HEAD OF THE CLASS

After completing my research I have found that there are multiple causes for the achievement/learning gap. Students with specific learning styles that match most teachers teaching styles have a greater chance of being successful on standardized tests. Advanced students have a higher percentage of visual and auditory learning styles compared to the average student who have a higher percentage of kinesthetic learning styles. This is evident in the research I gathered in my classrooms. Most teaching styles and standardized  tests are fit for students with more visual learning styles. Parents of students with higher socioeconomic status tend to have a higher level of education. Racial minorities tend to fall into lower socioeconomic  statuses, which is a factor in the lower test scores of these students. 

 

Some solutions in decreasing the achievement gap would be to eliminate or reform the baseline on which students are tested for proficiency, like the English schools did. Their outcome was successful in that it lowered their achievement gap by 23% over  3 years. Our government created its own solution by passing the No Child Left Behind Program which was successful in raising the Math and Reading test scores for all subgroups (see more in research folder); however, the gap still remained between the different subgroups. 

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How could changes be implemented to solve the issue of the achievement gap?

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There is no perfect solution, but the largest and most significant factor to success is that we have acknowledged there is a problem and that we as a country are actively pursuing an effective answer to this problem within our schools. 

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