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What Is the Achievement Gap?

When educators talk about the "achievement gap," they are usually referring to the fact that poor minority students, as a group, score lower on student achievement measures than do middle-class non-minority students. This is certainly the most troubling achievement gap affecting policy making at the national level. However, the term "achievement gap" means different things to different people. Some people mean the achievement gap between African American students and white students at all income levels; others mean the gap between female and male students, or the gap between students of different cultures, primary languages, ethnicities, or socio-economic statuses. Each school or community will experience different kinds of "gaps"-different groups within their student population that tend to have lower achievement.

How Severe a Problem Is the achievement Gap?

Efforts to close the achievement gap seemed to be paying off in the 1970s and 80s as the gap narrowed, especially between African American and white students. Between 1970 and 1988, the African American/white achievement gap decreased substantially in reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, as well as high school graduation, college attendance, and college completion rates.

Since 1988, however, the gap has been widening again. Minority students' achievement scores today are lower than minority students' scores were ten years ago. The reasons for this reversal are not clear, but the social and economic impact of the gap make it a severe national problem. However, some districts have been successful in decreasing the gap.

What Are the Causes of the Achievement Gap?

The causes for the achievement gap are complex. According to research, they fall into two main categories: 1) factors related to students' socioeconomic status, cultural environment, and family background; and 2) factors related to students' schools.

Socio-Cultural Causes
One of the main factors associated with low student achievement is poverty. Students living in persistent poverty are more likely than other students to suffer from many conditions that impede their learning, including:

• poor health care (including inadequate prenatal care for their mothers);
• frequent changes in residence, requiring transferring to new schools repeatedly;
• lack of books and other educational resources in the home;
• parents with lower levels of education; and
• unstable family structure.

School-Related Causes
Unfortunately, students who start out with disadvantages often encounter school conditions that only add to the problem. They are more likely to attend schools with inadequate funding staffed with teachers who are not as qualified to teach their subjects as they could be. In addition, especially in schools with high concentrations of poor and minority students, teachers often have low expectations of these students, leading them to have low expectations for themselves.

What Can We Do to Narrow the Achievement Gap?

Some of the work necessary to reduce the achievement gap is outside the control of schools and needs to be done on the national level-efforts to reduce poverty, for example. But there are some things that schools can do-and are doing-to raise achievement for all students. School efforts should be guided by research that suggests that the following factors can help narrow the achievement gap:

• High expectations for all students. Teachers need to become more conscious of their own attitudes and behaviors, so that they don't unintentionally communicate low expectations for low-achieving students-by calling on them less frequently, for example, or giving them less time to answer questions.
• Cultural congruence in instruction. When there is a good match between the student's knowledge base and the teacher's, as there usually is between white, middle-class students and their teachers, then achievement tends to be high. If teachers can find ways to structure their curriculums so they tap into their minority students' stores of knowledge, their achievement may improve dramatically.
• Teaching strategies that promote meaningful participation. These include cooperative learning activities, as well as instructional approaches that are flexible enough to appeal to individual students' interests and abilities.
• Smaller class size. Research has demonstrated that the positive effects of smaller K-3 classes are particularly strong for disadvantaged students.
• Higher teacher quality. Many argue that the most important determinant of success for students is teacher quality, especially for at-risk students.
• Summer enrichment programs. These programs operate on the idea that children from lower socio-economic environments lose ground over the summer in comparison to other students, contributing to lower cumulative achievement over many years of schooling.

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ERS Informed Educators on related topics: The following are just a few of the recent publications in the ERS Informed Educator series dealing with topics related to closing the achievement gap. ERS Informed Educators are 8-12 pages in length. Each issue provides a concise, yet comprehensive and balanced summary of information on a priority topic in education. ERS Informed Educators are available for purchase in quantities of 10 copies or more only (any combination of titles). Base price per copy: $9.60. ERS Comprehensive subscriber price: $4.80. ERS Individual subscriber price: $7.20.

• Research on Smaller Schools: What Education Leaders Need to Know to Make Better Decisions (2001; Stock #0401). Smaller schools have been proposed by many as an organizational remedy to help raise student achievement in general and to close the achievement gap for disadvantaged students in particular. In order to make the best decisions regarding school size, education leaders need to know what the research shows about the effects of smaller or larger schools. And, especially in locales where large school buildings are a fact of life for many years to come, they need to know what they can do to work towards appropriate school sizes for the specific student populations and communities they serve. In this Informed Educator, author Craig Howley provides a balanced summary of the issues related to school size. Rejecting the assumptions that all schools must be small to be effective, Dr. Howley summarizes research suggesting that context has a strong bearing on the effects of school size.

• Effective Teaching: How Do We Know It When We See It? (2001; #0405). In recent years, researchers have studied model classrooms in order to identify the behaviors of effective teachers. This Informed Educator summarizes four recent studies that ask the question: "What does teaching look like in high-achieving classrooms?" This information is a powerful tool that education leaders can use to make solid decisions in the areas of teacher recruitment, preservice training, staff evaluation, and professional development.

• Student Mobility (2001; Stock # 0421) Many schools and districts throughout the United States experience high levels of student mobility. Excessive mobility can be harmful, both to the students who change schools and to the classrooms and schools they attend. This Informed Educator reviews the extent of student mobility in the United States, and summarizes the research literature on the causes of student mobility and its social and academic consequences for both students and schools. Most importantly, it discusses what education leaders, teachers, and parents can do to address this perennial educational challenge, thus raising student achievement and closing the gap for low-achieving students.

ERS Info-Files on related topics. The following are just a few of the ERS Info-Files on topics related to the achievement gap. Each ERS Info-File contains 70-100 pages of articles from professional journals, summaries of research studies, and related literature concerning the topic, plus an annotated bibliography that includes an ERIC-CIJE search. Base price per Info-File: $38.00. ERS Comprehensive subscriber price: $19.00. ERS Individual subscriber price: $28.50.

• Teaching African American Students (#0354)-Discusses the cultural backgrounds, language, and educational needs of students from various African American groups. Presents instructional approaches and interventions that are effective with minority students. Addresses factors that influence student success such as preparing educators for culturally diverse classrooms, teachers, expectations, academic achievement and learning styles, and continuity between home and the classroom.

• Multicultural Education (#0287)-Provides research findings and perspectives on multicultural education from various experts. Addresses issues related to curriculum, instruction, student achievement effects, global education, racism, and diverse student populations.

• Strategies to Motivate Reluctant Learners (#0261)-Discusses the characteristics of reluctant learners and teaching strategies for such learners in elementary and secondary education. Includes examples of proven practices, as well as evaluation of methods that have been implemented.

• Teacher Expectations, Teacher Efficacy, and Student Achievement (#0201)-Focuses on how teacher expectations and behaviors affect student achievement, how teachers treat students with various abilities and backgrounds, and how teachers can be encouraged to set high standards for all students. Also discusses teacher efficacy--a teacher's belief in his/her own ability to influence student learning.

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