficient for substantially reducing racial inequality in educational attainment and...

"A north Minneapolis school at Olson Memorial Hwy. and Humboldt Avenue has demographics that seem a sure predictor of our state's most intractable education problem. The student population there is 99 percent black and 91 percent poor, and about 70 percent of the children come from single-parent families.

Such 'racial isolation' is widely considered a formula for defeat—a hallmark of...

"What needs to be done to improve black education? Whether it's civil rights organizations, politicians or the education establishment, you'll get answers that cover the gamut from more money for teachers and smaller class sizes to school desegregation and racial preferences in higher education. Despite these claims, there's no evidence whatsoever that these are...

"[Bill] Cosby went where most educators would not even dream of going. They are terrified of demanding what are misleadingly called white, middle-class skills and values. But if we are to close the racial gap - if we truly want to leave no child behind - we will need to pull black and Latino kids into the norms of mainstream American society. With courage and...

In this op-ed, Thernstrom presents a number of ways in which the achievement gap could be closed: "allow multiple routes into the profession, and reward excellent teachers with higher pay and more responsibility"; "insist on a safe and orderly environment in all schools"; and free schools "from many rules and regulations that so often frustrate...

"This brief explores the pitfalls in gauging gaps simplistically and suggests four ways to gain a more sophisticated, comprehensive, and accurate picture. It then illustrates these approaches using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to show how some states are making progress in closing gaps—and others are not."

"My current commentary piece over at Mackinac compares the black/white achievement gap across subjects and grades between the public and private sectors."

"[I]t is fanciful to think that if only they had better teachers, children will have high rates of success despite poor health including more frequent illness, more frequent iron deficiency anemia, lead poisoning, and asthma; greater family economic stress, including inadequate housing resulting in high rates of mobility, and living in unsafe neighborhoods with...

"Many do-gooders and race hustlers insist that the black-white achievement gap in the US today is the product of racism.  But how do you explain black students' stellar performance during Jim Crow?"

"Would getting rid of tracking help? It's doubtful. The best research has found that tracking has no significant effect on achievement. As James A. Kulik of the University of Michigan has demonstrated, the best results come when curriculum is tailored to different levels, targeting the academic deficiencies of low-performing students and...

"Decades of research shows that kids with reading problems need phonics-based instruction. Why aren’t educators listening?"

"Flynn brought world attention to the intriguing fact that IQ test scores rose steadily and rather dramatically throughout much of the Twentieth Century, at least in those countries for which we have good data. Years back, he interpreted such inexplicable increases as evidence that IQ tests must surely be flawed. Now he seems to accept unquestioningly their power...

"Elementary and middle schools across Minnesota saw a sharp dip in scores on the statewide math tests this year, a drop that educators chalk up to a tougher exam that students took for the first time.

Schools got better news from the reading tests, where student performance improved slightly."

"Why aren't African-Americans achieving all that they could? American blacks are twice as likely to be in poverty as non-blacks, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and they make nearly $5,000 a year less, on average. What exactly is standing in their way? That's not an easy question, but some compelling and controversial answers are coming from an unexpected...

"Achievement gaps between black and white high school students are discouraging but all too common facts of education life. It's well known that black students are less likely than their white peers to graduate from high school, and score lower on tests like the SAT and the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). Far less attention has been paid to gaps...

"To my mind, the key lesson and great shortcoming of A Nation at Risk was the understandable but unfortunate ease with which the commission accepted as a given the familiar institutions and practices of K-12 schooling.

Rather than ask why teacher colleges should hold a monopoly on teacher preparation, why technological...

Chart or Graph

"In the 2008-09 school year, African American students in Minneapolis failed to achieve high reading growth. The same year shows a different result for their White counterparts.

In the 2008-09 school year, white students in Minneapolis achieved high reading growth. The same year shows a different result for their African American counterparts.

This chart demonstrates the MCA-II reading proficiency gap between White and Hispanic students in various Minnesota school districts. For Minneapolis, the proficiency gap hovers around 50%.

This chart demonstrates the MCA-II/MTELL math proficiency gap between White and Hispanic students in various Minnesota school districts. For Minneapolis, the proficiency gap is nearly 50%.

This chart demonstrates the MCA-II reading proficiency gap between White and African American students in various Minnesota school districts. For Minneapolis, the proficiency gap is over 50%.

"Average ACT Composite scores for American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and White graduates increased between 2006 and 2010. Hispanic graduates’ average ACT Composite scores remained essentially the same, while those of African American graduates declined by 0.2 scale point.

Asian American/Pacific...

"[T]he gap between students from rich and poor families is much more pronounced in the United States than in other OECD nations. In a world-class system like Finland’s, socioeconomic standing is far less predictive of student achievement. All things being equal, a low-income student in the United States is far less likely to do well in school than a low-income...

This chart shows the dramatic achievement gap between the various ethnicities in the Minneapolis Public Schools. In 2011, Caucasian students achieved an 77.5 proficiency rate on math, while African American students achieved a 29.6 proficiency rate.

This chart shows the dramatic achievement gap between the various ethnicities in the Minneapolis Public Schools. In 2011, Caucasian students achieved an 89.8 proficiency rate on reading, while African American students achieved a 54 proficiency rate.

"Released in January 2006 by the American Institutes for Research, the study assessed the literacy of 1,827 graduating seniors from 80 randomly-selected 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. Students were tested for three types of literacy:  

'Prose' (comprehending and using information from texts such as news...

"Percentage of 3rd grade students that meet or exceed proficiency on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA-II) reading exam..., given in the spring.

Overall: 54% of 3rd graders are proficient in reading...."

This chart graphs some of the education disparities that children and parents experience in the city of Minneapolis. Some of these disparities are allegedly related to race and ethnicity based issues.

"These [Minneapolis] graduation rates show what percentage of students who began 9th grade stayed on track and earned a diploma four years later. ...

• About 3,330 students had the potential to graduate on time (i.e., in four years of high school), yet only about 1,460 did, for an overall graduation rate of 44 percent.

• About 5 in 10 girls graduate on time, compared to about 4...

"The Minneapolis Beginning of Kindergarten Assessment is a 15-minute standardized assessment of reading and numerical skills administered in the fall of each year with all incoming kindergarteners. The BKA’s total literacy benchmark consists of measures of naming letters and their sounds, rhyming and alliteration, and vocabulary."

"Large-scale, costly race-based busing began in Minneapolis and St. Paul in the early 1970s. ... Proponents of busing generally assumed that the racially balanced schools it produced would rapidly shrink the learning gap, which has existed nationally since testing began. But by 1995, more than 20 years later, black students' scores had failed to rise significantly, and middle-class flight had...

In 2011, every demographic category in the Minneapolis school district except for White students failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in math and reading.

Between the 2006-07 and the 2008-09 school year, Minneapolis Asian and White student math progress decreased. African American students remained the same, while Asian and American Indian students' math progress increased.

"This section examines ... the percentage of teachers who held various combinations of qualifications (major and/or certification) in relation to their main assignments (table 2). ...

The second data column of table 2 show that the majority of teachers in each of the broad subject fields held a major in the respective main assignments, except in Latin and dance/drama or theater. ......

"Almost 4 in 10 (39%) of all Asian American/Pacific Islander graduates met all four College Readiness Benchmarks, more than graduates from all other racial/ethnic groups in 2010. African American graduates were least likely to meet the Benchmarks—4% met all four.

Graduates from most racial/ethnic groups were most likely to meet...

This chart divides Minneapolis kindergarteners by race in order to depict their total literacy after their first year of school. In 2009, just over 80% of white kindergarteners had achieved total literacy, while approximately 70% of African and Asian kindergarteners had achieved total literacy. Nearly 60% of American Indian kindergarteners and only 30% of Hispanic kindergarteners had achieved...

According to this chart, the achievement gap in terms of reading proficiency between white and minority students in Minneapolis public schools is at least 30 percentage points.

"The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a respected international comparison of 15-year-olds by the OECD that measures 'real-world' (applied) learning and problem-solving ability. In 2006 the United States ranked 25th of 30 nations in math and 24th of 30 in science. American 15-year-olds are on par with students in Portugal and the Slovak...

"The overall improvement in mathematics for 9-year-olds was also seen in the results for both male and female students. Both male and female 9-year-olds scored higher in 2008 than in any previous assessment year. [...] there was no significant difference in the average mathematics scores for male and female 9-year-olds in 2008 [...]"

...

"The overall improvement in reading for 9-year-olds was also seen in the results for both male and female students. Average scores for both male and female 9-year-olds were higher in 2008 than in any previous assessment year. [...] female students continued to score higher on average in reading than male students in 2008. At...

"At age 9, the average mathematics score increased from 2004 to 2008 for White students but showed no significant change for Black students. In comparison to 1973, scores in 2008 were 25 points higher for White students and 34 points higher for Black students.[...] In comparison to the gaps in 1973, the White – Black gaps in 2008 narrowed...

"At age 9, White and Black students had higher average reading scores in 2008 than in all previous assessment years. The average score for 9-year old White students was 14 points higher in 2008 than in 1971, while the score for Black students was 34 points higher than in 1971.[...] While there were no significant changes in the gaps in reading scores...

"[...] there were no significant changes in scores for Hispanic students since 2004, but scores were higher in 2008 than in 1973. Compared to 1973, gains for Hispanic students of 32 points [...] at age 9, were larger than the gains made by their White counterparts over the same period of time.[...] there...

"At age 9, the average reading score for Hispanic students was higher in 2008 than in all previous assessment years. Hispanic students showed an 8-point gain between 2004 and 2008 and a 25-point gain in comparison to 1975.[...] there were no significant changes in the gaps in reading scores between White and Hispanic students from 2004 to 2008. However, when compared to 1975, the gaps in 2008...

Analysis Report White Paper

"One out of every six public school students in the U.S. is African American. The achievement of African American students as a group will have a significant impact on the nation’s economic strength and social well-being. This brief looks at the performance of African American students on state reading and mathematics tests and considers the policy implicationsof...

"Acting white was once a label used by scholars, writing in obscure journals, to characterize academically inclined, but allegedly snobbish, minority students who were shunned by their peers.

Now that it has entered the national consciousness—perhaps even its conscience—the term has become a slippery, contentious phrase...

"Over the last 3 decades student achievement has remained essentially unchanged in the United States, but not for a lack of spending. Over the same period a myriad of education reforms have been suggested and per-pupil spending has more than doubled. Since the 1990s the education reform attempts have frequently included judicial decisions to revise state school...

"Previous research [S. J. Pollock et al., Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 3, 1 (2007)] showed that despite the use of interactive engagement techniques, the gap in...

"The authors examine the effects on achievement of the largest federal program of financial aid to schools, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Title I was intended to improve the academic performance of children in low-income schools who have generally failed to attain achievement levels comparable to those in higher-income schools. The...

"Understanding peer effects is critical to evaluating the effect of public school segregation on the achievement gap. This paper develops a new approach to identifying the effect of peer behavior on achievement, using a framework that integrates previously unexplored types of heterogeneity in peer spillovers. Applying the strategy to North Carolina public...

"This study compares graduation rates of students in Milwaukee who use vouchers to attend private high schools with those who attend public high schools.

In 2008, we reported graduation rates for five years — 2002-03 through 2006-07 — for students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) and students in the...

"No matter how well teachers are prepared to teach, no matter what accountability measures are put in place, no matter what governing structures are established for schools, educational progress will be profoundly limited if students are not motivated and able to learn. Health-related problems play a major role in limiting the motivation and ability to learn of...

"This paper describes characteristics and academic policies of three low income elementary schools in the Los Angeles area whose students are unusually successful in mathematics. Barriers to high achievement in mathematics that exist for a large number of schools in Los Angeles are also identified and discussed."

"More than one-fifth of the nation’s public school students are Latino. By 2025, the share of Latino children is projected to increase to nearly 3 in 10 school-age children (Fry & Passel, 2009). The fast-growing Latino student population will shape the nation’s future, so it is critical that these students are well-prepared for college, careers, and civic...

"Lost Opportunity is not merely a report, it’s a platform for change. A galvanizing call for philanthropic partners, our grantees, and grassroots, grasstops and netroots advocates to organize to build a public will movement to strengthen our democracy, economy, communities and become better global citizens by guaranteeing that all students have a fair and...

This piece offers a collection of graphs which show the 2008-2010 achievement gaps for various districts around the state of Minnesota. The Minneapolis school district often stands out from the rest of the districts, unfortunately for undesirable reasons.

"Uncovering the effect of school racial composition is difficult because racial mixing is not accidental but instead an outcome of government and family choices. Using rich panel data on the achievement of Texas students, we disentangle racial composition effects from other aspects of school quality and from differences in abilities and family background. The estimates strongly indicate that a...

"This baseline data report is designed to be used by The Minneapolis Foundation staff as well as board members, community leaders, and policy makers to learn more about the areas of education, economic vitality, and social capital for the city of Minneapolis, based upon key indicators. Presenting the most current data for the chosen indicators provides a common starting point for those...

"Minnesota’s continued democratic vitality and economic health will depend in large measure on our ability to put in place education reforms that will help poor, minority children boost their performance in school.

Misguided plans that rely on racial balance to achieve this vital goal are doomed to fail, will make a bad situation worse, and threaten to bankrupt the State of Minnesota....

"Asian American students, who comprise almost 5% of public school students in the U.S., area very diverse group. In the aggregate, Asian Americans often have the highest achievement on state tests among major racial/ethnic subgroups. But this overall high performance can sometimes lead educators and policymakers to overlook the needs of low-achieving Asian American...

"The Follow Through project was the largest, most expensive educational experiment ever conducted. This federal program was originally designed to be a service-oriented project similar to Head Start. However, because of funding cutbacks the emphasis was shifted from service to program evaluation. Over 75,000 low income children in 170 communities were involved in...

"In a general equilibrium model that links school and housing markets, a purely public school system (regardless of the degree of centralization) results in substantially more spatial income segregation than a purely private system. However, the combination of a public system with a private school market yields the least residential segregation as housing price...

"Substantial uncertainty exists about the impact of school quality on the black-white achievement gap. Our results, based on both Texas Schools Project (TSP) administrative data and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ECLS), differ noticeably from other recent analyses of the black-white achievement gap by providing...

"Grouping and tracking do not increase overall achievements in schools, but they do promote inequity, research suggests. To reduce inequality, we should decrease the use of both practices, and, where ability grouping is retained, improve its use."

"This report discusses trends in the gap between Black and White educational attainment, school achievement, and contextual factors from the beginning of the 20th century to the present time. Based on data beginning in the early 1970s when nationally representative test scores for student subgroups became available, the trend line reveals a positive picture of a...

"Since 1959, ACT has collected and reported data on students’ academic readiness for college. Because becoming ready for college and career is a process that occurs throughout elementary and secondary education, measuring academic performance over time in the context of college and career readiness provides meaningful and compelling information about the readiness...

"Recent national and international tests show significant differences in student achievement. Students in the United States perform behind their OECD peers. Within the United States, white students generally perform better on tests than black students; rich students generally perform better than poor students; and students of similar backgrounds...

"Will Rogers once said that it was not ignorance that was so bad but, as he put it, 'all the things we know that ain't so.' Nowhere is that more true than in American education today, where fashions prevail and evidence is seldom asked or given. And nowhere does this do more harm than in the education of minority children.

The quest for esoteric methods of...

"This article examines the effect of Catholic secondary schooling on high school graduation rates, college graduation rates, and future wages. The article introduces new measures of access to Catholic schools that serve as potential instruments for Catholic school attendance. Catholic secondary schools are geographically concentrated in urban areas, and Catholic...

"This study compares trends in participation and performance on all science and mathematics Advanced Placement exams for female and male students in California high schools over a six-year period. Results indicate that while more females are participating in Advanced Placement science and mathematics they are not performing to the levels of their male counterparts. This performance gap...

"At a time when every hour counts, the dropout rates and educational experiences of female students cannot be ignored. This report therefore focuses on female students who do not complete high school. The report systematically evaluates (I) current dropout rates for female students in the United States; (II) the consequences of dropping out for female students; (...

"While there have been numerous studies that attempt to measure the effect of ability grouping on students, there have been comparatively few studies that analyze which factors cause schools to decide to group their students. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is nearly unique in that it provides a nationally representative sample of...

Video/Podcast/Media

"Ronald F. Ferguson PhD has taught at the Kennedy School since 1983, as well as a participating as a senior research associate at Harvard's Wiener Center for Social Policy Research. He has also taught at MIT, Brandeis, and Brown Universities. Dr. Ferguson's publications cover issues in education policy, youth development programming, community development, economic...

"Donna Ford, professor of special education at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development, discusses what is needed to close the achievement gap between white and black students and her research with gifted black youth."

"The co-authors discussed their book, No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning, published by Simon and Schuster. The book examines the impact of Title I, Head Start, and other education programs and reforms on minority achievement. According to the authors, many conventional solutions for improving schools, including increasing funding and decreasing...

"Recent Harvard research has revealed that Harlem Childrens Zone, an organization that attempts to strengthen education and redirect historically low-achieving minority children from poverty, has had success in reducing the achievement gap. Founder of Harlem Childrens Zone Geoffrey Canada explains the success of the program and the possibility for such a program to...

Primary Document

This piece offers a variety of graphs which chart the racial achievement gaps between students in Minneapolis public schools.

"This report examines the postsecondary majors and teaching certifications of public high school-level teachers of departmentalized classes ... in a selection of subject areas by using data from the 2007–08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), a sample survey of elementary and secondary schools in the United States. SASS collects data on American public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education...

"The Equality of Educational Opportunity Study (EEOS), also known as the 'Coleman Study,' was commissioned by the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1966 to assess the availability of equal educational opportunities to children of different race, color, religion, and national origin. This study was conducted in response to provisions of...

"I’m here today to share our ideas about how the Legislature should deal with three education issues in the current session.

One involves steps to immediately address the achievement gap.

The second is a plan for performance reviews of teachers that will make our strong teaching profession even stronger.

And the third is a responsible plan to create alternative pathways...

This report documents the Minneapolis Public School district's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

"This report presents the results of the NAEP long-term trend assessments in reading and mathematics, which were most recently given in the 2007–08 school year to students at ages 9, 13, and 17. Nationally representative samples of over 26,000 public and private school students were assessed in each subject area."

No Child Left Behind is a descendant of "The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965." Its opening lines describe it as "An Act [t]o close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind."

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