Achievement Gap stats, decreases with homeschooling and phonics

[ElizabethB]

Here is the National Center of Educational Statistics study of the achievement gap:

 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2009455.pdf

 

Also, a bit old, but according to a study called "Strengths of Their Own," the achievement gap disappears for reading and is greatly reduced for math for minorities that homeschool.

 

Another important finding of Strengths of Their Own was that the race of the student does not make any difference. There was no significant difference between minority and white homeschooled students. For example, in grades K-12, both white and minority students scored, on the average, in the 87th percentile. In math, whites scored in the 82nd percentile while minorities scored in the 77th percentile. In the public schools, however, there is a sharp contrast. White public school eighth grade students, nationally scored the 58th percentile in math and the 57th percentile in reading. Black eighth grade students, on the other hand, scored on the average at the 24th percentile in math and the 28th percentile in reading. Hispanics scored at the 29th percentile in math and the 28th percentile in reading.

 

Black students in much poorer Richmond, VA, improved greatly after a switch to a phonics based program. Most of the rich Fairfax, VA district schools continue to use balanced literacy. (Interestingly, when we lived there, we lived in the district for the only elementary school that taught phonics--and that school was quite desired, house prices were about $100K more than houses in the other schools. We rented from family, otherwise we would not have lived in that neighborhood, and family bought years ago when prices were not crazy.)

 

Here are two links about the difference:

 

Black students in Fairfax County are consistently scoring lower on state standardized tests than African American children in Richmond, Norfolk and other comparatively poor Virginia districts, surprising Fairfax educators and forcing one of the nation's wealthiest school systems to acknowledge shortcomings that have been masked by its overall success.

 

 

Link for above article.

 

Compare Fairfax County to the city of Richmond. The Richmond Public Schools are 90% high-poverty and 90% African-American.

Starting in 2001, Richmond adopted the NIH reading reforms. Last spring, on the 3rd grade SOL tests in reading , 76% of children passed in Richmond, compared to 79% in Fairfax County.

 

That’s right. The reading scores for children in urban Richmond and wealthy Fairfax are almost the same.

 

As you can see in the graphs in my presentation, Richmond is going up dramatically, while Fairfax is going down. It is pretty clear that the next two years, reading scores in Richmond are going to pass those in Fairfax County.

 

Link for above presentation.

 

Here are the literacy stats by race:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/litpercent.html

 

And, the correlation between earnings and literacy:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/profitable.html

 

(And, very scary, they dropped the level 5 in the most recent survey, so few people read at the college level that they now have combined level 4 and level 5 into one level.)

 

The best book I have read about the achievement gap is "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning."

 

My students are not randomly selected and I don't have enough to compare at a statistically significant level even if they were more randomly selected, but anecdotally, my black students seem able to make more dramatic advances when taught with phonics than my white students. But, I also have taught more black than white students since discovering Webster's Speller, and it is very powerful! Webster's Speller is also very powerful for my ESL students, but there were even less of those, so that could be a fluke.

Edited February 28, 2011 by ElizabethB

[ElizabethB]

Anyone have any thoughts about the math, why the gap does not fully close with homeschooling?

 

I believe that the closing of the gap for homeschool reading is based on phonics. Most schools use balanced literacy and most homeschoolers use phonics. White adults have a higher literacy rate than minority adults, so they can make up for phonics gaps from school on their own at home easier than minority parents, you cannot teach what you do not know.

[Renee in NC]

Anyone have any thoughts about the math, why the gap does not fully close with homeschooling?

 

I believe that the closing of the gap for homeschool reading is based on phonics. Most schools use balanced literacy and most homeschoolers use phonics. White adults have a higher literacy rate than minority adults, so they can make up for phonics gaps from school on their own at home easier than minority parents, you cannot teach what you do not know.

 

What is the standard deviation? Without knowing that, you can't really compare.

[ElizabethB]

What is the standard deviation? Without knowing that, you can't really compare.

 

That is true. I don't think it falls within the deviation based on the numbers, but I do not have the actual data.

[Renee in NC]

That is true. I don't think it falls within the deviation based on the numbers, but I do not have the actual data.

 

I'm waiting for the new study NHERI conducted to see if they were able to eliminate the flaws in the original 1994 study. The biggest problem (that is still likely a problem) is how they collect the data - not all homeschoolers test and many use the cheapest, easiest to administer option (which is fine, but creates a bias from the get-go because the previous study used a more expensive, qualified-administrator test.)

Edited February 28, 2011 by Renee in FL

[Spy Car]

Anyone have any thoughts about the math, why the gap does not fully close with homeschooling?

 

 

You know what I think. A math education that emulates "sight-word" oriented reading program will lead to the same sort of problems and lack of gap closure as a whole words approach does with reading skills.

 

The home education community has almost univerasally embraced phonics, but there is quite a split about how to teach math. Those who would treat math as a subject a similar fashion with the way they (as classical home educators) treat reading and the language arts are a growing legion, but there is a long way to go before we get pat the math = memorizing math facts educational model.

 

But you knew that ;)

 

Bill

[Lovin Learnin]

A math education that emulates "sight-word" oriented reading program will lead to the same sort of problems and lack of gap closure as a whole words approach does with reading skills.

 

Bill

 

 

I agree with this statement. Last year when dd was in 3rd grade I did quite a bit of chatting about math with a co-worker who had a son who also was in the 3rd grade. Based on state test scores, dd's school was considered high performing while my friend's son went to a low performing school. I was a bit confused and mesmerized by the fact that her son's class "appeared" to be way ahead of dd's class. While dd's school touched on multiplication and division, they spent the bulk of their time shoring up math concepts and the application of those concepts, such as multi-step word problems.

 

DF told me that her son's class was whizzing through muti-digit multiplication and division. Imo, those kids were being taught to compute, not to think mathematically. You can be a great computer, but you have to know what, why, when and how to use an operation. These are the kids who will look at you and say, "Am I supposed to multiply or divide on this problem?"

[ElizabethB]

You know what I think. A math education that emulates "sight-word" oriented reading program will lead to the same sort of problems and lack of gap closure as a whole words approach does with reading skills.

 

But you knew that ;)

 

Bill

 

I'm pretty sure most people who read your posts know what you think about most things! I don't think I've seen you waffle about anything. :lol::lol::lol:

 

I do like the analogy!! And, anyone who has read more than 2 of my posts will know what I think about sight words.

 

DF told me that her son's class was whizzing through muti-digit multiplication and division. Imo, those kids were being taught to compute, not to think mathematically. You can be a great computer, but you have to know what, why, when and how to use an operation. These are the kids who will look at you and say, "Am I supposed to multiply or divide on this problem?"

 

:iagree:

 

I have run into this, as well.

 

It appears like you are doing better in the lower grades, but it is a false understanding. When they hit 2 step word problems, algebra, and multi-syllable words, things start to fall apart. The problem is, it works for some and it appears to work for most children to those who are teaching it, they do not see the consequences, the consequences do not become clear until years later.