Topic: This project is going to examine closing the achievement gap: a focus on the bottom 30% (African Americans, Hispanics, and Students with Disabilities) in 5th grade science and social studies.
I. Introduction
A. The setting of this problem affects the 5th grade science and social studies students at an elementary school located in Fulton County. The 5th grade science and social studies classes are made up of 78 students, with 23 of those students falling into the bottom 30% based on data from our county benchmark assessment.
II. Evidence of the Problem at the Local Level.
a. The problem that impacts my school, and specifically my grade level is closing the achievement gap with a specific focus on the bottom 30% of students based on county benchmark data. The bottom 30%
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Coach observed our classes weekly in order to provide feedback on our teaching, formulate new strategies, and support us.
B. Communities
a. Flono (2015) reported: data show, for example, that of 1.2 million students who fail to graduate from high school each year, more than half are from minority groups and low-income families. Most have been failing academically for years, lagging well behind other students in test performance and grades.
1. Flono (2015) deliberates about a nationwide achievement gap research project launched by the Kettering Foundation in 2007. The project was to learn what people in communities across the nation think about the achievement gap – and what roles they see for themselves in helping young people succeed academically. Some of the projects findings: most participants did not know what the words “achievement gap” meant, the citizens see the achievement gap as a local problem with solutions that reflect specific local factors (educational experts see the issue as a national problem), and most participants felt that the responsibility for helping the minority and low-income students rested not only on the schools and educators, but also with parent