Black Students Struggling with Reading Achievement

RESEARCHING DIVERSITY

Researching Diversity

Within the education system, diversity is an integral part (Bryant, Triplett, Watson, & Lewis, 2017). Each student is a unique individual and he or she will have their preferred learning style, which means there is no one size fits all when it comes to learning or instruction. It is time for educators to realize students have different learning styles and they need to accommodate those varied styles in the classroom. The assessment of those students should also be considered, as the educators are considering their learning styles. The accuracy of the standardized tests has been called to question as the tests will not reflect the knowledge and learning of diverse learners in a classroom. Consideration should be made for alternative assessments that will meet the unique needs of the students in the classroom.

Selected Student Group

There is an achievement gap separating black students from white students, which has been documented for a long time (Baker, 2017). While this social divide is vexing to most policymakers and educators it remains to this day. Shockingly, the picture is even bleaker when it comes to the reading proficiency of black students when compared to those of white students. The national tests for last year indicate only 18% of black 4th-grade students scored proficient or above in reading (Ehsan, Vida, & Mehdi, 2019). The figure for white 4th-grade students was 45%. The figures for 8th-grade students indicate the same discrepancy where black students were at 15% and white students 42%. While the figures for white students are still lower than half, those for black students are concerning. These statistics will translate to greater struggles in high school resulting to lower college attendance and graduation rates, which could lead to higher incarceration rates and a general bleak future for black children. Shockingly, the abysmal figures for last year for black students are lower than those for two years ago, which indicates a general decline in student performance over the past two years. Therefore, there is a need to determine the reason behind the decline and focus on solutions geared towards improving the reading rates of black students and those of white students as well. Surprisingly, there is an abundance of scientific research explaining why the standard approach used for reading instructions is not working for black students (Baker, 2017). Many educators and policymakers seem unaware of the existing research or some even outrightly reject it. Schools then continue to focus on the same non-working things they have focused on for decades with an expectation of different results. It is unfortunate the reading scores for black, Hispanic, and low-income groups have been low for so long and strategies for raising them have not worked, that many people have come to accept them as normal (Edwards & Taub, 2016). Poverty and racism are used as the underlying reason for the low scores and if society has not managed to overcome them how can they be overcome by education? The idea that poverty is a key factor needs to be eliminated. Poor white students have managed to outperform their fellow black students who don't live in poverty. There must be systemic issues that are not being addressed at eh classroom level that are negatively impacting the black students.

The yearly summative assessments and interval progress monitoring are rooted in the notion of student achievement. However, time and time again the achievement gaps for black students have failed to rise to match those of their white counterparts. The tests are universally designed, which fails to address the diverse population of the test takers. The test makers will create questions that will assume background knowledge of the test takers. However, the assessments are geared towards white middle-class students. Test creators lack the knowledge and sensitivity of the socio-economic conditions and learning styles of black students for them to develop inclusive questions. Therefore, the assessments fail to acknowledge the different methods used for instruction in the classroom to suit the students, nor do the assessments allow the students to be assessed based on their learning style. A standardized test will require all the students taking the test to answer the questions in the same way. For this reason, standardized tests are good at measuring student achievement and they can be used to identify students who have mastered course standards. However, the tests cannot measure non-academic skills like insight reasoning, creativity, application skills, and critical thinking. Judging students solely on their performance on the standardized test is an injustice. Having different learning styles and preferences should be embraced in the exams too. We cannot keep pushing and encouraging teachers to be inclusive in their teaching and we cannot do the same for the assessments. Teachers get demotivated when they put in so much effort and the students still fail to ace the assessments.

It has been established that black students are more likely to seek assistance from their peers than teachers. Based on this, it makes it better to have group learning implemented in the classroom. Using this structure, the teacher can mix up the students to ensure that those who have difficulty are placed in groups comprising students who do not have any difficulty reading. This will encourage the students to seek assistance from each other without fear. Group learning will also encourage students to embrace cultural differences making it easier for the students to interact with each other outside the classroom. Black students are willing and ready to participate in cooperative learning structures (Baker, 2017), which encourages the students to participate in the classroom. Instead of using the traditional instructional structures where the students have to listen to the teacher offer instructions followed by a question-and-answer session. The traditional instructional session lacks active engagement and fails to establish effective communication, and creates intimidation in the learning environment. Students tend to shy away from as they get scared to answer a question even when the answer, they would have provided is the correct one. Teachers should make use of Kagan Structures as they are designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom (Ehsan et al., 2019). Kagan Structures will boost student confidence and assist in retaining their interest throughout the classroom interaction. Cooperative learning increases the student’s participation in the classroom and all the students can remain engaged for the duration of the class. With Kagan Structures, the students take turns to participate and they cannot accomplish a task if they do not work together. Therefore, the students have to communicate effectively for them to complete the given task. In Kagan Structures, all the student participation is mandatory as compared to the traditional instruction where students can opt not to participate when a teacher asks a question.

Student Group (Provide demographic data): At the national level, only 15% of the students are African American.

Achievement Gap (Use data to identify the gap): The national tests for last year (2019) indicate only 18% of African American 4th grade students and 15% of 8th grade students scored proficient or above in reading.

Trends

Issues

Evidence-Based Remediation Practices

Preferred Learning Style(s)

The yearly state test assessments for 2019 indicate a 5-point decrease in the reading scores for African American 4th and 8th grade students as compared to the scores for two years ago.

There is an abundance of scientific research explaining why the standard approach used for reading instructions is not working for black students. Many educators and policymakers seem unaware of the existing research or some even outrightly reject it. Schools then continue to focus on the same non-working things they have focused on for decades with an expectation of different results.

Implementing group learning in the classroom to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to participate in the class. Without group learning, some of the students will never speak in class and they will prefer to maintain their silence, which limits their development and interaction. Using Kagan Structures will allow the educator to involve all the students in the class and there will be equal participation in the teams.

The best learning style to improve the reading scores of the students is cooperative learning structures (Ehsan et al., 2019).

African American students score below 75% of the American white students in the standardized tests.

The tests are universally designed, which fails to address the diverse population of the test takers. The test makers will create questions that will assume background knowledge of the test takers.