This article focusses on research about racial and ethnic patterns in school sanctions and considers how disciplinary practices might contribute to achievement among students of color (focussed on Black, Latino and American Indian students). 

Discipline Gap and the Race Achievement Gap 

There is a statistically significant difference that can be labeled the racial achievement gap between white and African-American students. Whether it is the graduation rate of high schools or standardized test scores, the educational outcomes tend to be in favor of white students. This article suggests that part of the reason for this achievement gap is that the intervention from teachers for struggling students tends to be in favor of white students while African-American students are rarely noticed. 

Politics of the Black-White Achievement Gap

This study examined whether having African-American student (seventh to eighth grade), write essays affirming their personal values, improves their academic performance. These subtle interventions would lessen minority students' psychological threat related to being negatively sterotyped in school. 
Ending results show that over 2 years, the grade point average of African Americans was on average, raised by .24 grade points, and those who were low-achieving, benefited the most, improving their average .41 points. 

Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap 

The goal of this study is to improve minority students' performance and to better understand how psychological threats can undermine self-integrity, leading to poor academic performance. Researchers tested whether psychological threats can be lessened by reaffirming self-integrity, thus improving academic performance amongst negatively stereotyped minority students. 

Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological Intervention- Goals of Study

- The study analyzed underrepresented racial minority students (URM)'s grades over 2 years in comparison to white/asian students 
- They found that a multicultural approach to diversity ideologies help to improve URMs grades (and does not affect white/asian students), and thus helps to close the racial achievement gap 
- main takeaway-colleges cannot simply acknowledge diversity and inclusion-the specific way that they go about it matters 

multiculturalism vs colorblind diversity ideology-reducing the racial achievement gap 

One research study looked at the different kinds of achievement gaps that were present in science classes, such as gender and minority gaps. A sample of students were studied based on their demographic (gender, ethnicity, SES). Through an assessment that involved testing students based on their knowledge of physics, biology, chemistry, and earth science, this study tried to identify the how and why behind these achievement gaps and to see if teacher involvement could mitigate said gaps. 

Gender and Minority Achievement Gaps in Science in Eighth Grade- Summary

Using OLS and regression models, Xu & Jaggars found that students' performance and persistence in online courses were overall worse in comparison to in-person classes. Data analysis of students enrolled at Washington State (p=40,000) found that:
- Previously existing disparities and achievement gaps found between student subgroups were exacerbated; students that were male, African American, or low-performing would continue to perform worse in an online setting.
- The degree of difference in performance varied by major, with some majors (i.e English) being more negatively impacted by being online when compared to other majors (i.e natural sciences)

Online vs In-Person Learning - Xu & Jaggars

STEM faculty who believe ability is fixed have larger racial achievement gaps and inspire less student motivation in their classes

This paper looks at the problematic trend of students that come from underrepresented minorities (URM) or are a first-generation college student (FG) who tend to give up on courses of science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). It then goes on to explain not only the factors that lead to a lack of motivation in succeeding in these classes but potential interventions that could mitigate these problems, leading to success. The research study discussed in this article looks at how these interventions are used in a biology course with students of various backgrounds (minority, majority, first-generation or not, and combinations of both racial and social backgrounds) to see what the results are (in the form of class grades) from using the interventions to address lack of motivation.

Closing Gaps with A Utility-Value Intervention: Disentangling Race and Social Class

This study looked to see if having a teacher with the same race would positively impact student growth and achievement in the classroom for math and reading

The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement study 

Goal-setting intervention decreases the gap between ethnic minorities and majorities. 

The effects of goal-setting on the ethnic minority achievement gap 

- This study looked at the impact of spacing and self-testing on final student outcomes for both URM and non-URM students
- URMs were less likely to employ self-testing which might contribute to the achievement gap 
- The intervention helped to close the self-testing gap for URMs in one of the years that they completed the study 
- Reported self-testing and spacing did better, but especially those who continued to use the practice over the entire course period, meaning that these techniques need to be consistently practiced 


Spacing and Self-testing impact on URM students study

Social identity threat’s contribution to racial achievement gaps in schools depends on the context of the school. For high-potential-threat-context schools, the effect of social identity threat is about 12.5%. This means that social identity threat makes up significant portion of the reason for a race achievement gap in high-potential-threat-context schools.

Social Identity Threat and Race Achievement Gap Relationship

Marginalized students were found to have lower GPAs in high-potential-threat-context schools than their counterparts in low-potential-threat-context schools. 

Race Achievement Gaps Between School Contexts

Framing racial educational disparities as an "achievement gap" can have unintended negative consequences. It implies white achievement is the norm and focuses on student performance rather than structural inequality, potentially perpetuating racial stereotypes about intellect and work ethic. Furthermore, this framing can lead the public to deprioritize the issue and favor short-term solutions that ignore root causes.

Unintended Consequences of 'Achievement Gap' Framing

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between white and minority students.

San Jose State University

Stanford University

- Race
- Gender
- Income
- Language
- Disability
- Parent Education Level
- Nationality
- Technology
- Traditional
- Cultural differences
- The Impact of Coronavirus

Types of Achievement Gaps in Education

Achievement Gap Definition (2013, Dec. 19). The Glossary of Education Reform. https://www.edglossary.org/achievement-gap/

Achievement Gap Definition

Race Achievement Gap

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between high- and low-income students.

Income Achievement Gap

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between non-disabled and disabled students.

Disability Achievement Gap

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between students with parents with high educational attainment and students with parents with low educational attainment. 

Parent Education Level Achievement Gap

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between domestic and international students. 

Nationality Achievement Gap

-  1) Which variables should we use in our analysis? Why?
-  2) What types of achievement gap can we study? Why?
-  3) How should we define each type of achievement gap based on the available data and how it's defined in the literature?
-  4) Why does it matter to study the effect of the pandemic on that achievement gap? and what do you hypothesize of the effect of the pandemic on that achievement gap? Why? Please find and cite supporting literature.

Time to Innovate: Discussion and Ideas for the Achievement Gap Research Question

This paper compares students who are considered traditional against nontraditional students in terms of academic success. The summary and results note that nontraditional students tend to struggle with their GPA and completion of college, especially if they represent more aspects that are considered against the norm of the college student population.  

Traditional vs Nontraditional Students

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between male and female students.

Gender Gap in Education

Difference of students' performances from different culture.

Cultural differences achievement gap

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between native English-speaking students and ESL/ELL students.

Language Gap in Education

- Academics
- Achievement Gap
- Nutritional Health

The Impact of Coronavirus

- Social identity threat is a process that occurs when a person’s view of themselves is at threat due to being a member of a group that is marginalized in the context they find themselves in. The context is key as a group may be marginalized in one context but not in another.
- Demographic composition is especially important for marginalized groups as a low number of members of their group can signal social identity threat.
- Schools are a place where social identity threat is likely to emerge, especially if there is a preconceived notion of race and achievement. 
- Social identity threat has been shown to affect students’ performance as seen through stereotype threat (a subset of social identity threat).

Social Identity Threat in Education

The educational achievement gap among African heritage students refers to the disparities in academic performance observed between African American, Afro-Caribbean, and African students within the United States. Research into this gap frequently examines potential contributing factors, such as cultural differences and varying levels of parental involvement.

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