Test scores improve, but achievement gap remains

Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON — The achieve-ment gap between black and white students has narrowed, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report released Tuesday.
 The gaps in 2007 were smaller than in previous assessments in the fourth and eighth grades in math and in fourth-grade reading.
 Although test scores for both races increased on all exams, white students still have average scores at least 5 percent higher than black students in both subjects.
 “Despite encouraging signs of progress reflected in the most recent NCES reports, the pace of improvement is too sluggish,” said Hugh B. Price, a visiting professor of public and international affairs at Princeton University.
 Price, who was part of a panel that discussed the results Tuesday, is concerned that many black and Hispanic students will lack necessary job skills. Studies find that about half of black and Hispanic fourth-graders perform at the lowest level in reading and about one-third do so in math.
 The NCES study used data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams. The 2007 NAEP results were compared to the earliest results at each grade level to detect trends.
 Math scores for both races in both grades were higher in 2007 than in any previous assessment. Although achievement gaps in math persist in every state, they narrowed in the fourth grade in 15 states and in four states at the eighth grade. No state experienced a decline in scores for either race.
 Reading scores for both races in the fourth grade were higher in 2007 than in any previous assessment, and the achievement gap has narrowed since 1992. Eighth-grade reading scores haven’t increased for either race since 1998, and the achievement gap hasn’t shrunk. Two states had reading-score decreases for black or white students.
 The most common explanation for the racial achievement gap is the prevalence of low-income black households, according to the panel members. About three in five black students qualify for free lunches, while only one in five white students qualifies.
 Infants and toddlers from low-income families are less knowledgeable, in poorer health and behaved differently than those from higher-income families, according to a June study by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
 Yet income disparities fail to fully explain the racial achievement gap. White students eligible for free lunch still score at least 3 percent higher on average than their black counterparts in all grades and subjects.
 ETS Policy Information Center Senior Associate Paul Barton argues that many black children suffer from concentrated poverty, having grown up in areas that have been deprived of family, social and economic resources for generations. He said these gaps in life conditions mirror the gaps in student achievement.
 Barton identified 16 school and non-school factors associated with achievement – such as curriculum rigor and low birth weight – and found that gaps exist in all areas along racial lines. Most of the gaps have not narrowed in recent years.
 The NCES report said black children were less likely to come from families with both parents in the home, spent more hours watching television and fewer hours reading, and were more often absent from school.
 Developmental deficits must be addressed to eliminate the achievement gap, Price said. He said that communities could encourage success by motivating students, promoting learning outside of school and supporting teachers.
 “Imagine if we could get the ministers of this country to decide that all of the children in their flock would learn how to read the good book,” he said. “We would close this achievement gap rather quickly.”
 The school officers’ report advocates for better parental education, particularly in early childhood development and income self-sufficiency. It also called for improving curriculum and professional development at day care centers.
 Finally, Price called on public schools to emulate many aspects of military schools. He said such schools have succeeded in unleashing students’ potential because the schools focus not only on academic education but also on leadership, community service and self-discipline.

Author

Michael Novinson