Tag » express

• Closing the Mathematics Achievement Gap in High-Poverty Middle Schools: Enablers and Constraints

  1/1/06 - Balfanz, Robert, Byrnes, Vaughan

  The mathematics achievement levels of U.S. students fall far behind those of other developed nations; within the United States itself, the students who are falling behind come predominantly from high-poverty and high-minority areas. This article reports on a series of analyses that followed 4 cohorts of students from 3 such schools through the 5th to 8th grades, where studies have found the mathematics achievement gap to develop most rapidly. The cohorts followed in these analyses attended...

• Coincidence or conspiracy? Whiteness, policy and the persistence of the Black/White achievement gap

  1/1/08 - Gillborn, David

  Adopting an approach shaped by critical race theory (CRT) the paper proposes a radical analysis of the nature of race inequality in the English educational system. Focusing on the relative achievements of White school leavers and their Black (African Caribbean) peers, it is argued that long standing Black/White inequalities have been obscured by a disproportionate focus on students in receipt of free school meals (FSMs). Simultaneously the media increasingly present Whites as race victims...

• Creating Schools Where Race Does Not Predict Achievement: The Role and Significance of Race in the Racial Achievement Gap

  1/1/08 - Noguera, Pedro A.

  This article explores the ways in which race is implicated in efforts to address the achievement gap in U.S. schools. Through an analysis of the theoretical and historical issues that have framed the relationship between race and intellectual ability, the author explains why the effort to close the achievement gap is politically and socially significant. The efforts of two suburban school districts to address the achievement gap is presented to illustrate why some schools are making progress...

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  Deep dialouges to re-imagine and re-create public education

  1/1/08 - Ron Glass

  It is probably never easy to have a deep conversation with another person; each person’s hopes, fears, anxieties, doubts, dreams, and many other powerful feelings, conscious and unconscious, easily get in the way of honest and full expression. To have a deep conversation with a stranger, or with whole groups of strangers and even an entire community, can seem impossible.To talk openly and honestly about our experiences of schooling is equally challenging. Some of our most significant...

• Development of the Literacy Achievement Gap: A Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Through Third Grade

  1/1/07 - Foster, Wayne A., Miller, Merideth

  Purpose: The major goal of this study was to specify the developmental trajectories for phonics and early text comprehension skills of children from kindergarten through third grade. Method: Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (N = 12,261) were used in this study. The participants were divided into 3 school readiness groups based on an assessment of literacy skill development at the time of entrance into kindergarten. The different groups were tracked on phonics and text...

• Disparities in Academic Achievement and Health: The Intersection of Child Education and Health Policy

  1/1/09 - Fiscella, Kevin, Kitzman, Harriet

  Recent data suggest that that the United States is failing to make significant progress toward the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities. One missing element from the US strategy for achieving this goal is a focus on gaps in child development and achievement. Academic achievement and education seem to be critical determinants of health across the life span and disparities in one contribute to disparities in the other. Despite these linkages, national policy treats child...

• Districtwide Instructional Reform: Using Sociocultural Theory to Link Professional Learning to Organizational Support

  1/1/08 - Gallucci, Chrysan

  No Child Left Behind Act accountability pressures and calls to close achievement gaps between groups of students have challenged school districts to achieve systemwide instructional improvement. These policies create learning challenges for classroom teachers and for school and district leaders. This article engages questions about organizational support for professional learning in the context of reform initiatives. A theoretical lens--called the Vygotsky Space--is used to analyze case...

• Do Small Classes Reduce the Achievement Gap between Low and High Achievers? Evidence from Project STAR

  1/1/08 - Konstantopoulos, Spyros

  Given that previous findings on the social distribution of the effects of small classes have been mixed and inconclusive, in the present study I attempted to shed light on the mechanism through which small classes affect the achievement of low- and high-achieving students. I used data from a 4-year, large-scale, randomized experiment (project STAR) to examine the effects of small classes on the achievement gap. The sample consisted of nearly 11,000 elementary school students who participated...

• Effects of single-sex and coeducational schooling on the gender gap in educational achievement

  1/1/08 - Gibb, Sheree J., Fergusson, David M., Horwood, L. John

  This study examined the effects of single-sex and coeducational schooling on the gender gap in educational achievement to age 25. Data were drawn from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1265 individuals born in 1977 in Christchurch, New Zealand. After adjustment for a series of covariates related to school choice, there were significant differences between single-sex and coeducational schools in the size and direction of the gender gap...

• Elementary School Counselors and Teachers: Collaborators for Higher Student Achievement

  1/1/08 - Sink, Christopher A.

  In this article I contend that elementary school teachers need to work more closely with school counselors to enhance student learning and academic performance and to narrow the achievement gap among student groups. Research showing the influence that counselors can exert on the educational process is summarized. Using the American School Counselor Association's organization framework for structuring counseling and guidance programs, I also illustrate where the educative roles of teachers...

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  Evidence of program quality and youth outcomes in the DYCD out-of-school time initiative: Report of the initiative's first three years

  1/1/10 - Christina A. Russell, Monica B. Mielke, Elizabeth R. Reisner

  "In 2005, New York City began a far-reaching effort with support from The Wallace Foundation to improve the quality of out-of-school time learning programs citywide and make them more available, especially to children and youth who need them most. This final report in a three-year evaluation of the initiative by Policy Studies Associates – and an accompanying executive summary – finds that the city has made progress in serving more children and youth, and participants and parents...

• Exacerbating inequality: the failed promise of the No Child Left Behind Act

  1/1/07 - Hursh, David

  The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) marks the largest intervention of the federal government into education in the history of the United States. NCLB received and continues to receive support, in part because it promises to improve student learning and to close the achievement gap between White students and students of color. However, NCLB has failed to live up to its promises and may exacerbate inequality. Furthermore, by focusing on education as the solution to social and...

• Examining Disparities in Mathematics Education: Achievement Gap or Opportunity Gap?

  1/1/07 - Flores, Alfinio

  The so-called achievement gap in mathematics is reframed as a problem of unequal opportunities to learn experienced by many low-income students and many Latino and African American students. First, data are presented showing striking and persistent differences on standardized tests among students of different ethnic groups, and socioeconomic levels. Then evidence is presented demonstrating that opportunities to learn mathematics are not equally distributed among all students. Specifically...

• Family (Dis)Advantage and the Educational Prospects of Better Off African American Youth: How Race Still Matters

  1/1/07 - Gosa, Travis L., Alexander, Karl L.

  While the educational difficulties of poor black students are well documented and have been discussed extensively, the academic performance of well-off African American children has received much less attention. Even with economic and educational resources in the home, well-off African American youth are not achieving at the levels of their white peers. Why is this? A review of relevant literature identifies a set of social processes that pose formidable barriers to the academic and personal...

• Family Education and Community Power: new structures for new visions in the educational village

  1/1/02 - Breitborde, Mary-Lou, Swiniarski, Louise Boyle

  Noting that differences and inequality of education exist in the United States of America, this paper presents two model educational programs that address the iniquities in American public education. The first model is a collaborative effort of a public school in an urban northeast community, the Robert L. Ford Elementary School of Lynn, Massachusetts, USA and a public supported college of higher education, Salem State College, Salem, Massachusetts, USA, whose joint venture is known as The...

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  Finding Common Ground

  1/3/09 - Haynes, C. C., Thomas, O.

  This long document is meant to give background on religion and religious expression and practices in schools across America. The sensitive topic of religion in schools is covered in detail here and discusses some laws that are in effect regarding whether or not religion can be taught in school.