Asian Americans are the most highly educated racial group in the United States and are commonly heralded as the model minority for their high academic success. Nevertheless, previous research suggests that Asian Americans may face certain disadvantages in school settings. For example, Asian Americans' academic advantage over non-Hispanic white…

It has been over 50 years since desegregation efforts began and many public-school systems in the United States are still battling with performance gaps between White and historically underrepresented students. The term historically underrepresented refers to people from diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and economically disadvantaged…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the relationship between student achievement and racial congruence of school personnel and students to help educators and policy makers narrow the achievement gap. Design/methodology/approach: This quasi-experimental, correlational study used publicly available data from 158 elementary schools in the Houston…

Stereotype threat has been shown to have deleterious impacts on the short- and long-term academic performance and psychological well-being of racial and ethnic minority students. Psychological variables related to this identity threat represent significant sources of achievement and attainment gaps relative to nonstereotyped Asian and white…

This quantitative study examined the achievement gap in mathematics through the analysis of standardized test scores from a suburban school district in Saint Louis County. The problem this study addressed is that students of color in Missouri continue to score well below their peers on mathematics assessments (Bohrnstedt et al., 2015; Kotok, 2017;…

More than one-fifth of the nation's public school students are Latino. By 2025, the share of Latino children is projected to increase to nearly 3 in 10 school-age children (Fry & Passel, 2009). The fast-growing Latino student population will shape the nation's future, so it is critical that these students are well-prepared for college,…

Last year, Hispanic and African American high school graduates met ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks in English, reading, mathematics, and science at substantially lower rates than did Asian and White graduates. For example, the rate of White graduates who were college ready in English (77%) was twice that of their African American peers (35%).…

After eight years of implementing the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and other school reforms, how much progress have states, school districts, and schools made in raising achievement for students from all backgrounds and closing achievement gaps based on race, ethnicity, income, and gender? To help answer this question, the Center on…

This report presents results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) U.S. science assessment in 2011. A representative sample of 122,000 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 NAEP science assessment, which is designed to measure students' knowledge and abilities in the areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and…

A main goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is to close gaps in test scores between different groups of students while raising achievement for all groups. Of particular concern are the persistent achievement gaps between African American, Latino, and Native American students and their white and Asian counterparts, and between students from…

This quantitative study examined science interest and achievement of middle school minority females in both traditional science classes and Problem-based Learning (PBL) science classes. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference between traditional teaching and the PBL teaching method. The researcher also…

Achievement gap studies examining race overwhelmingly reveal that White children and Asian children outperform Black children and Latino children, few studies have outcomes that show Black children outperforming their peers. Critical race theory frames this work, which examines the performance of English Learners (n = 198) in a large school…

Achievement gaps have real consequences for students, particularly those facing the challenge of passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), now a requirement in order to receive a high school diploma in California. The combined 2005 CAHSEE passing rates reveal significant discrepancies between White and Asian students and their African…

What role does schooling play in the development of racial/ethnic inequalities in academic skills? Seasonal learning studies, which allow researchers to compare the growth of achievement gaps when school is in versus out of session, provide important evidence regarding whether schools reduce, reproduce, or exacerbate educational inequalities. Most…

Despite considerable reform activity surrounding K-12 education over the past 20 years, racial and socioeconomic disparities among students who achieve at advanced levels have received little attention. This study examined how excellence gaps, defined as differences in performance at the 90th percentile of subgroups, change over time and their…