Action Plan to Close the Achievement Gap for African Americans

Background and Statistical Overview

The performance of African American students in public schools is markedly lower compared to their peers. There is also a clear disparity in the number of African American students who graduate from high school. Addressing the education achievement gap and improving both performance and graduation rates among African American students has the potential to benefit society as a whole (Washington State Library, 2008).

Assessment of Circumstances

Despite the expectation for uniform performance across student populations, statistics show that 23.6 percent of African American students drop out of high school (Washington State Library, 2008). It is important that the education system be reoriented to address the needs of its diverse populations.

The table below illustrates the performance gap between White and African American high school students across several measures:

Table 1. Achievement Comparison Between White and African American High School Students

Score above grade level: White students — 67%; African American students — 51%
Adequate yearly progress (2010): White students — 69%; African American students — 49%
Adequate yearly progress (2011): White students — 62%; African American students — 33%
Adequate yearly progress (2012): White students — 56%; African American students — 37%

According to the Washington State Library, a thorough analysis of the problem indicates that a variety of issues contribute to the achievement gap among African American students. These issues include limited opportunities, insufficient resources, inadequate preparation, and low readiness to learn.

Purpose, Rationale, and Vision

The primary purpose of this plan is to better engage African American students in high school education in order to improve their performance and reduce dropout rates. This is ultimately expected to close the performance gap between African American students and other ethnicities, primarily white students. With the broader effort to improve American society, a crucial starting point is ensuring equality among all communities and ethnicities in academic achievement (Noeth & Wimberly, 2002). The rationale of this plan is to identify effective programs that are essential to addressing the achievement gap.

The vision of this plan is to change the general perception that African American students hold toward education. The current distorted view of education has been identified as a major reason why some African American students have little regard for academic achievement (White, 2009). This action plan seeks to counter and transform these negative viewpoints, which are primarily rooted in culturally based patterns. Eradicating these negative cultural views requires collaboration among various stakeholders.

The principal and staff members need to communicate the importance of education to parents so that parents become genuine partners in the effort (White, 2009). Another strategy is advocacy, in which each student has a teacher, counselor, administrator, or community leader whom they can talk to, confide in, and receive assistance from as needed. Additionally, teachers need to reassess their expectations and perceptions, as well as reevaluate the special education referral system (White, 2009).

References

Noeth, R., & Wimberly, G. (2002). Creating seamless educational transitions for urban African American and Hispanic students. Iowa City, IA: ACT.

Washington State Library. (2008). A plan to close the achievement gap for African American students. Olympia, WA: Superintendent of Public Instruction.

White, H. E. (2009). Increasing the achievement of African American males. Report from the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment, 3, 1–23.