Blame for School Achievement Gap Misplaced
New report urges policymakers to address poverty in order to increase
student learning
Contact: Teri Battaglieri – (517) 203-2940;
greatlakescenter@greatlakescenter.org
David Berliner – (480) 861-0484; berliner@asu.edu
EAST LANSING, Mich. – A new report argues that out-of-school factors
related to poverty are the major cause of the achievement gap that exists
between poor and minority students and the rest of the student population.
This is in direct contrast to current federal education policies that are
based on the belief that public schools should shoulder the blame for lack
of achievement on the part of impoverished students.
“Schools are told to fix problems that largely lie outside their zone of
influence,” says David Berliner, Regents Professor of Education at Arizona
State University and author of the report Poverty and Potential:
Out-of-School Factors and School Success, which was released today by the
Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.
Berliner’s report comes as debate continues over the renewal of the No
Child Left Behind Act, which imposes stiff accountability measures on
schools in return for federal aid. NCLB requires public schools to
demonstrate “adequate yearly progress” toward the eventual
elimination of gaps in achievement among all demographic groups of
students and imposes a variety of sanctions if they fall short.
Berliner says that NCLB’s accountability system is “fatally flawed”
because it holds schools accountable for student achievement without
regard for the out-of-school factors that affect it.
“This report provides exactly the type of information that should guide
education policy,” says Teri Battaglieri, Director of the Great Lakes
Center for Education Research and Practice. “It clearly explains why
poverty must be directly addressed by those interested in closing the
achievement gap, and it makes the case for spending our resources on
strategies that will significantly impact student learning.”
Berliner’s report reviews six out-of-school factors that have been clearly
linked to lower achievement among poor and minority-group students: birth
weight and non-genetic parental influences; medical care; food insecurity;
environmental pollution; family breakdown and stress; and neighborhood
norms and conditions. In addition, he notes a seventh factor: extended
learning opportunities in the form of summer programs, after-school
programs, and preschool programs. Access to these resources by poor and
minority students could help mitigate the effects of the other six
factors.
Because of the extraordinary influence of the six factors identified in
the report, Berliner cautions that “increased spending on schools, as
beneficial as that might be, will probably come up short in closing the
gaps.” Instead, he calls for an approach to school improvement that would
demand “a reasonable level of societal accountability for children’s
physical and mental health and safety.”
“At that point,” he concludes, “maybe we can sensibly and productively
demand that schools be accountable for comparable levels of academic
achievement for all America’s children.”
Find David Berliner’s report, Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors
and School Success, on the Web at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org.
About The Great Lakes Center
The mission of the Great Lakes Center is to improve public education for
all students in the Great Lakes region through the support and
dissemination of high quality, academically sound research on education
policy and practices.
Visit the Great Lakes Center Web Site at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org.
###
If you would rather not receive future email messages from Great Lakes
Center for Education Research and Practice, let us know by clicking here.
Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice, PO Box 1263, East
Lansing, MI 48826-1263 United States