Closing Achievement Gaps: Research-Based Lessons for Educators

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Closing Achievement Gaps Research-Based Lessons
for Educators

• Joseph Murphy
• Vanderbilt University
• joseph.f.murphy_at_vanderbilt.edu
• [phone]

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• Part A.
• Portrayals of Gaps

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(46) (42) (34) (25) (27)
(29) (29) (29) (32) (26) Year
(Gap)
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(33) (40) (41)
(40) (35) (34)
(31) Year (Gap)
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(36) (31) (27) (18)
(20) (28) (31) (32) (29)
(22) Year (Gap)
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(29) (30) (26)
(27) (26) (28)
(26) Year (Gap)
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(40) (38) (32) (29) (21)
(26) (26) (27) (32) (28) Year (Gap)
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(32) (29)
(31) (33) Year (Gap)
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(52) (50) (31) (21)
(30) (36) (30) (29) (31)
(29) Year (Gap)
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(23) (29)
(26) (25) (25) Year
(Gap)
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(.85) (.96) (.97) (.99) (1.06)
(1.07) (1.11) (1.10) (1.08) (1.11)
(1.14) Year (Gap)
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(.76) (.78) (.80) (.86) (.85)
(.82) (.89) (.74) (.97) (.75)
(1.03) Year (Gap)
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(.79) (.87) (.84) (.96) (.91) (.91) (.84)
(.89) (.93) (.89) (.96) Year (Gap)
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(.90) (.87) (1.42) (.98) (.90) (.97)
(.92) (.94) (1.02) (1.02) (.78) Year (Gap)
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(103) (103)
(105) (105)
(111) Year (Gap)
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(96) (92)
(96) (99)
(98) Year (Gap)
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(4.3) (4.4)
(4.6) (4.7)
(5.2) Year (Gap)
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(23.0) (17.2) (14.1) (12.5) (9.8) (6.1) (7.0)
(9.8) (5.8) (5.4) (6.3) (4.5) Year (Gap)
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(9.0) (11.5) (8.3) (7.0) (4.5) (3.7)
(4.2) (5.9) (5.7) (5.3) (4.8)
(4.4) Year (Gap)
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(12.2) (15.3) (13.8) (13.4) (11.6) (13.4)
(13.7) (16.2) (13.4) (16.5) (15.2) (17.4) Year
(Gap)
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Why is it important?

• Individual
• Society

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Individual Educational Attainment

• Increased chance of falling behind in school
• Higher dropout rate
• Reduced enrollment in college
• Less likelihood of college degree

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• Over a third of the low SES group and just 3
  percent of the high group are permanent
  dropouts, meaning high school dropouts who at
  approximately age 22 still lack high school
  certification of any type. Whereas almost 60
  percent of the high SES group attended a
  four-year college by age 22, just 7 percent low
  SES youth did. (Alexander, et al., 2007)
• Horribly, NAEP data indicate that, on average,
  Black students are leaving high school with less
  mathematical knowledge than white 8th graders
  possess. (Hughes, 2003)

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Individual Employment Opportunity

• Limited career path
• Concentration in low-paying positions

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Individual Wages

• Lower wages

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• The gap has shifted from being an indicator of
  educational inequality to a direct cause of
  socioeconomic inequality.

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Society Economic

• Reduced economic competitiveness
• Lower standard of living
• Impediment to productivity and performance
• Contribution to decline in economic health

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• If the minority-white gap had been closed between
  1983 and 1998
• GDP would have been 310 - 525 billion higher (2
  - 4 of GDP) in 2008 dollars
• If the SES gap had been closed between 1983 and
  1998
• GDP would have been 400 - 600 billion higher (3
  - 5 of GDP) in 2008 dollars

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Society Social Well-Being

• Reinforces social inequality and exacerbates
  social justice problems
• Reduces ties that bind society
• Damages political fabric of democracy

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• Part B.
• Insights and Rules for Closing Achievement Gaps
• General Rules of Engagement

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Four Sets of Findings

• Big Picture Conclusions
• Factors to Emphasize
• Timing
• Cautions

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• Big Picture Conclusions

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• By and large,
• schools do not cause achievement gaps.

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50 75
100 25
25
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4 3 2 1
3 2 1
Summer 4 5
Summer 3 4
Summer 2 3
Summer 1 2
Summer K 1
2 1
K 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12

(Preschool) Period A (Age 0-5)
(K 5) Period B ( Age 6 11)
(6 12) Period C (Age 12 18)
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K
3 4 50 of gap
25 of gap

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Summer effect
school

K
3 4 50 of gap
25 of gap

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Schools cannot close achievement gaps alone.
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Much of the solution is to be found in factors
external to the school, but
social policy
schooling
schools have a part to play.
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• Schools have not been
• especially effective in
• helping close
• achievement gaps.

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Deep-Seated, Long-Standing, Hard-to-Solve Problem

• Historically not a front-burner issue
• An unwillingness to see the issue in ethical
  terms
• A reluctance to re-set priorities and re-allocate
  resources

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• Since low-income and minority
• students are more school-
• dependent than their more
• advantaged peers, there is
• potential for schools to help
• solve the problem.

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What School Dependency Means

• These youngsters are more advantaged in general
  when schools do things well
• These youngsters are more disadvantaged in
  general when schools do not do things well

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• Factors

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• A focus on both
• out-of-school and
• in-school factors
• is required.

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• Schools did not
• cause the gaps.
• They cannot solve gap
• problems alone.

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• A combination of factors
• is required to close
• achievement gaps.

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Silver Bullet
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Better instruction
Stronger culture (academic press)
Lower class size
More personalization
Greater curricular rigor
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• Students do not need
• different types of interventions.
• They require
• more intensive support.

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Academic and Environmental Factors Need to be
Addressed in Tandem

• Instructional program
• Culture

Ultimately, programs that rely entirely on
increasing academic standards without parallel
attention to social-emotional factors associated
with achievement motivation and performance will
be less likely to improve student achievement
outcomes. (Becker and Luther, 2002)
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• We need to concentrate on those
• factors that disproportionately
• advantage low-income and
• minority students.

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(No Transcript)
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• Preschool programs
• Cooperative instructional strategies
• Smaller class sizes
• Quality instruction
• Co-curricular/extra curricular activities
• More rigorous courses
• Placement in high SES schools (school
  composition)
• Minority teachers/working class teachers
• Parent help with homework
• Protective, supportive, risk-free environment
• Service learning
• High teacher expectations

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Smaller Class Size

• Ferguson, 1998
• Finn, 1998
• Finn Achilles, 1990
• Grissmar, 1998

• Kruger Whitmore
• Rothstein, 2004
• Slavin Madden, 2006

• More beneficial for minority than non-minority
  students
• Largest for disadvantaged students
• Greater for students attending inner-city schools

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Quality Instruction

• The impact of the teacher is far greater for
  minority studentsGood teachers can have a
  differentially positive effect on minority
  students. (Singham, 2003)

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Curricular Rigor

• Minority and low-income students seem to benefit
  more than others from stronger course
  requirements. (Thompson, 2002)
• Content standards have a positive effect on
  average achievement the gains are especially
  large more minority students. (Harris Hertert,
  2006)
• The gains from taking a more demanding
  mathematics curriculum are even greater for
  African American and Latino students than for
  white students. (Thompson OQuinn, 2001)

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Service Learning

• Service learning may be especially attractive to
  principals of low SES schools, in part because it
  may be related to higher achievement generally
  and to smaller achievement gaps between higher
  and lower income students. (Scales, et al.,
  2006)
• Community service appears to be related to a
  smaller achievement gap between students from
  lower and higher income backgrounds. Moreover,
  experiencing service-learning for at least a few
  weeks appears to be related to a smaller gap in
  most academic outcomes between low and high-SES
  students. (Scales, et al., 2006)

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• Some factors carry more
• weight than others.

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All factors are not equal in closing the
gap.Some have more power to reduce discrepancies.

• Opportunity to learn
• Quality instruction

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An integrated, coherent, cohesive, overlapping
design works best.
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service learning
after school tutoring program
ninth grade academy
summer support, grades 8 and 9
co-curricular involvement
master teachers
acceleration remediation design
extra servicesdouble sessions
faculty advisors
extended schooling
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• Issues

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• There is no short-term solution.

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Early interventions trump later interventions.
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• The place to solve the
• 9th grade problem
• is in preschool.

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ball
ball
hill
hill
8th grade
vs.
12th grade
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Later

• Problems are harder
• Problems are more entrenched
• Problems are less malleable
• Problems have infected multiple domains
• (e.g., reading problem ? motivation ?
  engagement) an early problem of 1 or 2
  things becomes a later problem of 5 or 6
  things

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Some factors carry more weight in certain
periods of the school career.

• High teacher expectations are more powerful in
  PreK-4
• High personalization is more powerful in grades
  8-12

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Length of time intreatment is important.
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Quality Instruction (concept portrait)
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Prevention trumps remediation.
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Acceleration remediation trumps remediation.
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• lesson 1 lesson 2
• instruction ? learning instruction
• problem
• arises
• lesson 1 lesson 2
• instruction ? learning instruction
• problem
• arises

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• One rarely arrives --
• do not withdraw supports.

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• Cautions

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Use of Categories

• Lumping minorities together
• Aggregating diverse groups within categories
• Ignoring individual differences

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• Lumping groups into minority status is
  problematic.

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• Sub-Group Scores
• Mask Differences
• Many groups in Hispanic and Asian designations

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We need to remember that we are talking about
averages.
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(No Transcript)
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Factors are not uniformly effective for all
forms of the gap.
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• There is a need to surface potential unintended
  consequences.

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• move enhance accountability via testing
• strategy move most effective teachers to
  tested grades
• consequences ???
• move enhance academic rigor
• strategy detrack
• consequence ???
• move create culturally responsive culture
• strategy establish AA center/club
• consequence ???

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Costs as well as benefits of gap reduction
strategies need to be weighed.

• Ninth grade academy? Salary supplement for
  teachers working in schools with high
  concentrations of low-income students? Additional
  AP courses?

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Do not lose sight of the real goal (forest)
when focusing on the gaps (trees).
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• The core issue is
• addressing underachievement.

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Three Dimensions of Achievement

• Level
• Equity
• Value added

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gap .6
1.2
1.4 VALUE ADDED
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gap .2
.4
.3 LEVEL
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• Absolute vs. Relative Gain

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Absolute 3.0 3.5 .5 Relative Rate
of change black 60 white
44 Black achievement as of white
achievement 63 70
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Do not count on luck, prayer, magic, or martyrs
to solve the problem.
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ACTIONS ACTIONS ACTIONS ACTIONS ACTIONS
Focus Enhancement Actions Enhancement Actions Barrier-Removal Actions Barrier-Removal Actions
Focus Help All Equally Help Low-SES More Help All Equally Help Low-SES More
All Students 1 Align curriculum Deepen PD for Teachers 2 Provide academic summer school Use cooperative learning strategies Raise teacher expectations Add time to school day 3 4 Detrack Re-culture discriminatory discipline culture Remove transportation barriers for more co-curricular opportunities Reduce class size
Targeted Students 5 6 Provide supplemental tutoring Target additional instructional time Form cultural similar clubs (AA) 7 8 Remove barriers that prevent parents from participating with school
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• Part C.
• Lessons for Closing
• Achievement Gaps

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• The Instructional Program (1-5)
• Culture (6-7)
• Structure Support (8-11)

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• THE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM
• 1. Ensure youngsters on the wrong side of the
  achievement gap have excellent teachers
• Storyline
• Teacher-student interactions are consequential
  for student learning
• most consequential variable
• 40 of student achievement
• Quality of teachers is connected to achievement
  gaps, especially closing gaps

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• Action
• Bring effective teachers to low-performing
  schools
• Put best teachers with low-income and minority
  students
• Effectiveness
• High
• Teacher test scores (verbal)
• Medium
• Race of teacher
• Diversity of teachers across the staff
• Class background
• Subject matter knowledge in area(s) taught

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• Low
• Teacher performance evaluation scores
• Masters degree in general
• Credentials
• Experience in general

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• 2. Provide additional instructional support to
  those in need
• Storyline
• Deficits build up for low-income and African
  American students 0-5 and 6-9
• Schools need to backfill for problems as well as
  educate well in real time
• Action
• Add instructional time, instructional resources,
  and intensive supports
• Preschool
• Summer programs
• Before school/after school
• One-on-one tutoring

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• Effectiveness
• High quality
• Flow primarily to students on the wrong side of
  the achievement gap
• Supplement, not supplant
• Be part of a comprehensive system of supports

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• 3. Feature Balanced Instruction Emphasizing Basic
  Skills, Teaching for Understanding, and
  Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
• Storyline
• The quality of instruction is the main issue
  instruction matters more than standards
• Quality instruction can narrow achievement gaps
• Effective Actions
• More equitable grouping strategies
• Strong teacher-student relations
• Emphasis on cooperative learning strategies
• Pedagogy that underscores social connectedness
• Community-oriented learning contexts

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• High expectations
• Setting and maintaining high standards
• Refusal to accept excuses for limited effort and
  poor quality work
• Nonjudgmental responsiveness
• Fierce persistence
• Individual and collective responsibility for
  student performance

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• Culturally responsive teaching
• Uses cultural knowledge, prior experience, and
  the frames of reference of ethnically diverse
  students to make learning more relevant
• Uses childs background as a foundation for
  teaching
• Builds on strengths and knowledge students bring
  to school
• Highlights culturally-inclined materials

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• Focus on both direct instruction and teaching for
  higher-order skills
• Explicit teaching
• Cognitively demanding instructional strategies
• Targeted teaching behaviors
• Questions with high answer success rate
• Additional wait time
• Diversified assessment designs
• A minimum of classroom administrative routines

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• 4. Ensure That All Low-Income and African
  American Students Complete a Rigorous Curriculum
• Storyline
• Rigor
• Curriculum rigor is closely linked to learning
• Low track/ability group placement
  maintains/exacerbates achievement gaps developed
  0-9
• Challenging curriculum has the power to reduce
  achievement gaps
• Minority and low-income students benefit more
  than others from stronger course requirements
• Alignment
• Part of larger picture of alignment standards,
  instruction, and assessment

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• Supporting Pillars
• Two pillars buttress curricular rigor
• Social/emotional support personal
  encouragement, warm, demanding, caring, and
  supportive classroom environment
• Extended time
• During the school day
• Extended school day/year
• Action
• Eliminate non-academically challenging courses
• Get students into more challenging courses

108

• 5. Develop a Cohesive System for Collecting,
  Analyzing, and Using Data to Understand, Address,
  and Close Achievement Gaps
• Storyline
• How schools use data has a good deal to do with
  closing gaps
• Gap-closing schools are adept at analyzing and
  using data
• Actions
• Develop systems for a data-driven instructional
  program
• Systematic methods for gathering and employing
  data
• Multiple data-gathering strategies
• Frequent and ongoing work

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• Create an infrastructure to support the
  consistent use of data
• Time for data work
• Policies/structure for work
• Leadership
• Collaborative work

110

• CULTURE
• 6. Develop a Culture of High Academic Press and
  High Personalization
• Storyline
• Culture marked by high academic press and high
  personalization is key to ensuring greater equity
  in learning
• Harmony between the two is critical caring in
  combination with high expectations
• Elements of Highly Personalized Culture
• Caring each student is known and cared for
• Trust students trust the school and the staff

111

• Affiliation opportunities to be part of
  communities, for cooperative work and for
  developing continuing relationships
• Support nurturing and supportive relationships
  between educators and students
• Cultural compatibility an environment that is
  reflective of the culture of youngsters homes
  and communities
• Action
• Rich array of co-curricular activities, with
  concerted effort to nurture involvement
• Opportunities for meaningful involvement in
  leadership activities
• Culturally anchored clubs
• Racially balanced staff
• Professional development on high personalization

112

• Open examination of race and class
• Safe and orderly learning environment
• Smaller classes
• Comprehensive services
• Guidance for students advisors, mentors, tutors
• Celebrations of accomplishments of students

113

• 7. Mix Students by Race and Class
• Storyline General
• A students school peers are a key factor in
  explaining academic achievement for any given
  student, school culture is shaped by the peers
  with whom s/he interacts
• Schools can permit peer efforts to damage the
  achievement of students or they can influence
  peer interactions in ways that help ensure a more
  equitable distribution of learning
• Storyline Specific
• Students are often clustered together in
  classrooms in terms of race and class

114

• Race and social class segregation matters
• who sits next to whom makes a difference in
  student learning (grades, achievement scores,
  educational aspirations, occupational aspirations)

115

• Reversing segregation matters
• the benefits of integration are clear, especially
  for the most disadvantaged students
• desegregation is an important tool for closing
  achievement gaps
• Schools need to manage peer influence effects
  actively
• Examining the Storyline
• Allocation of school resources

116

• Allocation of expectation and demands for
  excellence
• Peer effects and peer culture
• Concentration can help produce a culture in which
  negative attitudes, poor behavior, low
  motivation, limited effort, and poor self concept
  blanket students
• Restricted access to high aspirations for school
  success and post-school opportunities the
  reverse of the middle-class peer effect

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• Action
• Mix students by race and class be proactive in
  getting students on the wrong side of the
  achievement gap into meaningful contact with
  peers with pro-achievement norms, strong academic
  performance, and high aspirations for school and
  post-school success

118

• STRUCTURE AND SUPPORT
• 8. Build Linkages Between Home and School that
  Focus on Student Learning
• Storyline
• Parent involvement has a direct and strong impact
  on student achievement
• Close cooperation between schools, parents, and
  the community is one of the keys to closing
  achievement gaps

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• Action
• Parental Involvement at the School
• Deliberate recruiting strategies
• Make school a comforting, welcoming place
• Remove barriers that hinder involvement
• Educate staff on how to help parents in their
  home education role
• Employ multiple strategies for involvement
• Provide parent education programs

120

• Parent Support of the Education of Children at
  Home
• Discussing childrens schoolwork and experiences
  at school (taking a real interest)
• Structuring home activities
• Providing help with homework
• Encouraging attendance
• Promoting high expectations for school success at
  home
• Creating a home environment that encourages
  learning (e.g., quiet, specific place to work)
• Linking children with enhanced learning
  opportunities outside the home and school

121

• 9. Provide High-Quality Professional Development
  to Help Teachers Close Achievement Gaps
• Storyline
• There is a link between professional development
  and student achievement
• Professional development for teachers of poor and
  minority children often leaves much to be desired
• Cajoling and bullying teachers in the absence of
  capacity building in the area of skills and
  knowledge needed to close gaps will fail
• Appropriate capacity building can help narrow gaps

122

• Quality Elements
• Valued by teachers and formal school leaders
• Part of a thoughtful plan that is long-term in
  nature and employs frequent learning sessions
• Schoolwide
• Carefully linked to other aspects of the school
• Sufficient time for learning
• High levels of administrative support and
  involvement
• Intensive support over time
• Grows from student-driven data and school results

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• Practice anchored/job embedded
• Context sensitive
• Center of gravity is real challenges in the
  classroom/school
• Direct and obvious application
• Often part of collaborative arrangements, e.g.,
  networks
• Focus on growth rather than deficits
• Trusting context
• Reflective work
• Focus
• all the content emphasized to this point
  instruction, curriculum, assessment, and so forth

124

• 10. Reduce Class Size in the Early Primary Grades
  and Reduce School Size
• Storyline
• The effect of assignment to a small class on the
  racial test score gap is sizeable
• The negative effects of poverty on student
  achievement are considerably stronger in larger
  schools and districts than in smaller ones that
  is, smaller schools and districts are
  considerably more successful in disrupting or
  mitigating the relationship between poverty and
  student achievement

125

• Small classes and schools help minority and
  low-income students the most
• Timing of reductions is important
• Size of reduction is important
• Length of treatment is important

126

• What Powers Size Effects
• Changes in instruction made possible by class
  size reductions
• More effective classroom management
• More individualized attention
• Greater and more appropriate differentiation of
  instruction
• Less space for children not to engage
• Better linkages to parents