Closing the Achievement Gap

There is much to be said about the achievement gap. Indeed, there is an alarming chasm between top performers and many others that are further down the scoring and achievement spectrum. The most disturbing part of the problem is that the gaps are often along income, racial and other pronounced socioeconomic lines. As with any other problem, there are possible interventions that can be used to curtail and prevent this problem from getting larger and harder to manage. The interventions that were sought and found for this literature review were found in academic databases such as EBSCO. As one might expect, “achievement gap” and other similar search strings were the parameters used to find the results. Generally speaking, the use of targeted interventions that address the root of the problem at the cultural and economic levels are what it takes to stem the problems in question. While there are no easy or simple answers when it comes to the achievement gap, the hard questions and answers will have to come to truly solve the problem.

As noted in the introduction, using a single broad approach is not going to work when it comes to the achievement gap. For example, what holds women back is going to tend to be different than what holds the poor or African-Americans back. Further, people that are in more than one afflicted class (e.g. poor African-Americans) may themselves need a blended approach. This is all also true when it comes to the arena that gains are sought in. For example, many of the victims of the achievement gap are noticeably absent from what is known as the STEM fields. STEM is short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One such program, known as C-STEM, is present in the state of California. It is put in motion by the University of California system of colleges. A litany of high schools bid for the pilot program for C-Stem and about two dozen were accepted. It was found that direct and guided interventions at the high school level set a much better tone for STEM-related (and other) success for those enrolled students as they grew into adults and started their careers. Further, an approach like this that is not race- or cultural-specific, but rather focuses on multiple afflicted classes, is a way to address more than one affected population at once. (Kuchey & Flick, 2017). This approach works in both urban and rural settings, if done properly (Assouline, Ihrig & Mahatmya, 2017).

Something else that is indicated in the introduction is that of the groups that lag being in terms of achievement are specific cultural and/or racial groups. For example, African-Americans and Latinos are commonly much more behind the curve than Caucasians, all else equal. One intervention that has worked for young African-American girls when it comes to the achievement gap is gifted education (Young, Young & Ford, 2017). Looking at and assessing the precise perceptions and opinions of the people involved can also be useful, so as to quantify the problem (Royle & Brown, 2014). With Latinos, a common thread that is very present is language. Many Latino children stuggle with English for one reason or another. Recent immigration to the United States and English thus not being their first-known language is a common reason, albeit not the only one. Regardless, remedial training and support that is targeted to such students can be a huge bonus to those children. This is especially true at the middle school and high school levels (Olson et al, 2017).

The final theme regarding interventions for the achievement gap are the best practices to use and the societal factors that are involved. The cultural and economic factors must be recognized and accounted for, albeit in a way that is useful. Reasonable people can disagree, but evidence-based practice and a shared vision of learning should be the natural order of things when it comes to closing the achievement gap (Lacour et al, 2017). The methods and lessons chosen should be based on the data that is produced from prior use of such methods in similar situations. For example, if a school district with similar demographics had great results with a certain curriculum methodology, that method should at least be investigated for usability for use in the current situation (Yarbrough et al, 2017). Finally, the leadership has to be the forefront of choosing and managing the proper interventions. Ideologues and others that choose bias over evidence should not be part of the system and interventions used (Mettle, Nieuwenhuizen & Hyidston, 2016).

The major takeaway from this literature review is that a vanilla and simplistic approach to the achievement gap will not suffice. Also, being proactive rather than reactive is what will truly help the most. Indeed, preventing things before they occur is always superior to just reacting to problems that crop up. At least for now, a blend of reaction and proactivity will be necessary to help those that are about to face challenges as well as those that already are facing challenges.