The Achievement Gap In Education

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In a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education at Vanderbilt University, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2014, May 20) questions the country’s lack of “collective outrage over our nation's achievement gaps”. The ROS problem under study addresses the local response to the academic achievement gap by focusing on the instructional practices of secondary school teachers who successfully teach children of color in hopes of finding replicable instructional practices. The “achievement gap” in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures. Although there are many type of achievement gaps, such as, based on gender, economics, and technology, the most researched …show more content…

One socio-cultural factor may hinge on teacher perception. According to Brophy (1986) a teacher’s perception of their students matters. Brophy (1986) study showed there exist a relationship between a teacher’s perception of his/ her students and the student performance. According to Crawford (2007) teachers viewed Latino and African- American students as less academically capable than White or Asian students. In Texas the majority of all public school children are of color, yet over 70% of public school teachers are White, therefore, the issue of teacher-student perception has a direct impact on the quality of education in the state. This study will gather data from teachers who have been successful with Latino and African American students based state assessments. By studying the instructional practices of secondary school teachers who successfully teach children of color; it is the researcher’s hope to find instructional practices that can be