Solving the Achievement Gap: Overcoming the Structure of School Inequality - Softcover

Yeh, Stuart S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1137587660 ISBN 13: 9781137587664

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Synopsis

This book examines the cause of the student achievement gap, suggesting that the prevailing emphasis on socioeconomic factors, sociocultural influences, and teacher quality is misplaced. The cause of the achievement gap is not differences in parenting styles, or the economic advantages of middle-class parents, or differences in the quality of teachers. Instead, schools present learning tasks and award grades in ways that inadvertently undermine the self-efficacy, engagement, and effort of low-performing students, causing demoralization and exacerbating differences in achievement that are seen to exist as early as kindergarten. This process systematically maintains and widens initial gaps in achievement that might otherwise be expected to disappear over the K-12 years. Misdiagnosis of the nature of the achievement gap has led to misguided solutions. The author draws upon a range of research studies to support this view and to offer recommendations for improvement. 

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About this title

About the Author

Stuart S. Yeh is Associate Professor of Evaluation Studies at the University of Minnesota, USA. He has published numerous scholarly articles and two books regarding promising strategies for addressing the achievement gap, and has served as an invited expert at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

From the Back Cover

This book examines the cause of the student achievement gap, suggesting that the prevailing emphasis on socioeconomic factors, sociocultural influences, and teacher quality is misplaced. The cause of the achievement gap is not differences in parenting styles, or the economic advantages of middle-class parents, or differences in the quality of teachers. Instead, schools present learning tasks and award grades in ways that inadvertently undermine the self-efficacy, engagement, and effort of low-performing students, causing demoralization and exacerbating differences in achievement that are seen to exist as early as kindergarten. This process systematically maintains and widens initial gaps in achievement that might otherwise be expected to disappear over the K-12 years. Misdiagnosis of the nature of the achievement gap has led to misguided solutions. The author draws upon a range of research studies to support this view and to offer recommendations for improvement. 

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Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1137587660
• ISBN 13: 9781137587664
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252