narrowing the gap in affluent schools

7/30/2019 Narrowing the Gap in Affluent Schools

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November 2004 | Volume 62 | Number3

Closing Achievement Gaps Pages 70-73

Narrowing the Gap in Affluent Schools

Frank D. Grossman and Jacqueline Ancess

Through collaborative action research, three suburban school districts are creativelyconfronting achievement differences.

A growing body of literature documents an achievement gap between students of color and white students in

historically high-performing suburban districts (D'Amico, 2001; Ferguson, 2001, 2002; Gordon, 2000; Viadero, 2002).

This gap exists for middle-class minority students as well as for poor students. As researcher Edmond Gordon notes,

African American, Hispanic, and Native American students at each social class level tend to

do less well than their European American and Asian American counterparts. (2000, p. 2)

Just as we must address the gap in urban schools, we must also work to narrow or eliminate achievement differences

in schools in wealthy neighborhoods. For six years, educators in 11 affluent school districts in the suburbs of New

York City, Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have been investigating how to remedy the gap.

In 1998, the superintendents of these 11 suburban school districts formed the Regional Minority Consortium and

launched an initiative to address the achievement gap within their districts. Each district began the project using

action research to build a knowledge base about how the achievement gap manifested itself in the community.

Districts then designed strategies to tackle the problem. A cross-section of district personnel, including leaders within

each school, teachers, and district-level administrators, met regularly to share their learning and challenges.

Collaborating for Shared Vision

Each district's research team developed a project appropriate to its culture and concerns. Using surveys, interview

protocols, and other instruments, team members collected and analyzed data on a sample of students (and

sometimes on a sample of parents) representing diverse racial and ethnic groups and varying academic performance

levels. This collaborative process helped build a shared vision and a sense of ownership in each district's action

research project.

Some district teams examined the school-level context, whereas others looked at what was happening across their

entire district. Some teams reviewed their district's existing programs to remedy the achievement gap; others

identified learning conditions and teaching strategies that seemed to produce high achievement from students of

color in their schools. Many team members studied student performance in mathematics, viewing math achievement

as the gatekeeper to academic success (Adelman, 1999; Schoenfeld, 2002; Singham, 2003). Still other districts

looked at issues of access to knowledge and information across education stakeholder groups.

Six of the districtsurged on by team members who were eager to do somethingimmediately implemented

school practices or policies in response to what their research revealed. An examination of three of these district

initiatives reveals how collaborative research can drive meaningful action to narrow the achievement gap.1

North Harbor: Creating an Enrichment Program

In the North Harbor School District,2 research revealed a disproportionately low number of black and Latino students

enrolled in high-level math classes for the 20012002 academic year. The district's K12 student population was

more than 79 percent white, 13.3 percent Latino, and 3.7 percent black. Although 67 percent of nonminority seniors

were taking precalculus or calculus, only 33 percent of the district's minority seniors were enrolled in these classes.

The district's action research team members designed a project aimed at understanding how students of color

selected math courses, hoping this understanding would help them develop an effective intervention to get more
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minorities into high-level math. Team members interviewed black and Latino seniors to learn about their math

experiences within the district. As the assistant principal explained,

They went to this school. They made decisions about their math instruction, and we wanted

to know what influenced those decisions, and if they had any regrets.

The interview data revealed that black and Latino students in the district believed that they were not encouraged to

excel and take honors classes. As a result of these findings, the research team designed and implemented a math

enrichment program for 10th grade minority students, drawing on the work of Uri Treisman (1985, 1992). The

program targeted students who showed evidence of capacity for higher-level mathematics but had not enrolled in

challenging courses.

Over the course of the 20032004 academic year, the chosen students participated in one of several weekly two-

hour study groups. Group time focused on teaching problem-solving strategies and study skills. To help students view

the program as enrichment and not as remediation, a master teacher led the groups.

An analysis of the effectiveness of this program yielded several findings. First, because the groups met during the

school year, with students concurrently enrolled in a math course, the group teacher worked to both strengthen

students' overall math skills and help them master work in their current math class. This format helped students

succeed in their current math class but did not provide them with the necessary skills to skip ahead in the coursesequence or automatically place in a higher math class after their year in the study group. Perhaps because of these

factors, students said they did not see a direct positive effect from participating in the program. In addition, the

research team determined that selecting a study group teacher with strong content knowledge was a necessary but

insufficient component of a successful program. The right teacher also needed the ability to reach out to students,

encouraging their attendance and helping them see themselves as successful math learners.

At the conclusion of the first year, the research team modified the program on the basis of these findings. The study

group is now offered as a summer enrichment program between students' 8th and 9th grade years, providing

students who successfully complete the program with the chance to immediately enroll in a higher-level math course.

The district offers three levels of mathematics courses in 8th grade and two in 9th grade. Eighth graders who

complete the highest-level math course are placed in the upper-level math class in 9th grade, whereas 8th graders

who complete the middle- or lower-level course go on to the less advanced 9th grade course. The summer program

targets minority 8th graders enrolled in the middle-level math course. Those who complete the program can

subsequently take the highest-level 9th grade math course and thus end up on the track to further advanced math.

During 9th grade, graduates of the summer enrichment program continue to meet monthly as a group for support

and encouragement.

The research team selected a teacher to lead the enrichment program who is both highly qualified in mathematics

and skilled at establishing relationships with students as they transition from middle to high school. In describing the

rationale for selecting the teacher, the assistant principal in charge of the program said, She will reach out to the

kids, she knows them, she will call them and encourage them to come.

In the spring of 2004, the district invited all minority students enrolled in the 8th grade middle-level math course to

enroll in the summer enrichment program; about half of those eligible took part. There has been outstandingattendance in the summer program and the teacher believes that the students will flourish in the higher-level math

course during their 9th grade year. By providing study training, peer support, and encouragement from a skilled

teacher, the school district is turning research into action to raise minority math achievement.

South Hills: Detracking Math

The South Hills School District's research also revealed black and Latino students' lower representation in high-level

math courses within the district's middle and high schools. In the 20012002 academic year, the district's population


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of 2,058 students was approximately 60 percent white, 22 percent Asian American, 11 percent black, and 7 percent

Latino. The South Hills action research team analyzed standardized test scores, classroom demographics across

subjects, and other assessment data. It found that black and Latino students were less frequently selected for

accelerated math classes in elementary, middle, and high school and that the district's process for recommending

students for such classes was ambiguous, inconsistent, and heavily reliant on individual teacher judgment. The team

members discovered from student interviews that a key barrier to black and Latino students' math achievement wasteachers' early labeling of many minority studentsas well as students' self-labelingas weak in math. South Hills

chose to radically level the playing field by detracking its math courses so that all students would have access to a

high-level mathematics curriculum.

To assess students' behaviors and attitudes, the research team interviewed randomly selected representative pairs of

black, Latino, white, and Asian American students in grades ranging from elementary school through high school,

with one student in each pair identified by teachers as good at mathematics and the other identified as having

trouble. Interviewers asked students about what kind of supportor lack thereofthey perceived they had gotten

from teachers and the school as they progressed through math courses. Those identified as having trouble all

recalled being told by teachers that they were inadequate in math; researchers concluded that these students had

subsequently lived out a self-fulfilling prophecy. The deputy superintendent who led the research team stated that

Every student [identified as having trouble in math] told a story of a teacher who told themthey were not good in math. And it's true, they would tell us, I'm in a low math class. Of

all the things we did, it was the interviews with these kids that led us to this idea that we

cannot allow our kids to believe that they're mathematicians or not when they're 8.

The interview data also revealed that black students suffered from a sense of racial isolation as well as feelings of

inadequacy.

In response to these findings, South Hills School District began eliminating ability grouping in mathematics and

initiating differentiated curriculum and instruction from the elementary grades on. In 2002, the district started providing

all 3rd grade teachers with professional development on differentiating their instruction to suit a range of student

abilities and learning styles. The following year, the district eliminated ability grouping in the 3rd grade. South Hills is

continuing to operate on a schedule in which all students at one grade level (5th grade, for example) receive

differentiated math instruction for an academic year; in the successive school year, the next set of students in the 5th

grade study math with differentiated instruction but without formal ability grouping. Currently, the district has phased

out grouping in the 3rd grade and has provided 4th grade teachers with the necessary professional development to

detrack that grade in the following year as well.

To alleviate feelings of racial isolation among black and Latino students, the district is implementing the Northeast

Foundation's Responsive Classroom model to support students' sense of belonging and to help them develop

trusting relationships with teachers. Responsive Classroom is an approach to teaching and learning in which teachers

get to know children and parents individually and make them partners in the education process (Denton & Kriete,

2002; Kriete, 2002). These techniques have led to more nurturing teacher-student relationshipsa sign of hope for

long-term elimination of the gap (Ferguson, 2002). South Hills is committed to an ongoing evaluation of students'

feelings of inclusion and belonging.

Rolling Brook: Uncovering an Overlooked Resource

The research process led Rolling Brook Public School Districtwhich has a predominantly African American

populationto reexamine and bolster access to a summer Advanced Placement (AP) Academy that the district

already had in place in its high schools. The AP Academy's mission was to prepare students for honors and

advanced placement courses. But surveys of students and faculty about the academy revealed that those it aimed to

serve knew very little about the program. Faculty members were confused about the academy's mission and the


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process for recommending students; students had such scant knowledge of this program that the intervention was

nearly invisible.

To remedy the situation, members of the action research team made presentations about the academy at faculty

conferences, and teachers who participated in the academy actively discussed it within their academic departments.

These measures made both students and faculty more aware of the AP Academy and led to growth in enrollment.

The AP Academy has now become a recognized and respected institution within the Rolling Brook district.

Feedback from students who completed the AP Academy signals that the intervention provided participants with the

skills and confidence necessary for them to excel in more challenging courses, thus expanding their education

opportunities in secondary school and beyond. One student claimed that without her summer academy experience,

[I would not have taken] honors U.S. history and honors chemistry. Before the AP

Academy, I thought classes above Regents [basic-level courses in the district] would be

difficult and that I could not do the work.

Lessons Learned and Future Directions

The first four years of work reinforced the consortium leaders' belief that mathematics attainment is a powerful

gatekeeper to future academic success. After the fourth year, the consortium decided to focus future action projectson improving mathematics access and achievement for middle school students of color.

In our work with the consortium, we have learned that drawing diverse district- and school-level practitioners into the

action research increases both their ownership in the findings and their commitment to implementing remedies

emerging from that research. The direct involvement of teachers, school- and district-level administrators, support

staff, and counselors in investigating achievement gap realities creates a sense of urgency to act on the findings,

particularly to change harmful practices. Interdistrict collaboration also increases administrators' motivation to enact

change: Cross-district relationships that strengthen bonds and trust among superintendents intensify those

superintendents' commitment to equity and excellence.

When the practitioners who will actually carry out changes designed to shrink the achievement gap initiate action

research, they feel more responsible for making those changes work. The Regional Minority Consortium experience

proves that a shared commitment to equity can identify and begin to dissolve barriers to high achievement for all.

References

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bachelor's degree attainment. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

D'Amico, J. (2001, Spring). A closer look at the minority achievement gap. ERS Spectrum,

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Denton, P., & Kriete, R. (2002). First six weeks of school. Greenfield, MA: Northeast

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Ferguson, R. (2001).A diagnostic analysis of black-white GPA disparities in Shaker Heights,

Ohio (Brookings Papers on Educational Policy 2001). Washington, DC: Brookings Institute.

Ferguson, R. (2002).Addressing racial disparities in high-achieving suburban schools.

Naperville, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Available:

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Schoenfeld, A. H. (2002). Making mathematics work for all children: Issues of standards,

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