Based on the provided scenario, propose one specific, school-based strategy the district could implement to address the achievement gap, and explain the reasoning for its potential effectiveness.

School District Intervention Strategy

The article discusses possibilities in which the school addresses the problem of the achievement gap/Matthew Effect for students. One possibility is for schools to provide quality education for every student early on (around kindergarten), helping to equalize students of differing income families. Having students spend more time in schools and promoting socioeconomic diversity by making resources (teachers, computers, etc.) available for all students.

University of California, Berkeley

Google

This article notes that the schools students attend might have a low influence in the existence of the achievement gap between high and low-income students. It describes a study in which students from kindergarten to high school were tested in literacy and math. There is a large achievement gap between the two groups from kindergarten and that gap does not increase significantly in the following school years. The results seem to suggest that the income level may have a bigger influence in educational outcomes compared to the school the students attend. 

The Income Achievement Gap From K-12th Grade

Reardon, S. (2013). The Widening Income Achievement Gap. Educational Leadership, 70, 10-16.

The Widening Income Achievement Gap- Citation Reference

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

Learn Before

Related

Learn After