Achievement Gap Essays (Examples)

Achievement Gap

Provide 3 reasons why Ladson-Billings defines the "achievement gap" as the "educational debt."

Ladson and Billings are defining achievement gaps as educational debt based upon three primary factors. The most notable include: historical, economic and social - political factors. These different areas transform how someone looks at achievement and their role in reaching different objectives. (Ladson -- Billings, 2006)

Historical components are focusing on how inequalities existed in many areas of society. This made it difficult for them to be able to make these adjustments based upon certain advantages being provided to specific segments of society. Throughout the course of American history, these practices made it harder for minorities to receive the support they needed. Instead, they were forced to receive access to second class educational services. These differences in the quality of materials and services, resulted in the majority (i.e. whites) receiving the best education possible. While…

The achievement gap also may ultimately negatively affect the U.S. As it may cause the nation to become less competitive in the increasingly global communities (What is the…, 2009). In addition, research indicates that the achievement gap contributes to students who more likely grow up to be unemployed, incarcerated, and poor. Consequently, a quality education proves critical for Black children (Elder, ¶ 3).

Causes Contributing to Achievement Gap

Causes contributing to the achievement gap between Blacks and Whites include educational targets increasingly annually, shifting demographics in the U.S., and the forthcoming addition of science targets. These and other factors such as teacher expectations, stereotyping, allocation of resources, high-quality teachers, and environment contribute to potential risks for increases in the achievement gap (What is the…, 2009, ¶ 2).

Gloria Ladson-Billings (2007), PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, reports that some perceive the achievement gap as merely one of student achievement; that the student…

Achievement Gap Among Wealthy and Lower Socioeconomic Communities

There exists an achievement gap among wealthy and lower socio economic communities. Students who come from schools within lower socioeconomic communities do not often receive the same education or services from wealthier districts. New Jersey has responded to this inequitable situation with the Abbot funding process. ecently two local communities, Long Branch and Neptune, have been threatened with the loss of their Abbott status; as a result of additional mandates from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, many such schools are being threatened with the loss of their funding if they fail to meet minimum academic achievement standards. To determine the impact of this potential loss, this paper will provide insights into local concerns in Long Branch to identify how this loss would affect the academic achievement gap. This discussion will be followed by a report on two areas where it…

Action Plan StepsThe first step will be to gather two sets of information. One is a full review of the literature on the best practices for closing the achievement gap. The other is the information about the gap in Broward County specifically. We can only close the gap if we correctly identify it. Information about educational outcomes will need to be compared with income, race and gender data. The next phase of the action plan will be to identify key interventions, using the best practices identified in the literature. The third phase of the action plan will be to identify and engage with the relevant stakeholders, as defined by those action plans.StrategiesThere will first need to be adequate resources to execute the action plan. This will involve re-allocating parts of the budget at both the school board level and the individual school level for the programs recommended. If there is…

Educational Legislation

EDUCATION

Education plays a key role in molding and to guide pupils, from the tender age to old age, and offers them with rightful skills to face the challenges of the modern society. However, educational gaps render learning difficult for some people to achieve their dreams of getting education to a higher level. American government, in turn, has set up Legislations to govern such people and to ensure proper, accessible and equal opportunity to all without discrimination whatsoever. Achievement gap shows the differences that exist between the academic performances of two or more groups, due to factors such as different socioeconomic class, race, sex.

Poverty is a socioeconomic gap that clearly brings out the disparities between the rich and the poor. From research, people believed that the poor children did not take education seriously unless pushed. On the other hand, the rich attended classes and seminars, if need…

Differentiated Instruction and Closing the Achievement Gap

It is not always easy to see how differentiated instruction is able to initiate an advantage in schools that are performing extremely low or how it could help in closing the achievement gap. On the other hand, research done by experts show something different. esearch has been taking a look at schools that have been on the AYP list and achieving results that are outstanding under conditions that are extremely hard. Furthermore, students in today's schools are more scholastically different. There are more students put in special education classes, more students where their first language is not English, and more students having a hard time learning to read. There is a prerequisite to guarantee challenge for learners considered advanced when pressures of accountability put the emphasis on basic competences, and a growing financial gap that exists among segments of the student population. In…

societal concern for the welfare of disadvantaged young children and the negative effects poverty has on their academic performance. The outcome of this preoccupation largely takes the form of early childhood programs. Actually, 'early childhood programs have been a part of the nation's social policy landscape for decades' (Shonkoff, 1). The main objective of such programs is to close the achievement gap between low-income students and their more privileged counterparts. Said differently, 'childhood intervention programs' seek 'to diminish the social economic status disparities in the preschool years so that poor children enter school on a more equal footing to their more affluent peers' (Brooks-Gunn, Currie, & Besharov, 3).

Early childhood programs enroll students who are between three and four years of age. These programs are sponsored by diverse organizations and institutions; oftentimes their services overlap. The most well-known is Head Start, conceived in 1965 and funded by the federal government.…

Educational Attainment
Culture plays a significant part in education as it serves as the background of a student’s experience, the foundation of the student’s ideas and beliefs, and the lens that shapes the student’s outlook. By taking culture into consideration, a teacher can better connect with students and provide an atmosphere in the classroom that is conducive to sharing, responding and learning (Saifer, 2011). Educational attainment requires that students engage with the information that is presented to them in their lessons, and one of the best ways to get students to want to engage is to connect the lesson to their own backgrounds and cultural experience (Kea, Campbell-Whatley, Richards, 2006).
The role of cultural responsive teaching in educational attainment is to be the pathway towards cultural diversity. The teacher helps students to define the learning goals, question traditional concepts, understand student diversity, engage with the material and effectively work towards…

Introduction

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…

Diagnosing the Problem
As Palardy (2015) shows, first grade is where the achievement gap begins to develop among students. Ferrer et al. (2015) show that the achievement gap begins in first grade and persists well into adolescence: in order to address the achievement gap, the best step is to take preventive measures. This action research study plans to address the problem of the achievement gap by getting first graders to focus on reading and get them interested in reading by following the recommendation of Moses and Kelly (2018), which is to condition young learners to love reading by continuously promoting it in a favorable and positive light. In other words, by socializing reading and using child-centered teaching methods (Kikas, Pakarinen, Soodla, Peets & Lerkkanen, 2017; Moses & Kelly, 2018), first grade teachers can help to close the achievement gap.
The study setting is my first grade classroom. This setting was…

othwell stresses both internal and external information with regard to supply and demand of labor skill sets, making clear that the development of internal skills is more available to the H and line manager than external supply information. (p. 168) it is for this reason that internal information of labor supply, including all demographic and skill set information on each employee be an important and centralized system that is streamlined to some degree. This may be done by direct review of employee performance, i.e. By the line manager as well as by employee communication of skill set through reviews and written statements upon hire and later to ensure that such information is up-to-date and planning for future improvement is developed, including desire by employee to improve skill set and achieve educational goals, as well as streamlining of such information through planning and communication on the part of H and line…

End-State Vision

The primary goal for the management team at iordan Manufacturing is to solve the existent problem, and through the strategies developed and implemented, ensure that it does not occur again in the future. In other words, they desire to increase employees' on the job satisfaction and reduce as such the turnover rates, which materialize in increased costs. The future goals of the plastics manufacturing company could be best described with the aid of a realistic vision statement. This could be formulated as follows:

iordan Manufacturing is committed to maintaining its leading position onto the plastics industry by presenting their customers with high quality products, delivered by highly specialized and trained employees. The organization is also determined to make a difference in the environment by using the latest technological appliances which preserve the health of the surrounding environment. We are also proud of the healthy and pleasant environment we…

In grade four white males performing "At or Above asic" math skills is stated at 90% while black males were performing at only 59% "At or Above asic" skill levels. White males in the "At or Above Proficient" skills level is stated at 49% with black males in this category stated at a mere 13%.

The following labeled Figure 2 shows the statistical report of NAEP (2005) in relation to achievement differences among African-American and White American males.

NAEP STATISTICAL REPORT: Minority Male Achievement Gaps Relative to White Males, Grade 4, 2005

Source: NAEP STATISTICAL REPORT (2005)

y the time these students reach 8th grade white males "At or Above asic Achievement Levels" totals 76% while only 43% of the African-American males are "At or Above asic Achievement Levels" the negative value in the Achievement Gap of African-American Males as relative to White Males indicates that a lower percentage of…

Possible Explanations in Structural Issues within the Educational Experience

The similarity in aptitude early on and the increasing academic achievement gap between black and white students thereafter would seem to suggest that the causes are most likely to be social and institutional. Among the possible factors, black children are less likely to have the benefit of a two-parent home; they are more likely to live in poorer communities with lower quality educational institutions; and they are 30% less likely to change school by their parents' choice. Unfortunately, the types of educational initiatives designed to reduce the education gap have not proven successful and to the extent their data suggest otherwise, it may be by virtue of over-reliance on the issue of "passing" instead of high achievement.

For example, the NCLB approach emphasized reducing the educational achievement gap among races by focusing on achieving proficiency in academic skills considered to be…

Racial Gap in Teachers' Perceptions of the Achievement Gap," Jeffrey Uhlenberg and Kathleen M. Brown examine possible reasons for the disparity between Black and White student academic performance. In addition to examining prior research, the authors surveyed teachers to assess their perceptions and opinions about the achievement gap. The four main categories under investigation are the child; the parent(s) and home environment; the teachers; and the school system. The authors surveyed both Black and White teachers to determine whether there was any significant difference in their perceptions. While most of the results confirmed the authors' hypothesis that Black teachers would focus more on the teachers and school system than on the student or the home environment and that the reverse would be true for White teachers. However, the results of the survey show that all teachers, regardless of race, point to several factors that impact the disparity between minority and…

They will in turn pass on that legacy to their own children. Since that is the general rule and principle, why does it affect persons of color more fiercely?

Persons of color are disproportionately represented in the low strata of the SE ladder. Amongst the poor persons of color have higher percentages and are more likely to exist in extreme poverty. Since SES determines where you live to a large extent, and where you live will determine the schools to which your children can attend. Then SES becomes a limiting factor because person whose household income is low will live in government housing and may be on some government support program. These persons will also have their children attend schools within these communities' schools where there is high teacher absenteeism, poor results on standardized testing and generally poor conditions (Lee, 2002). Again, in this regard persons of color are over…

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…

2010

Description of Industry

Gap, Inc. is one of the most leading American forte apparel retailers who foundation is centered in San Francisco, California. It trades things like the casual apparels, decorations, and other products that are personal for men, women and children. The merchandises of Gap, Inc. comprise of khakis, T-shirts, boxers, denim, casual wear, and others. The trade is done in the New York Stock Exchange which goes up under the symbol GPS. The brands that signified reasonable stylishness and just about everyone-from well-known celebrities to usual American families had a pair of Gap clothing somewhere in their closet. Many people had to have the latest pair of khakis or a cardigan from Gap. Gap, Inc. maintains an unusually large number of various brands, specifically Gap, Forth & Towne, Piperlime, Old Navy, banana republic, and others. All of these various businesses are purchased by a business in different…

Gap: Early Childhood Intervention and the Development of the Disabled Child

Children with special needs include those who have disabilities, developmental delays, are gifted/talented, and are at risk of future developmental problems. Early intervention consists of the provision of services for such children and their families for the purpose of lessening the effects of their condition. Early intervention may focus on the child alone or on the child and the family together. Early intervention programs may be center-based, home-based, hospital-based, or a combination. Early intervention may begin at any time between birth and school age; however, there are many reasons for it to begin as early as possible. Early Intervention is the key to achieving the most positive outcome in aiding the disabled child to develop as normally as possible.

There are three primary reasons for intervening early with an exceptional child: to enhance the child's development, to provide support…

gap, problem, purpose, Q's, method, design, and analysis?

According to Hickman (et al.) in the 2008 article "The differential developmental pathways of high school dropouts and graduates" from the Journal of Educational esearch, the concern about the gap in achievement between high school graduates and non-graduates has long been a concern of educators and educational policy-makers alike. The peer-reviewed study posed two essential research questions to address the problem of low high school retention rates: first, do differences in the educational development of high school graduates and dropouts exist early on in their elementary school careers and secondly, if differences do exist, "where in time and across which variables do these differences occur" (Hickman et al. 2008: 2). The study attempts to address a 'research gap' in the existing literature regarding the focus on the secondary school careers of high school graduates. Focusing on the problems students encounter in high…

Leadership

Glenn Murphy is the current CEO of GAP and has been leading the company for almost seven years. Coming to the company in a time when it was starting to experience significant trouble, Murphy focused on concepts like expansion and reform. Considering that the company had traditionally directed its attention toward employing creative designs and making customers feel that it promotes originality in general, it appears that Murphy wanted to change its strategy in order to help it recover from the critical position it was in at the time when he became CEO. By taking on a directive leader behavior, he intended to turn around the company's position on the market.

While it might seem that Murphy's actions were especially risky given the situation, it would be safe to say that he was well-acquainted with the risks and with the fact that something urgent needed to be done in…

HSMS Gap Analysis and Hazard Identification Risk Assessments

Description of APM Terminals

Legal Environment

Review of the Health and Safety Management System

Description

Gap Analysis

Hazard Identification

Physical Hazards

Health and Welfare Hazards

Risk Assessment

Physical Hazard -- Working at Height - Scaffolding

Health & Welfare Hazard -- Noise

Action Plans

Action Plan 1 - Management System

Action Plan 2 -- Hazards and Risks

Barbour Checklist: BS OHSAS 18001 Audit Checklist

Occupational health and safety management has numerous benefits for business, not only an employer's duty of care, a legal and moral obligation but also critical part of business equal in importance to other business functions like finance, marketing and production. When health and safety is embedded as part of business, results would be, good company image and reputation, better employee motivation and morale, improved efficiency and ultimately increased profitability.

The implementation of a sound health, safety and environment (HSE)…

disproportionate levels of educational achievement among hite and African-American students, titled "Powerful Pedagogy for African-American Students: A Case of Four Teachers," researcher Tyrone C. Howard examines the role of teacher effectiveness in terms of reaching this distinct student population. As Howard observes in the opening of his article, "effectively teaching African-American students continues to be one of the most pressing issues facing educators ... (and) despite the plethora of school restructuring and educational reforms, the disproportionate underachievement of African-American students is a consistent occurrence in U.S. schools" (179), and this alarming phenomenon provides the central premise of his subsequent investigation. Howard elects to focus his qualitative study on the diverse range of socioeconomic, cultural, and regional factors which are likely to exert an impact on the continued underachievement trend within African-American student groups. He is also concerned with assessing the role that teacher effectiveness plays in influencing the eventual achievement…

Peers and staff at major universities will review information collected in order to test for reliability and validity. Follow up studies will be necessary in order to determine the future efficacy of the theory proposed.

esults

The researcher suggests that the results of the study will reveal the critical factors that are likely to impact student's success in the classroom with regard to multicultural education. From the results of the fieldwork the researcher proposes that several factors will need to be adopted by faculty and staff in order to improve student outcome in the classroom.

eferences

Banks, J.A. (2001). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum and teaching. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Banks, JA, & Banks, C.A.M. (1995). Handbook of research on multicultural education.

New York: Macmillan.

Benz, C.. & Newman, I. (1998). Qualitative-quantitative research methodology:

Exploring the interactive continuum. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, p. 9.

Capella-Santana, N. (2003). "Voices…

Medical Robotics

In spite of research gaps, medical robotics is a growing trend in the United States.

Advances in Medical Robotics (Diana, 2011)

Hybrid Assistive Limb 5 (HAL5) is an artificially powered ecoskeleton that helps double the amount of weight someone can carry unaided.

DaVinci Si HD Surgical System performs minimally invasive surgery through superior visualization and greater precision, with incisions of one to two centimeters causing less pain and speedier recovery. It reduces the hospital stay to one half and costs one third less.

Sofie incorporates force feedback allowing a surgeon to feel the pressure they apply making sutures and pushing tissue aside. Sofie is expected to develop in five years.

Cyberknife Robotic Radiosurgery System is a non-invasive alternative to surgery for treatment of cancerous and non-cancerous tumors.

Nursebot is designed to specifically help elderly deal with daily activities allowing them to live at home.

RIA is designed to…

Racial and Ethnic Achievement Gap Trends: Reversing the Progress toward Equity? By Jaekyung Lee. This article discusses setbacks in the achievement of racial and ethnic minorities, and identifies some of the key factors affecting these setbacks. The author believes variations in the data are not fully discussed, and there are strong implications toward future setbacks.

Reflective Review

The United States has always been a melting pot, and this blending of cultures and ethnicities continues throughout the new millennium. The fight for Civil Rights in the 1950s and 60s brought new opportunities to minorities in our country, but many studies and data indicate these opportunities may in fact be decreasing. Minorities tend to achieve less in mathematics and reading testing, and while these gaps narrowed in the 70s and 80s, they appear to be widening again (Lee 3). The author notes there are a wide variety of social and economic trends…

Dissatisfaction with elementary school teachers and the educational environment usually meant that the same parents remained dissatisfied with the high school teachers and high school environment. he researcher suggests that the research gathered in the current study be used to improve community relations and more importantly, to improve the one-on-one relationships between all public school professionals and all parents. he author also notes that elementary school education provides a strong foundation for student math and literacy competency. hose competencies will carry over into middle and high school. herefore, African-American students who did not receive an adequate early childhood education are less likely to thrive in later grades.

African-American parents varied with regard to the factors that influence their perceptions about public schools and their staff. Course materials and caliber of homework was one factor that impacted African-American parent perspectives. Some parents, however, attributed their children's success or failure to personal…

Education and Equality of Opportunity

The issue of equality in access to education has been a long running argument and each time legislations are passed and initiatives invented towards trying to make education actually equal and accessible, there are gaping gaps that still make these efforts run short of their target goal. There are several terms that are used in the education department that need to be well understood since most have been misused and hence leading to either a stereotype view of education, or a skewed perspective that only helps to make the situation worse than it already is.

The achievement gap; this is often referred to as the disparity or difference in the performance of students in various groups. From the surface of it, it looks justifiable definition, however, these groupings that are use to measure the academic performance are quite stereotyped and the academic achievements have nothing…

Intervention Effectiveness

esponse to instruction and intervention TI2 is reported as a general approach in education to closing the gap in achievement. TI2 methods are constructed upon the esponse to Intervention (TI) model that was an option for schools under the 'Building the Legacy, Idea 2004 reauthorization of the individuals with Disabilities Education Act IDEA. (California Department of Education, 2011) TI and the expanded TI2 are reported as being based upon "17 years of practice that has refined continuous progress monitoring as a strategy for keeping students on a path toward success." (California Department of Education, 2011) TI is reported as a strategy that moves all students through the steps set out in the learning standards and is further more stated to be an approach that views both academic and behavioral achievement of students.

Tier 1-3

Tier 1 included the 'Universal Interventions' which include "preventive, proactive, universal intervention in all…

Students, Prejudice and isk

Students learn to be prejudiced through experience with other persons; prejudice by others can lead to prejudice in students, especially if they feel that representatives of a group, such as teachers or persons of authority speak for the whole and express basically biased views. In this way students can become prejudiced against certain groups; or news reports in the media, for example, of the way that police officers are portrayed, can lead to prejudice in students. Peers and family members can also pass on prejudice to students, so it is something that can be handed down by background and culture, too (Koonce, 2016).

Approaches that might help develop appropriate tolerance and acceptance in students could be for schools to adopt a Zero Tolerance policy, in which no form of prejudice or bias is accepted and if it is displayed by students they are immediately disciplined without…

It is our belief that such integration will provide reciprocal benefits. Learners will more fully understand information technologies in the process of applying them across the curriculum and their understanding of other curriculum areas will be similarly enriched as they work to apply it skills in those contexts. Furthermore, there is a need to ensure that people understand the connections between information technologies and the other skills they attain in school, skills they use in work, and in everyday life.

Findings of the Initial Literature eview Phase of the esearch

There exists a lack of technological integration which is noted at all levels of the educational forum as being one that is detrimental to the future of the student if not adequately addressed. The smaller schools appear to be providing better instruction and 'care' of their students as well as better technological instruction and overall better outcomes in terms of…

Teachers' Expectations

Prospectus:

This research study will examine the impact of teachers' expectation on students' overall academic achievement. The research will be conducted at Huntington Park High School, located in the city of Huntington Park. It is one of the largest high schools in Los Angeles Unified School District and has an enrollment of over 5000 students with 3-track calendar. The ethnic backgrounds of the students consist of 98.6% Latino, 0.6% black and 0.3% white. The students of Huntington Park High School (HPHS) have not been challenged to perform to their best abilities. One of the reasons may be that the teachers perceive them as incapable and lacking motivation, and so they feel it is unfair or hopeless to expect more from the students. The subtle messages received from their teachers may make the students feel incapable of handling demanding work. This could also be a factor in the students'…

.....citizenship is essential to a democracy. Good citizenship entails active engagement in political issues, which creates an educated and informed voter empowered to make decisions based on fact and reason rather than on emotion and opinion. Good citizenship also entails active participation in the political process, including voting, political activism, and ongoing political education. The opposite of good citizenship is idiocy: self-centeredness and short sightedness that can damage and destroy a democracy. When citizens are idiots, they hijack the democracy by voting according to narrow and selfish concerns rather than by making concerns for the good of the polis. Idiots "place personal concerns (their own and their families' needs and wants) far out in front of community concerns and, in this lethal act of imbalance, threatened the freedoms and rights they were so eager to enjoy," (Parker, n.d., p. 71). Idiots do not understand or appreciate the privileges or responsibilities…

" (Halpin and urt, 1998) Duois states: "The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife -- this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of White Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. (Duois, 1903)

The work of Pope (1998) conducted a study to make examination of the relationship between psychosocial development and racial…

Students in these kinds of schools do not attend school longer, but they do not have a summer break that is longer than any of the other breaks that they take during the school year.

esearch done by McMillen (2001) indicated that there were 106 schools in the state of North Carolina that operated on the year-round school calendar for third through eighth grades during the 1997-1998 school year. McMillen (2001) then conducted an analysis of the academic achievements of these students and compared them to the academic achievements of students in the same grades that attended schools where the traditional calendar was still used.

Data for the study came from a database of statewide testing in which 95% of the public schools in the state participate. In order to determine the academic achievements of the students, McMillen (2001) looked at achievement test scores and demographic information that was collected…

No Child Left Behind and Black Males

No child left behind

No Child Left Behind: Cause and Effect Essay

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed in 2001 in order to improve overall students' performance and to decrease the performance gap between minority and mainstream students. However other effects have emerged since its implementation. Through this cause and effect essay, author sheds light on effects of the NCLB. It has been discussed, how the NCLB has helped to improve education levels as well as how school administrators are facing challenges to meet the standards of this act.

The Influence of No Child Left Behind on Black Male Graduate ate

The Influence of No Child Left Behind on Black Male Graduate ate

Essay

NCLB is an educational policy that emphasizes accountability by imposing constraints on school systems. According to Gay (2007),

"The achievement gaps persist among different ethnic group,…

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law by President Bush in 2002 as a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that was enacted in 1965 and re-enacted in 1994. The Elementary and Secondary Act also encompasses Title I, which is significant as it provides additional support for students who are disadvantaged, a factor that is often prominent in discussion of overall student performance in the United States. The nation has given considerable attention to ESEA as it has established more stringent and ambitious standards on public school, professional educators, and the students who attend public schools in the United States. Moreover, the role of the government has been expended through the act to ensure that underprivileged children receive equitable educational opportunities.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was intended to improve student achievement and applied a four-pronged approach to the ensuring educational progress…

Teaching

What are three rewards and three challenges that you will face as a teacher?

As a rabid student of popular culture, I have been interested in the so-called "achievement gap" in education, popularized in the media, the political spectrum, and even within contemporary business culture. There is clearly a demonstrable gap in educational relevancy; second, there are basic skills that are absolutely vital in order to participate in the modern global village that are not universal with the U.. educational environment. cholarship also points out that the earlier the attention to this "gap," the earlier the attention to potential reading disabilities, and the earlier the intervention towards socialization issues, the higher rate of success and inclusion. This, too, engenders challenges within the profession. For instance, today's classrooms are more diverse than ever, they are multi-dimensional as well. To help fill the gap, teachers need to be able to jump…

Unfunded Mandate of NCL and Title I

The federal government contributes only a "relatively small share of school and district revenues" and in fact less than 10%, however, federal regulations that detail how funds are to be spent by the schools "exert a tremendous impact on school district management behavior and operations." (Center for American Progress, 2011)

The Federal government contributes only a very small portion of funding for state schools however, the federal government places a great deal of pressure on schools because of this funding and as such impacts the countries schools methods of management and makes stringent requirements on student achievement.

Title I Funding

The intentions of Title I funding is to provide "additional educational services to the neediest students in an LEA." (Center for American Progress, 2011) When Title I funding first began the manner in which the LEA spent the Title I funding was left…

Both observation and experiment provided the underpinning for Abraham Maslow’s theory of human motivation. Maslow (1943) posits, “man is a perpetually wanting animal,” leading to the constant striving to fulfill goals (p. 370). If and when anything prevents the fulfillment of a goal—whether the obstacle is internal or external—discomfort or psychopathy can occur (Maslow, 1943). Although Maslow’s original research was conducted decades ago, recent research on motivation and human behavior continues to substantiate Maslow’s core claims. Researchers continue to operationalize Maslow’s definitions of needs and motivation, leading to a strengthening of the original theory and expanded applications in the social sciences. Maslow himself wrote extensively to develop and mature a comprehensive theory of human motivation based on the hierarchy of needs model. The original needs hierarchy consists of five fundamental needs: for physiological comfort and fulfillment, for safety and security, for belongingness, for esteem, and for self-actualization. Although definitions of…

In addition to changes in admission policies at universities, new workshops in education are beginning to address this issue head on, with teaching participants being taught that American history and education are both "written from the perspective of whites and that laws and policies benefit whites while putting minorities at an immediate disadvantage." (Fernandez, 1) This has helped to redirect the perspective on Affirmative Action within the profession, where institutions are beginning to espouse it as a legitimate means to balancing merit and racial fairness in both the admission of students and the courtship and hiring of teachers. A recent Supreme Court decision on student admission to the University of Michigan reflected this stance, offering real and applicable precedent that today reverberates in the collective movement to improve conditions for an ethnically diverse range of Americans.

In 2000, Gratz v Bollinger began the long process of defending the Constitutionality of…

Pedagogic Model for Teaching of Technology to Special Education Students

Almost thirty years ago, the American federal government passed an act mandating the availability of a free and appropriate public education for all handicapped children. In 1990, this act was updated and reformed as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which itself was reformed in 1997. At each step, the goal was to make education more equitable and more accessible to those with special educational needs. During the last presidential term, the "No Child Left Behind" Act attempted to assure that individuals with disabilities were increasingly mainstreamed and assured of high educational results. All of these legislative mandates were aimed at insuring that children with disabilities were not defrauded of the public education which has become the birthright of all American children. The latest reforms to IDEA, for example, provided sweeping reforms which not only expanded the classification of special…

he belief that the achievement of students in the United States schools was falling behind other countries led politicians in the 1970s to instigate a minimum competency testing movement to reform our schools. States began to rely on tests of basic skills to ensure, in theory, that all students would learn at least the minimum needed to be a productive citizen (Amrein & Berliner).

In 1983, the National Commission of Education released a Nation at Risk, the most influential report on education in the past several decades. A Nation at Risk called for an end to the minimum. he competency testing movement and the beginning of the high-stakes testing movement that would raise the nation's standards of achievement drastically. his was a direct result of the perception that America was falling behind other nations in the education of their youth.

In discussing current high-stakes testing practices, test scores were often…

Curriculum guides what is taught while differentiation guides how it is taught. Differentiation can be used to teach the same standard to a range of learners by using diverse teaching and learning modes. Curriculum doesn't have to be narrow to increase chances of success on standardized tests. Rather, differentiation means that teachers can make math accessible, equitable, and exciting to all students by "providing materials and tasks on the standard at varied levels of difficulty, with varying degrees of scaffolding, through multiple instructional groups, and with time variations" (Tomlinson, 2000).

Admittedly, standards-driven curriculum is far behind its goals for ensuring that "no child will be left behind."

ut, while African-American and Hispanic students lag whites in achievement as measured by standardized tests, every racial/ethnic subgroup has made gains in achievement during the past few decades (it takes more than testing (closing the achievement gap, 2001). The gap has not narrowed…

The achievement gap is a problem for many younger learners that appears to be impacted by racial and socio-economic factors (Harackiewicz, Canning, Tibbetts, Priniski & Hyde, 2016). However, social psychology interventions can be applied to help reverse the negative impacts of these factors and instill confidence in young students on the wrong end of the achievement gap (Spitzer & Aronson, 2015; Yeager & Walton, 2011). This paper will describe an intervention to address the problem of the achievement gap so as to assist in closing it.
The problem of the achievement gap is one that impacts all of society: educational disparities cause disruptions in the balance of economic opportunities for people around the whole country. As one group excels, another falls behind, which means there are fewer opportunities for the latter to succeed. Closing the achievement gap can help to create more equitability in education and allow for more even…

Impact of Culturally elevant Teaching on Literacy Development of African American Students in Urban EducationCulturally elevant Teaching and Literacy DevelopmentCulturally relevant pedagogy has emerged as one of the interventions to help enhance the learning outcomes of different student populations. The concept emerged from reform initiatives of educational programs across the country, which have contributed to the development of various educational interventions and programs. Ladson-Billings (1995) developed this concept and define it as the inclusion of aspects of the students cultural environment in the arrangement of and instruction in the classroom. Culturally relevant pedagogy could play an important role in student engagement and achievement in the modern learning environment. Byrd (2016) contends that culturally relevant teaching is a potent intervention and strategy for lessening achievement gaps and improving student engagement and achievement. While culturally relevant pedagogy could help lessen gaps in student achievement, todays learning environment is still characterized by disparities…

Impact on Equity

One major point regarding equity as applied to performance-based assessment is made by Yale Professor Emeritus Edmund Gordon (Dietel, Herman and Knuth, 1991). "We begin with the conviction that it is desirable that attention be given to questions of equity early in the development of an assessment process rather than as an add-on near the end of such work....The task then is to find assessment probes (test items) which measure the same criterion from contexts and perspectives which reflect the life space and values of the learner."

According to obert Linn (Dietel, Herman and Knuth, 1991), "The criterion of equity needs to be applied to any assessment. It is a mistake to assume that shifting from standardized tests to performance-based assessments will eliminate concerns about biases against racial/ethnic minorities or that such a shift will necessarily lead to equality of performance. Although many at-risk students come to…

Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

An effort to improve the quality of education for all students and to ensure that no child is left behind, Massachusetts advocates, parents and educators of the Coalition for Authentic eform in Education (CAE) have proposed, House Bill 3660 for the reform of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAST) test.

The high rate of high school dropouts and gaps in achievement among cultures and economic levels has suggested an evaluation of Massachusetts current testing system. Massachusetts has experienced a drop-out rate of approximately 10,000 students per year over the last decade with the highest numbers among the Hispanic, African-American, low-income families, students with learning disabilities and language barriers.

This paper will illustrate the effect of high-stake test and student achievement. It will look at the current MCAST, the need for reform and the underlining challenges to provide equal and quality education to for children.

Advocates claim…

For Bush, the "formation and refining of policy proposals" (Kingdon's second process stream in policymaking) came to fruition when he got elected, and began talking to legislators about making educators and schools accountable. Bush gave a little, and pushed a little, and the Congress make its own changes and revisions, and the policy began to take shape. The third part of Kingdon's process stream for Bush (politics) was getting the necessary votes; Bush had his handlers buttonhole certain conservative politicians, and united them with Democrats, to get enough votes to pass the NCLB.

Meantime, it was truly "organized anarchy" as the debate in the House and Senate lasted seven weeks, and some members of Congress rejected the idea of having the NAEP double check state statistics that show whether test scores have gone up or not. Civil rights groups attacked the bill, saying it would be unfair to minorities.

There…

Instead of pretending that racism and its effects no longer exist, we need to strengthen affirmative action and devise a new set of policies that directly tackle the racial gap in wealth." (Derrity, 1).

That, in a nutshell, is the position of this paper. America has not given affirmative action enough time to act. Moving forward, we should continue our affirmative action policies, but with an end in mind. Economists and sociologists, along with help from America's captains of industry and human resources experts, should devise an ideal time frame whereby affirmative action will end, and set outside and inside goals for this time frame as well.

But for now, affirmative action must continue, and continue with gusto, to reverse the horrors that America's history has caused.

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW of RELATED LITERATURE

History of Affirmative Action review of the history associated with affirmative action is the first step to…

If students are misbehaving, they are not engaged in their lessons. Behavior management is, unfortunately, a priority focus at Springfield Gardens, to the detriment of instruction. This is the point that the three interviewees continued to stress. None of them blamed the teachers for failing to engage students; the fault, as they see it, lies squarely with the students whose families apparently do not place a high value on education. The students, as Gordon, Benton and Johnson see it, are products of the culture in which their parents live.

The three frequently compared and contrasted the students of today with students of generations past. Students in "the good old days" did not misbehave the way students do "these days." That point was made clear, particularly in interviews with Benton and Gordon. Benton recalled a childhood outside the United States where school, he implied, was much more rigorous. It would appear…

Millions of dollars are spent on test-prep manuals, books, computer programs and worksheets (Gluckman, 2002). Static/captive learning can help teachers around the nation prepare their students for standardized testing.

Significance of the Study to Leadership

A principal is the leader of the campus. The challenge for the principal is to know his or her district's mandated curriculum and make sure teachers are able to deliver it (Shipman & Murphy, 2001). As the key decision-maker for the use of time and space, principals must be aware of how the use of time and space affects instruction. Principals need to know how best to use assessment data based on relevant content standards with teachers, school communities. Improved student learning is always the focus of assessment.

ecause of high stakes testing, teachers are always assessing to monitor student progress and plan the scope and sequence of instruction. Principals can work to structure school…

Human relations are vital. Teachers must trust each other, there must be norms that support productive criticism, and there must be techniques in place for combining and resolving disputes. Arrangements need to be in place that generates discussion for problem identification and decision making. These arrangements could be things such as normal team meetings amid teachers at the same grade level or department meetings within high schools and middle schools. Frequently useful are school connections to inside and outside sources of knowledge and scrutiny coupled to a readiness to learn from such sources. Also, schools must work to secure the power to proceed with actions that might go against existing policies and practices. By doing this they master the micro-politics of their districts and their communities.

In schools where circumstances to maintain collaborative problem solving are not in place, leaders must expertly manage two plans at the same time. They…

divorce rate in the United States is rising at an alarming rate. Just after the Civil War, approximately 5% of marriages in the United States ended in divorce. The divorce rate increased to approximately 10% by the 1920s and approximately 35% by the mid-1960's. y 1990, the divorce rate in the United States had risen to 50%. In a span of 125 years, the divorce rate in the United States increased by 900%. These rising divorce rates have undoubtedly had a profound effect on children. In 1988, 15% of all chil-dren lived with a divorced or separated parent. Presently, more than one mil-lion children per year experience a parental divorce. In the 1960's, almost 90% of children lived in homes with two biological parents. y 1995, approximately 18.9 million children under the age of 18 lived with one. With the rising divorce rate it is important to look at how…

Maps to increase comprehension for ESL's

English as a Second Language Learner

The academic achievement gap between linguistic minority groups and other students is a persistent problem for the American public school system (Thernstrom and Thernstrom, 2003). The pattern of underachievement and a high school dropout rate for Hispanic/Latino students among immigrant groups is particularly pronounced (Wong Fillmore & Meyer, 1992) Of the school-aged English Language Learner (ELL) population, 73% come from Spanish language backgrounds (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002), and their test results in reading are of particular concern as literacy skills are the building blocks for academic achievement. The gap between the test scores of Hispanic/Latino students and white students is a well documented phenomenon, existing throughout grades K-12 in both reading and mathematics (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2003). According to the NCES (2000), 44% of foreign-born Hispanics fail to complete high school. A much lower percentage…

colostate.edu/guides/research/casestudy/pop2a.cfm.

3. Hispanic, White Communities Forge Ties in Alabama (2003) a UA Center for Public Television and Radi9o Production. Online available at:

4. McDade, Sharon a. (2002) Definition of a Case Study. Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning - North Carolina State. Online available at http://www.ncsu.Edu/fctl/Programs/Instructional- Development/Teaching _Materials / CaseStudies/Materials / Case studyDefintion.pdf# search =%22 CASE%20STUDY % 3A%20DEFINIT ION%20OF %22.

5. UAB Wins $389,000 in Grants to Help Teachers Educate Non-English Speaking Children (200) UAB Media Relations. 27 Nov 200. Online available at http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=46333.

6. English Language Development and Multicultural Education (2005) University of Alabama. Berkeley University Online available at http://crede.berkeley.edu/tools/directory2-/PDF/esl.pdf#search=%22Alabama%3A%20Elementary%20ESL%20SERVICES%22.

7. English as a Second Language (ESL) (2004) Baldwin County Public Schools; Bay Minette, Alabama. Online available at http://www.bcbe.org/Default.asp?DivisionID='824'&DepartmentID='958'.

8. UAB Wins $389,000 in Grants to Help Teachers Educate Non-English Speaking Children (200) UAB Media Relations. 27 Nov 200. Online available at http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=46333.

9. Alabama (2006) KYTESOL Newsletter Vol.…

Vaughn et al. (2003) report that the identification of LD students has increased upwards of 200% since 1977, with explanations ranging from a likely outcome of the growing knowledge field, to LD as a field serving as a sink for the failures of general education to meet the needs of students of varying abilities. The study investigators find that not only is the heterogeneity of the identified students quite wide, they also find that many students are overrepresented (misidentified) or underrepresented (unidentified). One large problem is the use of IQ tests to identify those students as learning disabled. Using standardized tests fails to accurately identify those students who either have reading difficulties or those students whose first language is not English. More emphasis is needed on response to instruction type models of assessment and intervention to replace ineffective normalized standards for identifying students at risk and properly placing students for…

Dr. Frank Pajares, writing in Reading and riting Quarterly (Pajares 2003), points out that in his view of Bandura's social learning theory, individuals are believed to possess "self-beliefs that enable them to exercise a measure of control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions."

As has been mentioned earlier in this paper, but put a slightly different way by Pajares ("Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Motivation, and Achievement in riting: A Review of the Literature") based on Bandura, behaviorists can better predict what individuals are capable of based on "their beliefs about their capabilities" than by what they are actually capable of accomplishing.

This aspect of self-efficacy carries over into a student's writing abilities; and a writer with a "strong sense of confidence" may excel while writing an essay because there will be less apprehension over the quality of what the writer is trying to express. The writer may have some doubts about whether…

Decoding: Identifying Improved Techniques and Approaches for Helping Children Learn to ead

Because reading is essential to overall academic success, one of the most serious and explosive issues in the United States today is how to meet the educational needs of an increasingly diverse population of students with a wide range of developmental needs. The situation is urgent as well, since current trends in educational achievement suggest that millions of students will not acquire the education necessary to fully participate in the economic and political aspects of society. Additionally, the inequality that results from differences in the educational achievement of children is likely to further widen the gap between the rich and poor. Children cannot learn to read without an understanding of phonics.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (1996) points out that all children must know their ABCs and the sounds that letters make in order…

How can the use of differentiated instruction decrease the achievement gap for culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and economically diverse groups?

b. What are the benefits of using differentiated instruction?

c. What researches have been conducted on differentiated instruction?

Overview of Methodology

a. Practitioner inquiry

b. Interviews

elevance of the Study

Ways structure lessons differentiated by readiness, interest, and learning profile.

a. Differentiating content of lessons, process used in learning, and products of learning

b. Ways to manage choice in the differentiated classroom

Implication of esearch

Articulate techniques for differentiating content, process, and product based on student readiness, interest, and learning profile.

a. Implement key instructional strategies and explore effective classroom management.

b. Understand the rationale and essential principles of differentiation and utilize strategies that help insure student access to the curriculum.

eferences

Aronson, J., & Good, C. (2002). educing the effects of stereotype threat on African-American college students by shaping theoties…