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Jillian Rolzhausen
John Iceland
SOC 5- Social Problems
December 13, 2021
The Path to Closing the Achievement Gap
Abstract

This paper examines the Achievement gap in its span and nature. The achievement gap is

demonstrated to impact minority groups disproportionately when it comes to performance

academically in grades, standardized tests, graduation rates, and college completion. It can be

seen that the achievement gap has persisted for much of history despite efforts to combat it. The

differing view on the causes and solutions of the achievement gaps are what is keeping our

society from creating a structured and comprehensive plan to approach and combat these issues.

I have presented my ideal solution, to where I believe we need to approach the achievement gap

to see promising results.

What is the achievement gap?

The achievement gap is the term generally used to characterize the disparities in

academic performance among different races and socioeconomic levels. The achievement gap

appears in grades, standardized-test scores, dropout rates, and college completion rates (Ansell

2011). Studies concerning the achievement gap most generally examine performances gaps

between African American and Hispanic students and their non-Hispanic white peers. As well as

disparities among students from low-income families are factors that are greatly considered.

“Extensive research has conclusively demonstrated that children’s social class is one of the most

significant predictors—if not the single most significant predictor—of their educational success”

(Garcia, Weiss, 2017). These gaps have persisted for decades, and although efforts have been
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attempted at closing them insignificant results occur. “Special analyses by the National Center

for Education Statistics in 2009 and 2011 showed that black and Hispanic students trailed their

white peers by an average of more than 20 test-score points on the NAEP math and reading

assessments at 4th and 8th grades, a difference of about two grade levels”, a frightening statistic

that should open the eyes of our nation’s legislators (Ansell 2011). Recently, with the

Coronavirus the achievement gap has become wider than ever. If there has been any time in

history to take a stand toward combatting it, it is now, before it is too late.

Why does this matter?

This issue is not only just an issue of how student perform on seemingly meaningless

standardized tests, but also an issue of race and poverty, and ultimately an individual’s potential

in life. This achievement gap is a systematic problem that ensures the potentials of children in

the nation’s minorities are always going to be less than their peers. It is an issue that by

continuing to dismiss, we are failing our future generations. By enabling the achievement gaps,

we are continuing the patterns of systematic disparities among race and socioeconomic statuses

and stifling any improvement.

Recently this issue is more prevalent than ever. With the Corona virus leading to school

shutdowns in the past years disparities among students have become more and more evident. As

many schools have been forced to use online instruction students in privileged areas had little

issue with the transition. However, students in lower-income areas struggle immensely. Many of

these students lack access to technology or internet which would allow them to participate in

online instruction. “According to reports from the Federal Communications Commission, some

20 million Americans do not have access to the internet, and a large portion of those students

without access are students of color” (Jaisinghani 2020). In addition, many of these same
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students did not have parents or guardians in which staying home to aid them in schoolwork was

a feasible option. Students from higher-income families did not need to worry about this. Many

higher income jobs were able to transition to work-from-home outlets, while lower income jobs

did not. Even further with school shutdowns, low-income families were deprived of resources for

meals for children. These disparities among conditions led to larger gaps in performance, and for

once it can be proven that it is not the student’s fault at all. What has been revealed the past

couple of years due to the coronavirus is only a reflection of the achievement gaps that had

already been disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities. It should be an eye opener for

what needs to be done to close these gaps.

How has it become seen as a social problem overtime?

For as long as American history goes, racial and socioeconomic disparities have been

present. One cannot deny the fact that our Nation thrives on the principle of these large gaps, and

little has been done to close them. One may think that with how far civil rights and

discrimination laws have come that we might see a significant narrowing of the gaps in

disparities like academic performance, but there really is no evidence of this occurring. The

achievement gap has always been an issue, but with the publication of the Coleman report in the

late 1960’s people became aware of it’s prevalence. In the fall of 1965, James S. Coleman,

issued an extensive study of American schools, teachers, and students. What he found revealed

disparities which favored white children in areas such as, class size, school facilities, and

coursework. Perhaps most interesting however, was his discovery of significant inequality on

academic achievement tests. Although this finding was significant and should have led to

immediate legislation to combat the frightening trends, this newfound “achievement gap” was

pushed aside and kept quiet (Hill 2016). What was interesting about Colemans’ findings was that
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differences in school supplies/facilities, and qualified teachers explained little of the disparities

in student achievement. Instead, it was family background that revealed a strong influence. This

was linked to parental income and education, wealth, and aspirations for their children. At this

point it was revealed that this issue was a systematic issue that would not simply be solved by

pouring funds into underprivileged or minority schools. Yet, still to this day it is the approach

many people take (Hill 2016).

What has been done and what needs to be done?

Since the 1960’s, many solutions have been implemented and tried. In his article “Rethinking

the Achievement Gap”, Andy Porter characterizes these reforms into four categories, preschool

reforms, teacher reforms, instructional reforms, and standardized-based reforms (Porter 2020).

First of all, the approach to preschool reforms focuses on the issue that disparities in academic

performance start at the very forefront of education. When we focus efforts on reforming

preschool programs, we are combatting the issue before it even starts. Across the nation “Head

start” preschool programs have been implemented to deliver high quality, free preschool options

to low-income families. These programs focus on providing children with knowledge that will

keep them on track with their peers and prepare them for the rest of their schooling career. The

program also helps children get access to proper health and physical development which are so

crucial at early period of development. Children are provided with health screenings, proper

meals, and even connect families with medical, dental, and mental health services (Office of

Head Start). The next step in previous reform has been reforms to teaching. Many have felt that

academic performance must reflect the quality of teaching, which is a supported idea. Teaching

reforms have included providing teachers with better training, as well as holding them to higher

standards, all in which have shown promising results in students’ performances. Another area of
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reform Porter examines is instructional reforms. This encompasses reforms toward how

instruction is carried out in the school setting. Many schools across the nation have implemented

smaller class sizes. In a Tennessee study results “demonstrated that reducing class size to 15 or

below, a fairly major reduction, can have a good-sized effect on achievement” (Porter 2020).

Other schools have seen promising results in student achievement when adopting new instruction

techniques that encourage motivation. For example, implementing reward programs or adjusting

the school day schedule. The last type of reform examined by Porter is standardized-based

reforms. This includes the idea of implementing standardized curriculums and testing standards

for children. Standardized tests are given to students on district, state, and national levels to make

sure all students are meeting the same requirements. Although in recent years there has been an

increasing amount of opposition to standardized tests, many still believe that they are effective

ways to ensure we hold all students to the same standards. The idea of standardized curriculums

is based on the idea that under equal instruction students will perform more similarly and gaps in

achievement will close. Yet, data fails to reveal support for this all while gaps in achievement

fail to narrow (Porter 2020).

Although I believe that it is important to continue to enforce previous attempts at narrowing

the achievement gap, I cannot help but not there are significant attempt that are barely ever

made, and according to data I feel would deliver significant results. It has been proven that

reforms to the school structure, and funding do not narrow the achievement gaps nearly enough.

I can attribute this to the fact that they are completely missing the systematic issue at hand and

are simply just grazing the surface of the issue. No child is going to improve academically even

when the school environment is changed when their needs at home and in society still fail to be

met. I have previously learned and examined how Maslow’s’ hierarchy of needs comes into play
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with children’s ability to learn. If you are not aware the hierarchy of needs is a distribution of an

individual’s needs to become a self-actualized and well-rounded individual. Each layer of needs

must be fulfilled completely before one can work toward fulfilling the next level. At the bottom

are basic needs like food, sleep, and shelter. And near the top are needs like self-esteem, and

respect. Without a completion of all these need an individual lacks motivation to better

themselves. By examining this principle, it is seen that in deficits of needs such as shelter, sleep,

health, and food a student could never even begin to work toward their full potential. Students

with these needs failing to be fulfilled, are distracted in the classroom. They may be thinking

about their own hunger, tiredness, or other issue that they see reflected at home. It is simply

impossible for them to truly focus on being the best student they can be (Kurt 2021). Thuer

education is not a priority, and we really cannot blame them. Therefore, we see students from

lower socioeconomic families struggle more in school, hence the achievement gap. Even with

these more basic needs fulfilled students from minority groups may still lack proper respect, and

self-esteem and fall short of white students. Using this idea, it has become evident to me that the

true culprit behind achievement gaps is rooted in deficits in children’s needs caused by race or

socioeconomic. Before we can focus of the achievement gap, we need to tackle these systematic

issues. These issues keep students in these groups locked into the continuous cycle of falling

short in academic performance. Reforms like introducing nationwide standardized curriculums,

and teacher training will do little to narrow gaps. This is because children will still be

unresponsive to the increase in quality of their education if they are still experiencing deficits in

their basic needs. Reforms like increasing teacher training and limiting class size are also

unattainable for many schools in lower-income areas. This is because they are expensive and call

for funding that they may lack. Although increased funding to schools in underprivileged areas
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seems like an obvious fix, the money will be used to meet children’s basic needs first. For

example, schools in these areas spend a majority of their profit on feeding and providing basic

healthcare for students that the importance of academics is blurred. I feel it should not be the

responsibility of the school system to meet these basic needs of children. This is where the

federal government needs to step in, by providing support directly toward these families. This

could potentially be in the form of cheaper accessible healthcare, cheaper higher education,

career support, and access to healthy foods. The achievement gap is in no doubt a reflection of

other societal issues and once we tackle them, we will see a significant narrowing of the gap. I

recognize that programs like these are a bit out of reach for our current political environment, yet

it is important that we start to advocate for them. Many may be opposed to the threat of increased

federal funding, yet I would argue that it is simply just a redistribution of funding that is already

present. There is so much federal funding that is going to waste essentially, because it just isn’t

in the form where people can benefit the most. When funding and support is provided directly to

people and families it is when we will start to see the most improvement in all areas of

systematic social issues, and ultimately a narrowing to achievement gaps. As a society we need

to conclude that achievement gaps will remain unchanged unless we tackle the systematic issues

of race inequality and poverty first.

Alternative viewpoints

For decades research has been conducted into why these achievement gaps occur and

what are the most effective strategies to counter them. “In the 1990s, the controversial book, The

Bell Curve, claimed that gaps in student achievement were the result of variation in students’

genetic makeup and natural ability” (Ansell 2020). Although this view has long been discredited,

there are still many who attribute achievement gaps to the intelligence and motivation levels of
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specific races or socioeconomic groups. A constrained or conservative perspective of

achievement gaps would most likely feel the achievement gap reflects the individual’s abilities.

This contrasts an unconstrained and progressive view that these gaps reflect one’s environments

and opportunities and result due to systematic societal issues. As for solutions, a more

constrained point of view will offer solutions that don’t necessarily delve into the aspect that

these issues are systematic issues. They may be the ones to support equity funding, reforms to

teaching, and standardized curriculums. Meanwhile progressive view would delve into targeting

the systematic issues of racial inequality and poverty. Although they might support reforms that

a more constrained view present, they would ultimately argue reforms that impact families

directly would be most effective. This would include providing cheaper healthcare, raising

wages, among other resources. Still, some may discredit the presence of any achievement gap at

all. Sarah D. Sparks, a sociologist argues that disparities in academic performance between black

and white children is not as wide as many make it out to seem. In fact, the term achievement gap

is racist and just contributing to the problem. She accredits the fact that “4 out of 5 black students

graduate in four years with a regular diploma”, a statistic that is like that of white students

(Sparks 2020). She argues that supporting an idea of the achievement gap, “effects how the

public thinks about black students” (Sparks 2020). She presents that any differences among races

and socioeconomic groups are a result of the expectation our society is instilling among them, by

using terms like the achievement gap.

The achievement gap is an issue that has persisted for decades now, and we are doing

ourselves a disservice by allowing it to continue. Through extensive research it is shown that

minority and lower income students are disproportionately impacted proving this issue is a

systematic issue that cannot be solved with reforms that just graze the surface. Although reforms
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to funding, teaching, instruction, and standardization could make minor changes, we will truly

see no significant change without reforms that tackle the issue of poverty and racial inequalities.

Our society is built upon these issues and leave little room for individual in these groups to make

any change to better themselves. Meaning these students are left with little opportunity to

achieve at the same level as their white or privileged peers. Until comprehensive steps are taken,

and we see everyone have an equal opportunity to contribute and perform equally in society we

cannot be satisfied.

Bibliography
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https://www.edweek.org/leadership/achievement-gap/2004/09.

Hill, Heather C. 2016. 50 years ago, one report introduced Americans to the black-white achievement
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americans-to-the-black-white-achievement-gap-here-s-what-we-ve-le.

Jaisinghani, Priyanka. 2020. COVID-19 is widening the education gap. This is how we can stop it. August
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Kurt, Serhat. 2021. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Education. January 30. Accessed December 13, 2021.
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Start, Office of Head. n.d. Head Start Programs. Accessed December 13, 2021.
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Weiss, Emma Garcia and Elaine. 2017. Education inequalities at the school starting gate. September 27.
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