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Maura Costello Education 610 The Academic Achievement Gap In the 1960’s schools were segregated by race, so a minority students chances of receiving the same type of education as a Caucasian student were slim. After the 1960’s, there was a time period of desegregation. However, despite its success, integration has been hard to maintain in recent years. Many students go to schools in their neighborhood, and there in lies the problem, for the most part the neighborhoods are segregated by race. The neighborhoods are not only separated by race but by socioeconomic status, and usually it is the minority families that make less income and therefore can afford to obtain the resources for a quality education. In the last 30 years however the number of African American students attending college has doubled and the number of Latino students attending college has quadrupled. In high schools there is still a large dropout rate among minorities as compared to their white counterparts. The problem is, “Social change takes place slowly, and closing the academic achievement gap between students of color and their white counterparts constitutes a dramatic change in American society.” (pp. 253) The funds needed to make the appropriate changes to fix the achievement gap are very little and in some cases non-existent. Until we can get the same resources for all students in every school, there will be an achievement gap.

Kelly McCaffrey Part II Introduction What Should Be Taught? Knowledge and Literacy Who should decide what we teach in schools? This has been a continuous debate since schools were invented. No matter what is decided, there are always be people who do not agree. More and more, people are choosing to put their children in private schools because of this ongoing debate. “Most schools teach a relatively standard curriculum. States mandate certain courses, such as English, American history, and drug and alcohol education.” (Nelson, Palonsky, and McCarthy p.234) But some of the American history taught in schools is not even completely accurate. In first grade, we teach about Columbus and how he was greeted by the Native Indians. It is a happy story about his discovery and his interaction with the Native Indians. To say that Columbus greeted the Native Indians in a friendly manner is very inaccurate. Also, despite what is taught in some classrooms, there is no documented proof that Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. Some of the American history that is taught to our young children is sugar coated and the facts are skewed in order to appease the audience. Many people feel that sex and drug education should not be taught in schools and should be left for the parents to address at home or possibly not at all. Others feel that there should not be a separation of church and state in public schools; that religion should indeed be taught in schools. Whether or not multicultural education should be a part of the curriculum has been debated since at least the decision of Brown vs Board of Education. As Americans, we all have different beliefs, morals, and values and therefore it is impossible to satisfy everyone when it comes to what should and should not be taught in public schools. Who is to say who is right and who is wrong? “These disputes illustrate the question of what knowledge is most valuable in our society, a question that, in turn, relates to our differing visions of what constitutes the good individual and the good society.” (p. 239) The U.S is home to several different cultures and religions and therefore many different beliefs, morals, and values. Because of this, state mandated curriculums are being debated more and more. “Traditional values” have changed so much in the past 30 years that it is difficult to define what traditional values are anymore. It may not even be accurate to call them “traditional”. Because of these vast differences, the debates are becoming stronger and more common and will continue to be as long as schools exist.

Amanda Moseley EDUC 610 Reflection Chapter 10

Are already existing policies and practices reducing the academic achievement gap or are new measures needed? Research indicates that children from low socioeconomic status households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher socioeconomic status groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009). With that being said, new practices will not reduce the academic achievement gap. A family's socioeconomic status is based on family income, parental education level, parental occupation, and social status in the community. Regardless of how much teachers try to educate student, the parents and community must step up to the plate to help motivate their children to succeed. Children’s initial reading competence is correlated with the home literacy environment, number of books owned, and parent involvement. If parents cannot afford to buy reading materials and resources the child is already a few steps behind the other students. Parents from low socioeconomics communities may be unable to afford resources such as books, computers, or tutors to create this positive learning environments at home in order to establish a sense of educational value. All of these problems should not be put onto the public school systems or individual teachers. In a nationwide study of American kindergarten children, thirsty six percent of parents in the lowest-income quintile read to their children on a daily basis, compared with sixty-two percent of parents from the highest-income quintile (Coley, 2002). Teachers cannot conquer this problem alone. Parents must play an active role in educating our youth to eliminate the achievement gap. Research continues to link lower socioeconomic status to lower academic achievement and slower rates of academic progress as compared with higher socioeconomic communities.