Closing the Achievement Gaps

Let me go ahead and apologize for the formatting/nonworking hyperlinking to about half of this page. As I was typing and adding hyperlinks along the way, something happened with my edit post page and I could not take away the underlining. Please ignore it. I couldn't control it!

New Report on Achievement Gaps

So with all of the hubbub about schools lowering achievement goals, too much money being cut from education, and even news of how different states are doing certain programs, there is promising news. The Center on Education Policy published a new report that describes the situation in achievement gaps between different student populations. The report shows that in 74% of all cases from 2002 to 2008, minorities and low-income students closed the gaps in achievement across all grades with their counterparts. Even though this is promising news, there is still some gloom over the way all 50 states test. Taken from another article, but cited within this one, "Part of the progress on the percent-proficient measure is because the proficiency bar is set so low," said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California-Berkeley. There is an alarming number of people who are calling for change, but those in charge are not doing much about it. In the actual report, found here, there are some very good possibilities that may come from the study. There were significant increases in Hispanic test scores and African American test scores, specifically in 4th grade math, which shows that new curriculum and methods that are being implemented are beginning to work. In other data, it showed that almost every subgroup closed the gap with White students in specific areas from 5 points to almost 25 points on standardized

tests. I would like to believe that we are now truly in the realm of unbiased education and every student has an equal opportunity. Being at a school that is almost completely comprised of minority students, there are many unique challenges in order to reach these students. However, as we move to standards based classrooms and seek to diversify the way in which we deliver the curriculum, students seem to be better able to grasp the concepts. When we can stray from teaching to the test and give them life-long skills and concepts, they hold onto them longer. Educational theory also suggests that when the students do hands-on activities and even when students teach others, more than 60% of the knowledge is retained compared to about 10% when lectured to. This huge shift in the ability of students to comprehend and the need to differentiate instructional methods can be a good thing, as shown in the seemingly good test results. I would say that it has benefited education to start looking to teaching all and reaching all instead of just the majority. When I was in school, I knew, unfortunately, I was at an advantage because of how the material was directed. My friends, most of them minorities, would not benefit from the direction of the curriculum. This proved so in the standardized tests we took, including the SAT, ACT and AP tests. I generally outscored my friends who were smarter than I was, but were minorities. It appears that time is over and now every student has the opportunity to take control of their own education and that as we teach to new curriculum, the achievement gaps are closing. Hopefully in another 5 or 6 years, it will show that all races are equal in education.