Low SES and Achievement- Revised

Low SES and Achievement- Revised

Reducing the Gap: Success for All and the Achievement of African-American Students

Robert E. Slavin and Nancy a. Madden

This article examines the success that one particular program, Success for All (SFA), has had in narrowing the achievement gap by black children since 1987. The study was motivated by the authors' observation of lack of overall progress in narrowing the achievement gap since the early 1980s. Faced with the lack of positive results, the authors' sought to highlight the SFA program due to its continued success in a multitude of cities. These authors are both very familiar with the impact of SFA, both having studied the results of the SFA program since 1993. In this particular study, they conclude that the SFA program consistently raised the standardized test scores of black (and Hispanic) students compared to non-SFA programs, thus lowering the achievement gap. The authors maintain that the research supports their conclusions that there are two distinct advantages to SFA that help narrow the achievement gap: 1) More effective instruction and 2) a differential positive effect on the achievement of students, even in integrated settings.

The group of articles as whole examines what methods are available and effective to reach inner-city lower SES students, particularly African-American students, and how these methods are measured. This article looks at a particular program and its relative success rate. The article synthesizes already conducted research. As with all of the articles selected, these authors place a strong emphasis on the standardized test scores, and in particular the Woodcock and Durrell scales. Its study population of elementary and middle school age kids in inner cities who are eligible for free and reduced lunches is consistent with the population groups from other articles reviewed.

Self-Regulation and the Income-Achievement Gap

By: Gary W. Evans and Jennifer Rosenbaum

The purpose of this article justify the authors' hypothesis that that income level affects the development of a child's self-regulatory skills and that the lack of self-regulatory skills has a negative impact on a child's academic achievement. Further, the authors believe that the failure of adolescents to develop self-regulating skills operates independently of parental investment. is to greatly expand on an already developed area of research by melding two well tested theories related to cognitive development of young children. Based on a series of experiments conducted by the authors, they were able to determine that delayed gratification skills of nine-year-olds were related to income level and they do have a positive correlation with the math and English grades for these children and that delayed gratification is not inter-related with parental investment. Thus, the authors find that wealthier parents tend to raise children with greater cognitive abilities and who achieve greater academic success.

In relation to the other articles review, this article offers more original insight than most because it establishes an innovative theory which builds upon existing established knowledge and then tests that theory. Few of the other authors have done this. The authors have conducted multiple controlled experiments to test their hypotheses, as well as relied on the previous research of others. Their research methods were thorough as well, combining standardized testing, with personal interviews and parental histories. The authors perform independent research based on well established behavioral measurement indices with a large pool of diverse subjects. In as much as the causal link between deficient self-regulatory skills and poor academic achievement, the authors propose future research focus on how the poor self-regulatory skills develop among low income children.

An Examination of the Relationship Between Achievement Values and Perceptions of Barriers Among Low-SES African-American and Latino Students

By: April Z. Taylor and Sandra Graham

The purpose of this article is to examine the link between achievement values and perceptions of barriers in low-income minority adolescent males. The authors are looking to identify and address the motivational challenges facing adolescent minority boys in inner-city schools. The authors found that minority, low-income students all to tend to value high academic achievers in elementary school years, but low-income, minority boys in the 7th grade nominate low achieving academic students as peers they most admire and want to be like. A secondary aspect of the article is to illustrate the perceptions that this same group has of barriers imposed on it by external forces, which further de-motivates the students. The results of the authors' research are consistent with numerous unrelated studies that reflect that succeeding academically can be seen as being "too white" and that athletic and sexual prowess among minority, low income boys has gained an increasingly high priority as an indicator of peer stature.

This article studies the antithesis of the other articles, i.e., how do students present their own challenges. The study built on prior research by trying to isolate the role of gender and grades and the relation between values and beliefs related to perceived barriers to opportunity. The mathematical basis for the research is that motivation is a product of expectancy and value, where expectancy measures the perceived likelihood that an outcome will be obtained and value represents how much that outcome is desired or wanted. This study thus is unique because one of its objectives is measure the mental and emotional investment that African-American and Latino students have in that achievement, as opposed to the actual academic achievement the other studies focused on.

The Disconnect of Poor-Urban Education: Equal Access and a Pedagogy of Risk Taking

By: Phillip J. Belfiore, Ruth Auld and David L. Lee

The authors are very critical of the efforts of administrations and educators in poor income schools. They believe that the only real goal in these schools is to teach and practice the basic mechanical skills necessary for the school to receive passing standardized test scores. The authors endorse two literacy pilot programs that demonstrate how good teaching and accountability by the faculty increase early reading skills. These programs should prove to be especially useful in closing the gap between poor urban school performance and the standard expectations for learning in the U.S. The FirstRead Program is an after-school program teaching proper phonetics and to 178 free and reduced-price lunch school children ages K-8. According to the authors, FirstRead proved that significant progress can be made in under one school year if the school and parents "promote the same academic agenda" (Belfiore, et. al. 2005). The PhonicsQ system uses oral and written standards to help students decode and encode new words. This study was completed by 28 second grade students in an inner-city school. This test also showed improvement in reading readiness in students in less than one academic year.

This article examines the state of the achievement gap by recognizing and comparing three possible approaches to dealing with the situation. The first approach is to assume external influences mean little in the performance of inner-city students and therefore take no pro-active measures. The second option is to determine to eliminate the gap altogether by implementing programs which will raise the performance of urban students to the performance of students in non-urban schools. The authors refute both possible approaches as not responsible or the most helpful. The authors point to the two subject studies as ways to tap into the learning potential of each individual student using pedagogically sound teaching practices.

No Child Left Behind as an Anti-Poverty Measure

By Jean Anyon & Kiersten Greene

In this article, the authors attempt to persuade the reader that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was actually intended to be an anti-poverty measure and that there numerous societal and policy barriers which will prevent it from succeeding as such. The purpose of the article is to show that, unlike the common perception, education (including higher education) ultimately has little bearing on escaping the poverty zone. According to the authors, the NCLB was designed to ultimately lead people out of poverty by using education to obtain decent paying jobs. In fact, this actually has served as a windfall for certain private interests and increases the burden on taxpayers, but the authors conclude that it has little added impact on the local or national economy. As schools fail to the standardized test scores of their students, certain private programs are instituted. The authors cite a 1973 which concludes that social investment is generally always borne by the state. Thus the overall impact of the NCLB is negligible in so far as eliminating or reducing poverty, but it does have raise the coffers of private industry and the burden of the common taxpayer.

This article is less scientifically sound than the other articles reviewed but still has utility in the general study. The authors do raise issues that need to be examined, i.e., how are the efforts to support education undermined by policy and business interests and this would be basis for further research. Nonetheless, the research methods, empirical data and innovative theory present in other articles are absent here. The authors state their conclusion that several factors exist independent of the NCLB which limit its impact on eliminating poverty, but they do not offer any anecdotal or statistical support for their conclusions.

Congruence of Mother and Teacher Educational Expectations and Low-Income Youth's Academic Competence

By: Aprile D. Benner and Rashmita S. Mistry

The authors of this article want to examine the independent effects of teacher and mother expectations on the youth achievement outcomes, the relationship between adult expectation and child performance, and whether identical or different adult expectations impacts on youth performance. Specifically, the study, which examined over 745 families, showed that mother and teacher expectations had a direct effect on a student's educational expectations, competency beliefs and academic outcomes. Particularly noticeable was the impact that mother expectations had on a youth's educational expectations. The study also concluded that a congruence between adult expectations, with the mother and teacher, had an even more pronounced effect on student expectations and achievement. Finally, the study found that teacher expectations were consistently lowered when mother/parent expectations were also low.

This study used a comparatively higher number of subjects (over 700 initially) than the other studies. This study also used an extensive follow-up period of 5 years and was exceptionally researched and documented. The authors have thoroughly advanced the previous body of research in the area of adult expectations of youth academic success. Not only do they focus on predictors of success as opposed to antecedents to failures, the authors examine the various effects of congruent verse dissonant effects on the low income students. The findings are significant for the study of reducing the achievement gap among urban students, especially with respect to adult expectations on not only perception, but also actual performance and that adult expectations can have a conjoined effect, as well as an independent effect. The study does not address the impact of only father expectations, but suggests future research in the area of conjoined expectations of mother and father expectations on African-American urban students.

The Impact of Timing of Exposure to Violence on Violent Behavior

in a High Poverty Sample of Inner City African-American Youth

By: Richard Spano, Craig Rivera and John Bolland

The purpose of this study is the assess the effect of exposure to violence on violent behavior of African-American youth living in twelve high poverty neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama. This study looks to build on the growing body of research which has linked exposure to violence to violent behavior by seeking to determine whether exposure to violence has a long-term or short-term impact on violent behavior. The study found that while older subjects were more likely to engage in violent behavior after exposure to violence, there is no significant correlation between sex and violence after exposure to violence. The results indicated that even low levels of exposure to violence had a large impact on short violent behavior of African-American youths living in high poverty neighborhoods. The study suggested additional research to examine the long-term effects of exposure to violence.

This article is not directly targeted towards closing the achievement gap, though it still provides useful information. The study highlights one particular barrier to academic achievement that is more endemic in low SES areas: Violence among school children. The authors' research method included a multi-year study of over 1000 youths and year-long follow-up, though the consensus is that a year was not long enough to fully measure the long-term impact of exposure to violence to violent behavior. Also, this study takes place entirely in Mobile; there is a distinct lack of representative urban environments with fundamentally different socio-cultural features (like those found in Northern, Midwestern or Western cities). The conclusions are generally consistent with the recent research linking a cultural of violence to achievement gap.

Reducing Poverty through Preschool Interventions

Greg J. Duncan, Jens Ludwig, and Katherine a. Magnuson

This article proposes a research study consisting of an intensive two-year education intervention for three and four-year-old children from low income home. The purpose of the study is to reduce poverty in the long and short-term by improving early learning abilities among low income children. This would therefore better equip students for success at the secondary and post-secondary level and raise their earning potential as adults accordingly. The program would include instruction from college-educated teachers who had a maximum teacher-student ratio of 6:1. The cost of the program would range from $8,000.00 to $12,000.00 per student and the authors propose that every toddler whose household income is not more than 1.5 times the poverty line be included at the program at no cost to the household (the cost would be borne by the public) and that that children from wealthier homes be allowed to participate but without the government subsidy.