...Girls achievements have improved over the years due to the external and internal factors of gender differences within achievement. Statistics show that since 1985 boys' and girls' achievements in school have both improved drastically in the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*'s to C at GCSE level. However, although both have improved it shows that there has been a rapid increase in the improvement of girls results and a significant gap has opened up. These achievements can depend on a number of gender differences, as well as explanations about their class and ethnic differences, it can be known as external factors - factors outside of school and education, such as society and a pupils family background, but aswell as external, there are also internal factors - factors which happen within school and the education system.Girls achievements have improved over the years due to the external and internal factors of gender differences within achievement. Statistics show that since 1985 boys' and girls' achievements in school have both improved drastically in the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*'s to C at GCSE level. However, although both have improved it shows that there has been a rapid increase in the improvement of girls results and a significant gap has opened up. These achievements can depend on a number of gender differences, as well as explanations about their class and ethnic differences, it can be known as external factors - factors outside of school and...
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...The Achievement Gap How would you feel knowing your children won’t be able to have a good education because you are a minority or just because you don’t have enough money? The achievement gap is a difference in academics between different races and even in different social statuses. The major differences in the Achievement Gap are in the different grade levels, test scores and dropout rates between different ethnic groups The Achievement Gap affects a lot of people because they drop out before they develop adequate reading, writing, and mathematical skills. The Achievement Gap is a serious problem that affects Latinos and African-Americans because it reduces their educational opportunities and there are low expectations for those students; however groups like Harvest Prep are trying to close it. For Latinos and African- Americans, the Achievement Gap reduces their educational opportunities. One way the Achievement Gap reduces their educational opportunities is that “Only 1 in 50 Latinos and 1 in 100 African American 17-year-olds can read and gain information from specialized text—such as the science section in the newspaper compared to about 1 in 12 whites.” (Bottoms) This is saying that it is much more difficult for African- Americans and Latinos to understand some texts, but reading is only part of the struggle for minorities because they don’t get help when they are little they just get passed on to the next grade for someone else to deal with them. Another way the...
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...Critical Analysis of Article Education and Urban Society, Vol. 35 No. 2 (February 3003) The Achievement Gap: Issues of Competition, Class, and Race Retrieved from http://eus.sagepub.com/content/35/2/151.full.pdf+html One of the key arguments in the Education and Urban Society, Vol. 35 No. 2 article is that closing the achievement gap between racial minorities and the racial majority does not merely require more competition and choice, but requires more objectives for educational attainment that are clearly defined, practices that are adequately implemented, and evaluations that are based on long-term effectiveness instead of short-term gains. An example given was the fact that public schools face critical challenges when defining equitable access and equality of opportunity for racial minorities in today’s standardized system of education. Due to the fact that Neither African Americans nor Hispanics have been able to receive adequate and equal opportunities to excel, their performance on standardize testing has paled in comparison to the rest of the population in the United States (Heubert & Hauser, 1999; Irvine, 1990; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; McNeil, 2000; Miller, 1995; Viadero, 2000). However, ironically enough, standardize testing is what is being used to measure the level of proficiency of students- even though these students are not being given sufficient tools to be able to learn the material given. Because of this many have scrutinized this system and have...
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...figures of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. The concepts of segregation and inequality are often taught in a historical context. However, if you take a look around racism is very present in today’s society and can be found by looking at the achievement gap, and mass incarceration system. Another representation that racism exists today is the concept of white privilege, which is deeply immersed into society. The achievement gap is a major aspect when we think of racism in the twenty-first century. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), there are large gaps in test scores between African American students and White students (Vanneman, A., Hamilton, L., Baldwin Anderson, J., and Rahman, T. 2009). At the age of nine and thirteen students are given a test in both reading and mathematics to determine the level at which they are performing (Vannerman, et al., 2009). The results are then translated to a scale by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). From this scale experts have gathered valuable information that confirms the achievement gap is still present today. Many say that the achievement gap is due to various reasons. One main reason that seems to be associated with achievement gap is the stability of the parents (Vannerman, et al., 2009). Often when dealing with underperforming African American children you will find a correlation to the financial stability of the child’s parents. Not having a stable environment is believed...
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...The Gender Achievement Gap Rena Godfrey Capella University ED5540 Strategies for Eliminating the Achievement Gap Quarter & Year: Fall 2013 Email: godfreyrena@gmail.com Instructor: Marge Zuba, Ed.D. Gender Achievement Gap One of the most interesting and actively debated areas in educational research concerns the gender-based achievement gaps in math and science. Despite research efforts and statistical data backing up the notion that girls are falling behind in math and science, there still continues to be significant gender-based achievement gaps that are perpetuated by “insidious gender lessons, micro-inequities…that chip away at girls’ achievement and self-esteem” (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). Research studies shed light on significant decreases in girls’ achievement rates in math and science as early as middle school that continues to decrease into high school. Although the achievement gap in math has declined in recent years (AAUW, 1999), girls consistently score lower on the SAT and ACT than boys do, and the gap does not narrow in college. Researchers struggling to identify the origins of gender differences have examined a range of theories, including biological, environmental, cultural, and cognitive developmental approaches to gender differences. What is Gender Equity? Gender equity implies being treated equally fair for both male and female. Gender refers to the social roles of men and women, and boys and girls, as well as the relationships...
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...Education and Equity Student’s Name Institution Education and Equity In the case Education and Equity: Closing the Achievement Gap, the arguments presented include the need to offer equal chance for all students, despite of color and class, the apparent education achievement gap and possible solutions to closing the gap. Arguments A, B and C note that there is an apparent achievement gap in education. The gap is more noticeable in learners from multipart urban settings, where there are many minority inhabitants. The current education requirements, of ensuring students pass benchmark tests; fail to promote equity because they do not put into deliberation the desires of students that are not academically inclined. However, it appears that learners termed as not academically inclined are students of color; hence, the need to set a standard curriculum, which is both thorough and culturally relevant as suggested by speaker A (Case). Speaker A provides a better argument when compared to B and C. The speaker begins by noting that instructing students on how to excel in benchmark tests fails to prepare their participation in a global economy. The speaker also notes the lack of equity especially for students of color termed as not academically inclined. In conclusion, A provides a solution to closing the achievement gap by setting a rigorous and applicable curriculum. Though speaker B provides a solution, which involves setting the standard, the arguments do not seems to realize...
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...African American Achievement Gap Abstract The proposed action research study will pinpoint factors that contribute to the African American academic achievement gap. These factors impact not only the lives of families in the African American community but continues a vicious cycle of generations of poverty that hinders our country’s ability to effectively compete economically and also threatens America’s capacity to provide social equality for all. The participants in this study will comprise of parents and students of highly concentrated poverty - low academically performing African American public schools. Thirty two parents and thirty two students from eight low performing-poverty schools in the research study will be interviewed and surveyed online. Collected information and data will be researched employing qualitative and quantitative practices. Introduction There was a time when children of color were denied the hope and expectation of equal education because of racial isolation and discrimination in America’s education system. Although it’s been well over 50 years since Brown –vs.- The Board of Education which established equal education for all, today we are still faced with large racial disparities in reading and math proficiency between African American children and their thriving white contemporaries. This purpose of this study is to illustrate the connection that occurs between race and poverty with the academic achievement gap of low socioeconomic...
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...state of Education in America, there is no shortage of theories, models, or initiatives all claiming to be panacea to heal all the educational achievement woes that exist in society. With the nation’s situation being as it is there is a litany of issues on which to focus concerning academic achievement, or lack thereof. One area of academic achievement gaps in particular continues to plague American education that is the obvious disparity between Black students and White students. According to the National Assessment or Educational Progress (NAEP, 2010), “Achievement gaps occur when one group of students outperforms another group and the difference in average scores for the two groups is statistically significant.” The problem with achievement gaps is that they are subject to “The Matthew Effect.” The "Matthew Effect" is an expression made popular by Keith Stanovich. According to Stanovich (1999, p.247), a psychologist whose claim to fame is reading research, The "Matthew Effect" refers to the idea that in reading (as in other areas of life), the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is also true in other areas of academic achievement. If intense intervention strategies are not implemented early and consistently, those students who arrive to school in kindergarten already at a deficit will only fall further behind, thus “The Matthew Effect” meaning that the achievement gap becomes wider over time. What can leaders in education do to close the achievement gap between...
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...Running Head: The Gender Achievement Gap 1 The Gender Achievement Gap Clint Overstreet 2 The No Child Left Behind Act requires that states bring students up to the "proficient" level on state tests and individual schools have to meet state “adequate yearly progress.” This mandate targets not only all “typical” students, but students from all demographics. With this factor of accountability, as well as school success, many researchers have studied the gap in educational achievement and how these gaps can be lessened. The most noted gaps in academic success include the areas of gender, socioeconomic status, race, students with disabilities, and ethnicity (2001). Gender has been one of the areas in which the notable gap in achievement has been studied. Researchers have studied this trend for many years. They attribute this discrepancy in gender achievement to a number of various factors. Possible influences in this gap include: culture, biological factors, theories in gender behavior, and school attitudes and factors (2008). The longtime concern regarding the role gender plays in academic success has been the grounds for numerous studies around the globe. Our culture has strong imbedded ideals on the role of males and females. Although, changes in these roles continue to evolve there continue to be underlying ideals and behaviors, which are often unintentional, which dictate how we view the...
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...The achievement gap is a very crucial issue for students all or the world today. Wagner (n.d.) focuses on two forms of the achievement gap, the first being the gap between the quality of schooling that most middle- class kids get in America and quality of schooling available for most poor and minority children. The second gap being the global achievement gap, the gap between our teaching and public schools in the United States versus all students from countries all over the world as a part of our global knowledge economy. McKinsey (2009) gives more details and statistics based on the number of differences in the achievement of white black and Latino students. McKinsey discusses the four different distinct achievement gaps between the United States and other nations; between black and Latino; students and white students; between students of different income levels; and between similar students schooled in different systems or regions (McKinsey 2009). McKinsey (2009) also discusses the gap between black, Latino and white students also known as the racial achievement gap. On average, black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind white students of the same age. A study showed alarming results that when comparing reading and math scores at the 8th grade level, 48 percent blacks, 43 percent Latino and 17 percent white were “below basic”(McKinsey 2009. Similarly, Wagner (n.d.) and McKinsey both emphasize the global achievement gap and the income...
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...Gender Gap 1 The Elementary Gender Achievement Gap ED5504 Gender Gap 2 Abstract The gender achievement gap has been written about, studied, and defined. This gap exists. It exists in the educational system and in the workplace. It begins in elementary school and continues through higher education. The gender gap can be attributed to many problems. These problems include cultural, socioeconomic, educator expectations, and student environment. Gender Gap 3 Gender equity happens when there is no difference in student achievement in relation to classroom teaching and school environment. Many factors play into the gender achievement gap. Cultural factors, race, and discrimination are part of...
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...Citation: Betts, Julian R., (2011), “The Economics of Tracking in Education”, in Hanushek, Eric A., Stephen Machin and Ludger Woessmann (Eds.), Handbook of the Economics Of Education, Volume 3, Amsterdam: North Holland, pp. 341-381. (found on article excerpt) Betts, Julian, Eric A. Hanushek, Stephen Machin, and Ludger Woessman. Handbook of the Economics of Education. Vol. 3. Amsterdam: North Holland, 2011. Print. (MLA citation) In Ballantine and Spade’s piece, Understanding Education through Sociological Theory, macro-level theories are discussed in detail. One theory that stands out is referred to as the labeling theory, which highlights the sense of self that youth ranging from the age of 6 to 18 develop in school. In particular, it addresses the notion of how labeling children may likely lead to self-fulfilling prophesies. For instance, if a child is labeled as less capable or more incompetent than his fellow peers, his sense of self may plummet as a result and lead to him never performing to his maximum potential at any point in his academic career. The labeling theory resonates with the idea of tracking of students in the education system. Tracking in American education typically involves grouping and labeling sets of students as low-performing, average, or high-performing. Based on several previous studies in addition to the research carried out by the authors of the paper, The Economics of Tracking in Education, it is apparent that tracking “increases inequality without boosting...
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...Educational achievement is influenced by a variety of factors, each of which is interwoven with another. Gender influences educational achievement for a variety of reasons and in a number of different ways. I intend to describe the ways in which educational achievement differs between males and females and the possible reasons for this variation between the sexes. Social class and ethnicity also play important parts in affecting the achievement of individuals and groups. I intend to discuss their affects on results seen in education and the way in which these factors are interwoven with one another. I will highlight the importance of each of these factors in determining the achievement of individuals and groups in education and the reasons behind their importance. Over the last ten years, the gender gap between the achievement of males and females in education has been growing in developed countries. (Gibb, Fergusson and Horwood, 2008) On average, girls in England achieve better results in most subjects at all levels of education. The issue is not confined to the UK as the problem also presents itself in other countries. (Machin and McNally, 2005) Women in the USA have continued to be more educated than men since the mid 1970’s. (Charles and Luoh, 2003 in Machin and McNally, 2005) Females attain more school and post school qualifications than males and also attend university in higher numbers. (Alton-Lee and Pratt, 2001, in Gibb, Fergusson and Horwood, 2008) National statistics...
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...One of the major issues I have observed is the “achievement gap”. Most educators define the achievement gap as the difference in performance between low-income and minority students compared to that of their peers. Traditionally African-American students lag behind their white peers. In “The Black-White Achievement Gap, why closing it is the greatest civil rights”, former Education Secretary Rod Paige and his sister, Elaine Witty argue that education is the new civil rights. Instead of fighting for issues traditionally associated with civil rights, African American leaders should advocate for the children. Leaders can bring forth change by building public awareness and using their powers to bring necessary change. Rod Paige believes we can narrow the gap by a concerted effort of committed leadership and community involvement. Like leadership, environment also plays a significant role in narrowing the achievement gap. From 2001 – 2007 the Century Foundation tracked two sets of low-income students in Montgomery County Maryland: one group was assigned to higher-income schools and the other was not. Although the lower income students received more funding, the students assigned to the higher-income students were able to cut the achievement gap by almost a third in reading and half in math. The researcher of the study, Heather Schwartz, cited environmental reasons such as a stable set of teachers, less disruptions in the classroom, and more engaged students as reasons for the...
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... The effects of poverty on academic achievement Misty Lacour1 and Laura D. Tissington2* 2 Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Arkansas, USA. th University of West Florida, 1732 N. 13 Avenue Pensacola, Florida 32503, USA. Accepted 12 May, 2011 Poverty, which forms a specific culture and way of life, is a growing issue in the United States. The number of Americans living in poverty is continually increasing. Poverty indicates the extent to which an individual does without resources. Resources can include financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical resources as well as support systems, relationships, role models, and knowledge of hidden rules. Poverty directly affects academic achievement due to the lack of resources available for student success. Low achievement is closely correlated with lack of resources, and numerous studies have documented the correlation between low socioeconomic status and low achievement. Several strategies exist to assist teachers in closing the poverty achievement gap for students. Key words: Poverty, family income, achievement gap, academic gap. INTRODUCTION In the United States (US), the gaps in achievement among poor and advantaged students are substantial (Rowan et al., 2004). Through multiple studies, The U.S. Department of Education (2001: 8) has indicated results that “clearly demonstrated that student and school poverty adversely affected student achievement”. The U.S. Department of Education (2001) found the following key findings...
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