[Ohiogift] Studies Probe How Schools Widen Achievement Gaps

[Margaret DeLacy]

Friends:

Below is a link to and excerpts from a study that appeared in Education Week this week.

You can find the studies that were cited at

http://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/School-Composition-Black-White-Achievement-Gap-Sept-2015.pdf

http://edr.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/08/27/0013189X15603982.full.pdf+html?ijkey


Margaret


http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/10/07/schools-help-widen-academic-gaps-studies-find.html?cmp


Published Online: October 6, 2015
Published in Print: October 7, 2015, as Schools Play Role In Academic Gap
Studies Probe How Schools Widen Achievement Gaps
By Sarah D. Sparks

For children from racial minorities or impoverished backgrounds, schools may actually compound the disadvantages they may face in learning fundamental math skills.

...The studies also point to how segregation and unequal access to rigorous courses limit students' opportunities to learn.

Sonja Santelises, the vice president for K-12 policy and practice at the Education Trust, said the studies raise questions about "everyday decisions educators are making about what access we give to young people for educational opportunities and challenging courses. Are we providing different learning experiences for some students not in the name of differentiation, but in the name of lower expectations?".....

In a study featured last week in the journal Educational Researcher, Schmidt and his colleagues found that across all countries, differences in a student's "opportunity to learn" rigorous math content was directly related to family income, and those gaps accounted for on average a third of the overall PISA math gaps between students in the top 20 and bottom 20 percent of income levels. In the United States, differences in a student's opportunity to learn accounted for nearly 40 percent of the math gap between wealthy and poor students.