I feel that the actual concept of an achievement gap is not defined very well. This gap is based solely on the differentiation between test scores of white and black students. I do not believe that these statistics alone are strong enough support to generalize achievement levels relative to race. I question what exactly the term “achieving” entails as far as education, intelligence, and race are concerned. In response to Wisconsin being the only state in which the black-white achievement gap was larger than the national average in the tests for both math and reading, I believe that every sample has outliers. I am sure there was also a state in particular that had the smallest achievement gap in comparison to the national average. An average includes all data- highs, lows, and in-betweens. I think there should have been more explanation toward what exactly “doing what is necessary to close these gaps” entails. Regarding the public schools in Milwaukee missing federal achievement targets for five years straight, I feel that Milwaukee is one particular example that does have a high African American population, and it is common knowledge that the Milwaukee Public Schools system is not the best of the best as far as education is concerned. It should not come as a surprise that some of these “achievement targets” fall short, given the environment of Milwaukee. I believe that some of these statistics are not as strong as they could be due to other variables. Correlation does not mean causation. Just because the students are African American and residing in a particular state does not mean their average will be automatically lower than the white achievement scores. The article does not directly say this, but I feel it is basically insinuated, seeing as though no further evidence or support is provided. I don’t think that these studies are being very clear or precise. The sample sizes of student populations are not as comparable or consistent as they could be. I definitely agree with Mr. Smith’s skepticism and statement, “Certain things are consistent: inequitable distribution of teachers, inequitable funding of schools, institutional racism. That is consistent across the board, so if you expect to find a different gap in North or South, you’re not going to find that.”
Personally, I feel as though results from standardized tests are extremely difficult to form strong conclusions on, seeing as though it is challenging to judge exactly what a standard test actually measures. I have taken plenty of standardized tests, and I couldn’t count the number of students who filled in the little bubbles at random so they could be done and lay their head down on their desk until the next part of the test began. Standardized tests are not reputable samples from which to draw conclusions. Many students don’t care about them, because to the student, there is no incentive in which to actually try and do well. In my experience, standardized tests have always been viewed as missing out on class work time as well as a waste of time in general. I agree that certain tests are more rigorous than others, further altering results. The study does not acknowledge open enrollment numbers or other factors that could affect test results. I believe that there is the potential for open enrollment to have a relationship with the achievement gap. Overall, I find it insufficient to form conclusions based upon standardized test results and so called “achievement gaps,” especially with the immense number of variables that affects these claims.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
An Interesting Article About Teaching
If any of you are interested in teaching, this is an interesting article about what makes a great teacher. From our in class-writing, it seems pretty clear what makes a bad teacher. However, this article seems to suggest that defining a good teacher is much more difficult.
Useful Links
Response to Articles About Racial Gap
After reading these articles, I was shocked at the statistics. I didn't realize Wisconsin really had the widest gap between black and white students in academics. Stereotypically, I would have assumed the South would have had the largest gaps. I was also surprised that the principals in Wisconsin were even shocked. I felt as if these three articles merely just stated the same thing, that Wisconsin and more specifically, Milwaukee, had the largest gap. I don't feel as if there was a real explanation or an effort to discover why Wisconsin more than any other state. The last article mentions open enrollment, but does that really explain why our gap is much wider than others? I don't know what else to say besides I agree with Shawn in that we need to focus on the education programs mainly in the Milwaukee area along with Madison where the African American populations are highest.
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