The Achievement Gap: Past, Present & Future

Daedalus ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Nisbett
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Intellectual Skills ◽  
Middle Class Blacks

The achievement gap between blacks and whites owes nothing to genetics. It is not solely due to discrimination or social-class differences between blacks and whites. It is due in good part to environmental differences between blacks and whites stemming from family, neighborhood, and school socialization factors that are present even for middle-class blacks. The gap is closing slowly, but it could be closed much more rapidly, with interventions both large and small. Preschool programs exist that can produce enormous differences in outcomes in school and in later life. Elementary schools where children spend much more time in contact with the school, and which include upper-middle-class experiences such as visits to museums and dramatic productions, have a major impact on poor black children's academic achievement. Simply convincing black children that their intellectual skills are under their control can have a marked impact.

scholarly journals Class, caring and disability: evidence from the British Retirement Survey

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN GLASER ◽  
EMILY GRUNDY
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Family Obligations ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Resident Care ◽  
Middle Generation ◽  
Provision Of Care

There has been an increasing interest in the caring responsibilities of middle generation individuals as numerous studies have noted the continuing family obligations of people in later life. Employing data from the United Kingdom Office of National Statistics Retirement Survey of 1988/89, we examined social class differentials in the provision of care by 55–69 year olds. Our results show few social class differences in the provision of co-resident care to a parent (among those aged 55–69 in 1988/89 with at least one living parent), but significant social class differences in the provision of care to a spouse. Working class individuals were more likely to be caring for a spouse than their middle class counterparts because of the higher prevalence of disability among this group.

Values of middle-class blacks and whites: A replication and extension

1987 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Goldsmith ◽  
J. Dennis White ◽  
Mew T. Stith
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Middle Class Blacks

Inadvertent Exemplars: Life History Portraits of Two Socially Just Principals

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Scanlan
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Life History ◽  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Public Elementary Schools ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking

This study creates life history portraits of two White middle-class native-English-speaking principals demonstrating commitments to social justice in their work in public elementary schools serving disproportionately high populations of students who are marginalized by poverty, race, and linguistic heritage. Through self-reported life histories of these principals, I create portraits that illustrate how these practitioners draw motivation, commitment, and sustenance in varied, complicated, and at times contradictory ways.

Sex-Role Preference and Parental Imitation within Groups of Middle-Class Whites and Lower-Class Blacks

1972 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 651-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Black Boys ◽  
White Children ◽  
White Girls ◽  
Role Preference

32 second-grade children were assessed on measures of sex-role preference and parental imitation. The middle-class white boys were more masculine in preference than the middle-class white girls were feminine ( t = 3.43, p < .01), and lower-class black girls tended to be more mother imitative than the lower-class black boys were father imitative ( r = 2.09, p < .06). No such differences were found in sex-role preference for blacks or in imitation for whites. The results indicated that there was a dominant masculine influence in the development of sex-role preference among middle-class white children and a dominant feminine influence in parental imitation among lower-class black children.

The Influence of Three Phonological Rules of Black English on the Discrimination of Minimal Word Pairs

1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Baran ◽  
Harry N. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Word Pair ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Phonological Rules

Minimal word pairs that are presumed to be perceptually difficult to differentiate when spoken in black English were examined relative to (1) black children’s performance in differentiating the meanings of their own word pair productions and those of other blacks and whites and (2) white children’s performance in differentiating the meanings of word pairs produced by black children. Perceptual errors were significantly greater for whites listening to word pairs produced by blacks than for blacks listening to themselves, other blacks, or whites. No significant differences were found among blacks listening to themselves, other blacks, and whites. Perceptual errors followed predictable patterns that were influenced by three phonological rules of black English. Also, the data suggest that there are phonemic cues that are imperceptible to non-black-English speakers which allow black-English speakers to differentiate word pairs.

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