What is the Achievement Gap?

What is the Achievement Gap?

The achievement gap is the measured disparity in intellective competence and academic ability that separates students of color and low income from more affluent, primarily white, students. The gap is really many gaps comprised of multiple individual, institutional and community factors. The achievement gap is defined to include measures of intellective competence as well as academic ability. Intellective competence, not to be confused with intelligence or subject matter knowledge, is a systematic method of reasoning and inferring patterns from one’s environment and using them to maintain practices and to invent new ones. Academic ability is an expression of intellective competence. Both academic ability and intellective competence are dynamically, developable qualities.

Developed academic abilities are necessary for students to make use of the mental processes required to engage and solve problems. In other words, developed academic abilities are required to develop intellective competence. The development of academic ability, and thus, intellective competence focuses on what students should be and become as opposed to traditional measures of achievement that focus on what students know and know how to do. These developed abilities and competencies are respected and sought, universally, in both technologically developed and technologically underdeveloped societies.

Intellective competence is developable and applicable to the academic achievement of all individuals through a combination of educational interventions in the school, home and community. The development of intellective competence will require diverse and varied approaches to instruction that focus on the transfer of knowledge and practices. Necessary approaches to instruction and knowledge transfer have been studied and proven effective in developing the academic ability and intellective competence necessary to close the achievement gap. More importantly, these approaches are within reach.

Methods Used to Measure the Achievement Gap

Constructive measures, designed to measure gaps in educational achievement, have been implemented in educational systems since the 1960s. The earliest, noted and documented, of these early attempts is found in the research lead by James S. Coleman in response to Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Kiviat, 2001). Coleman, who was then a professor in the Department of Social Relations at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, was commissioned by the US Department of Education to report on the equality of educational opportunity. The Coleman Report was published in 1966. This pioneer study on educational achievement concluded that poverty was the root cause for disparity in educational achievement. Since that time, many studies and experiments have addressed the issue of disparity with varying conclusions. Studies have explored poverty, race, resources, teacher-quality, student-teacher relationships and various other factors. Today’s initiatives are focused on multiple factors with the understanding that multiple solutions are required.

The achievement gap is measured by several factors to include:

• Placement on standardized test scores
• Advanced placement (AP) course participation
• Advanced placement testing
• High school graduation rates
• Numbers entering college
• College graduation rates
• Earned income rates

The achievement gap is measured within the typical timelines of student education, Pre-K through college, though expert analyses suggests that gaps in achievement and intellective competence exist prior to children entering Pre-K. (Lee, in press).
There is no defined best method to measure the achievement gap. The type and extent of testing, experimentation, data collection and data analysis chosen for measurements is dependent upon the individual goals, focus and population under evaluation…..