Using Data To Close The Achievement Gap

This updated edition of Setting Our Sights outlines the five stages for equity reform while clearly explaining research findings and offering practical tools and examples.

See how student learning is impacted as educators use data effectively and create a culture of inquiry that promotes equitable outcomes. Understand other data including teacher behaviors, the paradigms around data, and the critical role of leaders in this effort. Includes: 2 VHS Videotapes, Implementation Guide, 2 Audio CDs, Companion Book Program 1: Setting Sights on Student Achievement (44 min.) Program 2: Inquiring About Data (51 min.) Produced by The Video Journal of Education, 2004

In a changing world that demands new skills, a vital concern of public education is the gap in academic performance between low- and high-achieving students. There is no excuse for the achievement gaps that persist among poor and minority students in schools today. All students can succeed at high levels, regardless of race, ethnicity and economic background. Several countries have successfully confronted inequities in achievement, demonstrating that any school can close achievement gaps regardless of the community they serve, and that all students can achieve at high levels when they are provided with the right opportunities. This book is about understanding what factors selected countries have applied to promote progress and what factors contribute to progress in the closing of achievement gaps. It is about creating opportunities for all students. Closing the Achievement Gap from an International Perspective: Transforming STEM for Effective Education is written in response to rising concern for the improvement of quality education – especially in mathematics and science – provided to all students. The contributors take a systematic view of the subject, beginning with a cross-national analysis of teacher qualifications and the achievement gap that spans 50 countries. The content of the book is organized in sections describing education around the globe: North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Individual chapters offer close-up analysis of efforts to close achievement gaps in the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, England, Turkey, China, South Africa and Australia among many others. The contributors provide information on the achievement gap in mathematics and science, review current research, and present strategies for fostering improvement and raising performance with a focus on school-related variables that adversely affect educational outcomes among poor and minority students. The authors of the various chapters looked at how students’ data correlated with classroom practices, teacher instruction and academic programming, as part of their efforts to measure student growth. Qualitative and quantitative data are provided to provide evidence not only of the problem, but also for the solution. The book concludes with a chapter on promoting equality and equity to shrink the achievement gap worldwide.

Struggling older English learners pose a real challenge for educators. Some of these students are new arrivals with limited or interrupted schooling. Others have been in and out of ESL and bilingual programs in this country since kindergarten, but have never succeeded academically. How can teachers help older students who lack academic content knowledge and English language proficiency catch up with their classmates? Yvonne and David Freeman provide four research-based keys for closing the achievement gap. three teachers have put this theory into practice to reach their older English learners. These teachers organize curriculum around themes, use predictable classroom routines, and scaffold instruction in a variety of ways. The clear examples from their classes will help other teachers implement effective practices for their older English learners. Closing the Achievement Gap features: the four keys for school success for older English learners clear distinctions among the types of older English learners in our schools with examples of students from each category a thorough discussion of the kinds of language proficiency older English learners need a review of the latest research on effective practices for older English learners detailed descriptions from the classrooms of three teachers, including thematic units they have developed, their daily routines, and the strategies they use to scaffold instruction professional extension activities to help readers apply the information in this book to their own educational settings. For teachers and teacher educators, program directors, resource personnel, and administrators, this book offers both the research and practice schools need to develop effective programs to educate struggling older English learners.

Contemporary public policy assumes that the achievement gap between black and white students could be closed if only schools would do a better job. According to Richard Rothstein, "Closing the gaps between lower-class and middle-class children requires social and economic reform as well as school improvement. Unfortunately, the trend is to shift most of the burden to schools, as if they alone can eradicate poverty and inequality." In this book, Rothstein points the way toward social and economic reforms that would give all children a more equal chance to succeed in school. This book features: a summary of numerous studies linking school achievement to health care quality, nutrition, childrearing styles, housing stability, parental economic security, and more ; aA look at erroneous and misleading data that underlie commonplace claims that some schools "beat the demographic odds and therefore any school can close the achievement gap if only it adopted proper practices." ; and an analysis of how the over-emphasis of standardized tests in federal law obscures the true achievement gap and makes narrowing it more difficult.

Explore why some schools are making more progress than others, so you can focus on what works and build the capacity of high-performance, high-poverty schools.

"Ruth Johnson and Robin Avelar La Salle provide a comprehensive overview of how to use data to provoke questions that lead to the kind of quality education that all students deserve. This book should be required reading in every school district." —Gary Anderson, Professor New York University, NY "Equity warriors everywhere will find this useful resource packed with effective strategies, user-friendly processes, and helpful tools." —Jennifer Frentress, Director of Teaching and Learning Forest Grove School District, OR Uncover buried data to close the achievement gap! Standardized test scores and other outcome-based data are useful tools, but they also paint an incomplete picture that papers over the cracks in our education system. Peel away the layers, however, and you discover hidden factors that contribute to the achievement gap and chronic low school performance. Ruth S. Johnson and Robin Avelar La Salle dramatically illustrate how data from nontraditional sources—disciplinary policies, teacher attendance, special education referrals, and more—can be used to uncover and eliminate systemic inequities. This solution-focused guide: Helps you identify sources of data and questions to ask Examines disparities in graduation rates, special education placement, and the achievement of English learners Includes data exercises to help you analyze your school or district as you read Data Strategies to Uncover and Eliminate Hidden Inequities arms you with the tactics you need to challenge the status quo and take decisive action.