The Achievement Gap

Past, Present & Future

Bibliographic Data

ID9685528
AuthorsRichard E Nisbett (American University of Culture and Education, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume140
Issue2
Pages90-100
Publication date2011-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDaedalus (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-5266 • E-ISSN: 1548-6192
PublisherMIT Press - Journals (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1162/daed_a_00079
OpenAlexW2013412739
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited10

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

Academic achievement · Closing (real estate · Developmental psychology · Middle class · Nothing · Political science · Psychological intervention · Social class · Socialization · Sociology · Early Childhood Education and Development · Education Methods and Practices · Education Systems and Policy · Law · Psychology

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