An Experiment with the Otis Group Intelligence Scale in the Needham,Massachusetts, High School

ABSTRACT

This study used Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort data to examine influences of the home and classroom learning environments on kindergarten mathematics achievement of Black, Latino, and White children. Regardless of race/ethnicity, children who started kindergarten proficient in mathematics earned spring scores about 7–8 points higher. There was significant variability in the home and classroom learning environments of Black, Latino, and White children and associations with these children's mathematics scores. Nevertheless, reading at home was a significant predictor for spring mathematics scores for all groups. If children started kindergarten proficient in mathematics, the Latino-White mathematics gap, after controlling for home and classroom factors and other covariates, was no longer significant. However, the Black–White mathematics gap remained significant. If children did not start kindergarten proficient in mathematics, both the Latino–White and Black–White mathematics gaps remained significant.     

A social structural reinterpretation of ‘the burden of acting White’: a hermeneutical analysis

This essay explores how social psychologically the social structure of capitalist inequality has given rise to the Black–White achievement gap. This critical understanding is a reinterpretation of the ‘burden of acting White’ hypothesis, and suggests that research on the achievement gap should focus on how the Black–White achievement gap is more a result of two interrelated epiphenomena, ‘mismatch of linguistic structure’ and ‘mismatch of linguistic social functions’, which result from the class structure in Black America as opposed to a ‘burden of acting White’, the idea that Black students intentionally underachieve because of racialized peer pressure which, culturally, associates academic achievement and success with White Americans.     

School effects and ethnic,gender and socio-economic gaps in educational achievement at age 11

There are long-standing achievement gaps in England associated with socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and gender, but relatively little research has evaluated interactions between these variables or explored school effects on such gaps. This paper analyses the national test results at age 7 and age 11 of 2,836 pupils attending 68 mainstream primary schools in an ethnically diverse inner London borough. The groups with the lowest educational achievement and poorest progress were both Black Caribbean and White British low SES pupils. White British middle and high SES pupils made substantially more progress than White British low SES pupils, significantly increasing the SES gap over time. However low and high SES Black pupils made equally poor progress age 7–11. School effects on pupil progress were large, but there was no evidence of differential school effectiveness in relation to SES, ethnicity or gender. Low SES pupils in the more effective schools performed significantly better than high SES pupils in the less effective schools, but all pupils (both low and high SES) benefit from attending the more effective schools and so these schools do not eliminate the SES gap. The limits to change that may be achieved by schools alone are discussed.     

The White British‐Black Caribbean achievement gap: Tests,tiers and teacher expectations

A recent analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) indicates a White British–Black Caribbean achievement gap at age 14 which cannot be accounted for by socio‐economic variables or a wide range of contextual factors. This article uses the LSYPE to analyse patterns of entry to the different tiers of national mathematics and science tests at age 14. Each tier gives access to a limited range of outcomes with the highest test outcomes achievable only if students are entered by their teachers to the higher tiers. The results indicate that Black Caribbean students are systematically under‐represented in entry to the higher tiers relative to their White British peers. This gap persists after controls for prior attainment, socio‐economic variables and a wide range of pupil, family, school and neighbourhood factors. Differential entry to test tiers provides a window on teacher expectation effects which may contribute to the achievement gap.     

Do some schools narrow the gap? Differential school effectiveness by ethnicity,gender, poverty,and prior achievement

This study analyses the educational progress of an entire national cohort of over 530,000 pupils in England between age 7 in 2000 and age 11 in 2004. The results show that Black Caribbean boys not entitled to free school meals, and particularly the more able pupils, made significantly less progress than their White British peers. There is no evidence that the gap results from Black Caribbean pupils attending less effective schools. There is also no evidence of differential effectiveness in relation to ethnic group; schools that were strong in facilitating the progress of White British pupils were equally strong in facilitating the progress of Black Caribbean pupils. There was some evidence of differential school effectiveness by pupil prior achievement, gender, and poverty, but the absolute sizes of the effects were small. The results suggest the poor progress of Black Caribbean pupils reflects a systemic issue rather than the influence of a small number of “low quality” schools.     

Race and Color: Revisiting Perspectives in Black Education

Racial inequities, such as systematic disparities in school discipline and achievement outcomes, are a perennial characteristic of public education in the United States. Although attention to interracial chasms such as the Black–White achievement gap is common, limited efforts are devoted to understanding how and why colorism motivates imbalances within communities of color. In this article, I outline how the color complex relates to racial battles and social perspectives within the nation's educational system. Recommendations for altering problematic norms are presented.     

The Dialectical Problematic of Resolving the Black–White Academic Achievement Gap and Climate Change

In this article, I argue that resolving the Black–White academic achievement gap is incompatible with the emerging issues of global climate change. That is, solutions (equitable funding of schools and resources, school integration movements, and after-school and mentoring programs) for closing the gap in order so that Blacks in America and elsewhere can achieve equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution with their White and Asian counterparts within the global capitalist world system undermine efforts to combat climate change caused by the aforementioned capitalist form of system and social integration. Climate change, via global warming associated with overaccumulation, resource depletion, pollution, and so forth, is a product of capitalist exploitation of the planet, and efforts to resolve the Black–White academic achievement gap, which is a product of capitalist structural reproduction and differentiation, seeks to integrate Blacks into the global capitalist world system so as to achieve equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution with Whites. Doing the latter requires continuous economic growth within the finite resource framework of the earth, overaccumulation, and consumerism, which in turn perpetuate capitalism as a form of system and social integration amid its devastating effects (i.e., exploitation, ecological devastation, global warming, pollution, imperial wars, overaccumulation, and resource depletion).     

Social Equity Theory and Racial‐Ethnic Achievement Gaps

In the United States, racial‐ethnic differences on tests of school readiness and academic achievement continue. A complete understanding of the origins of racial‐ethnic achievement gaps is still lacking. This article describes social equity theory (SET), which proposes that racial‐ethnic achievement gaps originate from two kinds of social process, direct and signal influences, that these two kinds of processes operate across developmental contexts, and that the kind of influence and the setting in which they are enacted change with age. Evidence supporting each of SET's key propositions is discussed in the context of a critical review of research on the Black–White achievement gap. Specific developmental hypotheses derived from SET are described, along with proposed standards of evidence for testing those hypotheses.     

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL INVOLVEMENT AND CHILD ACHIEVEMENT IN EARLY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FOR AMERICAN‐BORN AND IMMIGRANT FAMILIES

As the foreign‐born population in the United States grows, the achievement of immigrant children is a pressing concern. We examined family educational involvement in early elementary school as a potential source of support for the academic success of children in immigrant families. Using a nationally representative sample, we examined rates of educational involvement at first and third grade, as well as associations between involvement and math and reading achievement at these times. With regard to rates, the domain of greatest difference between U.S.‐born White parents and both U.S.‐born and immigrant parents of color (Asian, Black, and Latino) was for school‐based involvement. In addition, several variations in the associations between involvement and child achievement were evident across immigrant and race/ethnicity groups, with children in U.S.‐born White, Black, and Asian families as well as children in Latino immigrant families most consistently demonstrating positive associations between family educational involvement and achievement.     

The Impact of Neighborhood Disadvantage on the Black–White Achievement Gap

Contextual analysis of the achievement gap has gained much momentum within the last few decades. This study furthers the discourse by examining the applicability of 2 sociological contextual development approaches on achievement. We analyzed 79 neighborhoods organized by the level of crime and poverty from both a social disorganization and social mobilization perspective. We found that the social mobilization perspective was more consistent with the experiences of Black students, whereas social disorganization theory better explained White achievement outcomes. The findings also suggest that White students in disadvantaged neighborhoods might be a grossly overlooked at-risk group.     

Race,rurality and representation: Black and minority ethnic mothers’ experiences of their children’s education in rural primary schools in England,UK

There is little research that has examined the role of mothers in their children's education in the rural space of the school, particularly in relation to the experiences of Black and minority ethnic (BME) families who are newcomers to the rural space. This article attempts to redress the balance and examine how BME mothers are positioned in rural primary schools in England (UK) which are predominantly White. This article is based on 20 in-depth interviews conducted with mothers who identified themselves as Black or from a minority ethnic background (India, Pakistan or Bangladesh). All of the respondents had moved into the areas in the last 10 years. The findings from this research suggest that mothers are active agents in the education of their children; however, their experiences reveal that within the White space of the school they are positioned as ‘other’ and ‘outsiders’ as they navigate the diasporic space of the White countryside.     

Understanding Heterogeneity in the Impact of Public Preschool Programs

We examine the North Carolina Pre-K (NC Pre-K) program to test the hypothesis that observed variation in effects resulting from exposure to the program can be attributed to interactions with other environmental factors that occur before, during, or after the pre-k year. We examine student outcomes in 5th grade and test interaction effects between NC's level of investment in public pre-k and moderating factors. Our main sample includes the population of children born in North Carolina between 1987 and 2005 who later attended a public school in that state, had valid achievement data in 5th grade, and could be matched by administrative record review (n = 1,207,576; 58% White non-Hispanic, 29% Black non-Hispanic, 7% Hispanic, 6% multiracial and Other race/ethnicity). Analyses were based on a natural experiment leveraging variation in county-level funding for NC Pre-K across NC counties during each of the years the state scaled up the program. Exposure to NC Pre-K funding was defined as the per-4-year-old-child state allocation of funds to a county in a year. Regression models included child-level and county-level covariates and county and year fixed effects. Estimates indicate that a child's exposure to higher NC Pre-K funding was positively associated with that child's academic achievement 6 years later. We found no effect on special education placement or grade retention. NC Pre-K funding effects on achievement were positive for all subgroups tested, and statistically significant for most. However, they were larger for children exposed to more disadvantaged environments either before or after the pre-k experience, consistent with a compensatory model where pre-k provides a buffer against the adverse effects of prior negative environmental experiences and protection against the effects of future adverse experiences. In addition, the effect of NC Pre-K funding on achievement remained positive across most environments, supporting an additive effects model. In contrast, few findings supported a dynamic complementarity model. Instrumental variables analyses incorporating a child's NC Pre-K enrollment status indicate that program attendance increased average 5th grade achievement by approximately 20% of a standard deviation, and impacts were largest for children who were Hispanic or whose mothers had less than a high school education. Implications for the future of pre-k scale-up and developmental theory are discussed.     

Differences in Graduation Rates Between Young Black and White College Students: Effect of Entry into Parenthood and Historically Black Universities

Black and White students who enrolled in college by age 20 were selected from a national probability sample, in order to estimate the prevalence of having children and the effect of having a child on probability of graduation with a bachelors degree. Black students reported significantly higher rates of having children than White students, but rates for Black students at historically Black universities were similar to those of Black students at predominantly White universities. After controlling for family background, achievement, and other student characteristics, having a child within 5 years of starting college generally reduced the probability of graduating with a bachelors degree for Black women and White women and men. The independent effect of attending a historically Black college was significantly positive for Black women but not statistically significant for Black men.     

Experiences of violence and deficits in academic achievement among urban primary school children in Jamaica

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the relationship between children's experiences of three different types of violence and academic achievement among primary school children in Kingston, Jamaica.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 1300 children in grade 5 [mean (S.D.) age: 11 (0.5) years] from 29 government primary schools in urban areas of Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, was conducted. Academic achievement (mathematics, reading, and spelling) was assessed using the Wide Range Achievement Test. Children's experiences of three types of violence – exposure to aggression among peers at school, physical punishment at school, and exposure to community violence – were assessed by self-report using an interviewer administered questionnaire.ResultsFifty-eight percent of the children experienced moderate or high levels of all three types of violence. Boys had poorer academic achievement and experienced higher levels of aggression among peers and physical punishment at school than girls. Children's experiences of the three types of violence were independently associated with all three indices of academic achievement. There was a dose–response relationship between children's experiences of violence and academic achievement with children experiencing higher levels of violence having the poorest academic achievement and children experiencing moderate levels having poorer achievement than those experiencing little or none.ConclusionsExposure to three different types of violence was independently associated with poor school achievement among children attending government, urban schools in Jamaica. Programs are needed in schools to reduce the levels of aggression among students and the use of physical punishment by teachers and to provide support for children exposed to community violence.Practice implicationsChildren in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean experience significant amounts of violence in their homes, communities, and schools. In this study, we demonstrate a dose–response relationship between primary school children's experiences of three different types of violence and their academic achievement. The study points to the need for validated violence prevention programs to be introduced in Jamaican primary schools. Such programs need to train teachers in appropriate classroom management and discipline strategies and to promote children's social and emotional competence and prevent aggression.     

The limits of social class in explaining ethnic gaps in educational attainment

This paper reports an analysis of the educational attainment and progress between age 11 and age 14 of over 14,500 students from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Young People in England. The mean attainment gap in national tests at age 14 between White British and several ethnic minority groups was large, more than three times the size of the gender gap, but at the same time only about one‐third of the size of the social class gap. Socioeconomic variables could account for the attainment gaps for Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, but not for Black Caribbean students. Further controls for parental and student attitudes, expectations and behaviours indicated minority ethnic groups were on average more advantaged on these measures than White British students, but this was not reflected proportionately in their levels of attainment. Black Caribbean students were distinctive as the only group making less progress than White British students between age 11 and 14 and this could not be accounted for by any of the measured contextual variables. Possible explanations for the White British–Black Caribbean gap are considered.     

Moving the goalposts: Education policy and 25 years of the Black/White achievement gap

Drawing on a secondary analysis of official statistics, this paper examines the changing scale of the inequality of achievement between White students and their Black British peers who identify their family heritage as Black Caribbean. We examine a 25‐year period from the introduction of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), in 1988, to the 20th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 2013. It is the first time that the Black/White gap has been analysed over such a long period. The paper reviews the changing place of the Black/White gap in education debates and notes that, despite periods when race equality has appeared to be high on the political agenda, it has never held a consistent place at the heart of policy. Our findings shed light on how the Black/White gap is directly affected, often in negative ways, by changes in education policy. Specifically, whenever the key benchmark for achievement has been redefined, it has had the effect of restoring historic levels of race inequity; in essence, policy interventions to ‘raise the bar’ by toughening the benchmark have actively widened gaps and served to maintain Black disadvantage. Throughout the entire 25‐year period, White students were always at least one and a half times more likely to attain the dominant benchmark than their Black peers. Our findings highlight the need for a sustained and explicit focus on race inequity in education policy. To date, the negative impacts of policy changes have been much more certain and predictable than occasional attempts to reduce race inequality.     

Do Children See in Black and White? Children's and Adults' Categorizations of Multiracial Individuals

Categorizations of multiracial individuals provide insight into the development of racial concepts. Children's (4–13 years) and adults', both White (Study 1) and Black (Study 2; N = 387), categorizations of multiracial individuals were examined. White children (unlike Black children) more often categorized multiracial individuals as Black than as White in the absence of parentage information. White and Black adults (unlike children) more often categorized multiracial individuals as Black than as White, even when knowing the individuals' parentage. Children's rates of in‐group contact predicted their categorizations. These data suggest that a tendency to categorize multiracial individuals as Black relative to White emerges early in development and results from perceptual biases in White children but ideological motives in White and Black adults.     

Relative age and investment in human capital

This article provides evidence from four studies in Mexico on how the age of children relative to their school class—their “relative age”—produces an illusory gap in academic skills and affects the experiences of students, their choices, self-concept, and expectations. The first study shows that relative age confers an advantage in achievement tests at ages 12–15 that makes older students look academically better than their younger peers. The advantage would disappear if students were tested at the exact same age. The second study shows that, when 15-year-olds participate in a competitive merit-based mechanism to be allocated to public high schools, older students aim at and are more likely to be admitted to higher-quality schools. The third study shows that, during high school, age confers an advantage in GPA that decreases but does not disappear as students reach age 18. Lastly, the fourth study shows that, at age 18, relatively older students score higher in achievement tests and character skills scales, and they have better labor market expectations and more ambitious educational aspirations—a novel result. To the world and themselves, relatively older students appear worthy of greater human capital investment. Some implications of these results are discussed.     

Inequality from the first day of school: The role of teachers' academic intensity and sense of responsibility in moderating the learning growth gap

The author used the concepts of academic intensity and sense of responsibility to examine whether children with low school readiness may be moderated by the amount of exposure to learning activities and the attitudes that teachers hold toward these children. Analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort revealed that children who experienced high levels of teachers' academic intensity and sense of responsibility displayed greater achievement growth than did their peers who did not receive this support. Furthermore, teachers' sense of responsibility moderated the association between school readiness and mathematics learning growth over the course of elementary school years, which contributed in reducing the learning growth gap engendered given low school readiness. Based on these findings the present study suggests a need for continuous support during the schooling years, as well as before the start of school, to compensate for a lower skill level at school entry.     

Do siblings influence one another? Unpacking processes that occur during sibling conflict

This study examined the extent to which 205 sibling dyads influenced each other during conflict. Data were collected between 2013 to 2015. The sample included 5.9% Black, 15.1% South Asian, 15.1% East Asian, and 63.8% White children. Older siblings were between 7–13 years old (Female = 109) and younger siblings were 5–9 years old (Female = 99). Siblings' conflict resolution was analyzed using dynamic structural equation modeling. Modeling fluctuations in moment-to-moment data (20-s intervals) allowed for a close approximation of causal influence. Older and younger siblings were found to influence one another. Younger sisters were more constructive than younger brothers, especially in sister–sister dyads. Sibling age gap predicted inertia in older siblings. Socialization processes within sibling relationships are discussed.