Are Schools Deemed Effective Based on Overall Student Growth Also Closing Achievement Gaps? Examining the Black–White Gap by School
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21459520 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Soland (0000-0001-8895-2871, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 123 |
| Issue | 12 |
| Pages | 211-236 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0161-4681 • E-ISSN: 1467-9620 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/01614681211070876 |
| OpenAlex | W3216736077 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 35 |
Background/Context: Closing achievement gaps is a major concern in U.S. education. These gaps can develop in a wide range of ways over the course of a student’s schooling. Yet, research on school effectiveness and accountability policies for schools often focuses on rank orderings of schools based on value-added models, which could mask those complex gap trends altogether. Purpose: In this study, schools’ contributions to student growth were estimated for Black versus White students such that some of the complex trends in how gaps develop can be disaggregated. Research questions were the following: (1) How different are the rank orderings of schools for Black versus White students? (2) Does relying on rank ordering alone mask any differences in how schools contribute to achievement gaps, including whether or not schools are (a) closing gaps, (b) preparing students for college differentially by race, and (c) generating comparable growth for White and Black students? Sample: Students in the sample, who ranged from roughly 92,000 to 139,000 in number depending on the year, all took a vertically scaled achievement test in math/reading and were followed longitudinally. Research Design: Rather than simply fit lag score models common in the value-added literature, growth curve models were estimated in a multilevel modeling framework. Conclusion: Results show that focusing on rank orderings of schools alone can mask troubling trends in relative achievement over time, including masking differential rates of progress toward college readiness for minoritized students
Academic achievement · Accountability · Geography · Mathematics education · Multilevel model · Physics · Political science · Statistics · Higher Education Research Studies · Mathematics · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · School Choice and Performance
Test Equating, Scaling, and Linking
Teachers and Student Achievement in the Chicago Public High Schools
Application of random-effects pattern-mixture models for missing data in longitudinal studies.
Understanding the Black-White Test Score Gap in the First Two Years of School
Do Test Score Gaps Grow before, during, or between the School Years? Measurement Artifacts and What We Can Know in Spite of Them
School Effects
How important are the cognitive skills of teenagers in predicting subsequent earnings
Seasonal Dynamics of Academic Achievement Inequality by Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity
Influences on the Choice of Math/Science Major by Gender and Ethnicity
Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects
Are Schools the Great Equalizer? Cognitive Inequality during the Summer Months and the School Year
Changes in the Black-White Gap in Achievement Test Scores
Kindergarten Black-White Test Score Gaps
School accountability and the black-white test score gap
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |