Introduction

There are many issues in today’s society that we all have to face. One of which has been in the eyes of educators for several years. The Achievement Gap has been a topic among professionals in the field since the 1960s. The achievement gap in educations refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students (Ansel, 2011) While there are several comparisons that can show considerable and somewhat concerning disparities in the scores between differing student demographics; “it is most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between African-American and Hispanic students at the lower end of the performance scale, and their non-Hispanic white peers, and the similar disparity between low-income families and those who are better off.” (Ansel, 2011)

The First Approach: Government Legislation

In today’s world, the achievement gap is a phenomenon that appears throughout the nation and among many different classifications of people, and it is caused by an intricate web of inner and underlying factors. According to the Department of Education, President Lyndon Baines, Johnson believed it to be imperative for the United States to provide for its citizens the opportunity to learn, and that “Full educational opportunity” should be our “First national goal” (U.S. Dept. Of Ed., 2020). In 1965, he signed into law the Elementary And Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and it has become the base standard for education reform over the years. This act offered new grants to the districts that served low-income students, provided federal grants for textbooks and library books, gave funding for special education centers, and provided scholarships to low-income college students who would otherwise have been unable to attend. Furthermore, the law gave federal grants to state education agencies to help increase the quality of K-8 programs. (U.S. Dept. of Ed.,2020). The ESEA created an established base of a National curriculum and provided a mechanism to hold schools accountable and increase equality in education across the country. These policies created the legislation necessary for schools to get help from the federal government.

 The US Department of Education website states, “Our mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” (U.S. Dept. Of Ed., 2020) The mission statement shows what the overall goal is, and while several advancements in the way of monitoring and attempting to address the gap among various different demographics of students, there is much more that could and should be done in order for students to reach the academic performance goals put in place. 

Aspect: Standards

Part of the legislation mentioned above states that, “Federal law requires all states receiving Title I funds have high-quality Standards. Federal law does not mandate a specific set of standards.” (College and Career Ready Standards., 2020) Though there is no required national set of standards, government and education-related programs have worked together to create a set of standards, that demonstrate the preferred outcomes. When the Common Core was introduced, 40 states adopted them, though the implementation of these standards has not been consistent in all places and not everyone is thrilled by the new techniques students are being taught. In place of these federally created standards, the states who did not adopt them were required to prove that their standards would ensure the students meet the required minimums and show progression. As student progression is the determining factor in the funding the schools receive from Title 1 funds, there is a considerable motivation for administrators and teachers to ensure the students are doing well, and meeting the requirements expected. 

Aspect: Curriculum and Instruction

While the standards set in place clear concepts that students need to know and understand, curricula and lesson plans are the resources teachers use to support their students in reaching mastery (College and Career-Ready Standards., 2020). Locally, the curriculum used for Elementary school students is the National Geographic Reach for Reading series, which is designed and created to follow the Common Core standards that have been adopted by Washington State. 

After getting a close look to the Teacher and Student versions, it has become clear that there are several attempts at making the material more diverse and productive for all types of learners, there are lesson suggestions, and many other tools included in the curriculum to assist the educator using it for any particular grade level. There are enough additional resources, an educator could even easily get overwhelmed believing they have to use everything. Additionally, it is important to note that the writers and creators of these materials are professionals in the field, so what is presented in the curriculum should be of good quality.  Information regarding the professionals who designed the curriculum, as well as clear examples of the additional resources available to students and teachers can be found in more detail on the National Geographic Learning website. 

Aspect: Methodology

The most common form of instruction seen in most classrooms is in some way formed through the use of direct instruction. Direct instruction does have its place in the classroom, however recent studies in the field suggest that the use of direct instruction as the primary methodology behind structuring an effective lesson can only go so far, reaching students. The attention span of a person ranges from about 20 to 45 minutes, this means that a lecture style system without the use of other more interesting techniques, will do very little in order to reach students who have a harder time focusing. Those who are bilingual, or have auditory, or learning deficiencies tend to have additional difficulty learning this way that their peers do, aren’t prone to, and that teachers often overlook. 

Tailored instruction using hands-on, student-centered and directed techniques have proven to elicit better outcomes, and more recent teaching styles and methods have created better ways of passing along information, and puts the absorption of learning in the hands of the students. As now more than ever students are encouraged to infer, explore, and find their answers instead of a traditional record, rehearse, and regurgitate method, the students are inspired to take control of their learning (ERIC, 2020).

Aspect: Bilingual and ELL Learning

In 1990, 32 million citizens of kindergarten age or higher in the United States spoke a language other than English outside of school, this number made up 14 percent of the population. Ten years later, that number had increased to 47 million, therefore increasing the total    18 percent (U.S. Census Bureau 2002). With the help of the October 2015 released census, that number has shown to have increased to nearly 21 percent by 2013. With the steady growth of more and more students speaking a second language, or learning English as a new language, the achievement gap disparity between naturalEnglish speakers, and ELL students is becoming even more prevalent and relevant in the eyes of education. The future of these students is important, and ensuring that we are providing equity of learning to these students is essential to the well-being of our diverse community. 

The legislation that has been provided in order to address these gaps from the ESEA, the NCLB, and finally the ESSA has provided enough means to show that overall students’ test scores have increased, though unfortunately the gap has remained. Thus, it is evident that more needs to be done through the use of public policy to bring more bilingual education opportunities to schools. 

Aspect: Diversity and Inclusion

In the realm of addressing bilingual education, we also need to address special education, and other aspects of diversity and inclusion. As mentioned previously, special education was addressed in the legislation, and some attempts have in fact been made within the school system. But availability of up-to-date equipment is not always available to the students who need it, despite the fact that there is the legal requirement for students to have access to the tools they need to accommodate or modify their instruction, for means of promoting success. As many would agree, the lack of these items for students is unacceptable, and yet there are tons of students who lack the resources they need. 

Several programs are in place to encourage more culturally and physically diverse persons to pursue the profession including grants, scholarships, and forgiveness programs for people with specific needs or differences. These programs have helped some over the years, but the traffic of new educators needed to address the growth of the overall student body in the United States is unlikely to be met with the systems currently in place to access these opportunities. 

The Second Approach: Teacher Innovation

The ESEA, and the rest of the mentioned legislation was passed to hold schools accountable for student achievement and increase equality in education, and so far the teachers and administrators have done their best, especially since the Obama administration and the passing of the ESSA, educators have responded to the call and taken responsibility for student scores and achievement. In theprocess, the teacher’s standards have thus increased, in order to facilitate the demand for better quality educators in the field. Beyond additional standards for new and upcoming teachers, there is a considerable amount of additional training teachers are required to accumulate each year. 

Additionally, teachers are always collaborating with their team members, their education coaches, and administrators in order to better motivate, and educate the students to reach the numbers they are required to meet for their students and funding. 

Not only has the government and public put most of the responsibility on teachers, but they have stepped up to the plate, and have begun to go above and beyond for their students. Teachers spend much of their own time, and money into creating quality lessons and environments for their students. It’s important to acknowledge this, especially now, as schools have shut down, and teachers have had to adapt to a new form of classroom. 

Aspect: Standards

All schools are required to adhere to a particular requirement standard, achieved either by following state standards, or by utilizing the Common Core Standards that have been adopted by much of the United States for student achievement. However, there are also particular teaching standards that the teachers are required to meet in their learning, as well as throughout their career. The use of standards such as these have been prominent, and are often assessed through both the teacher’s performance scores, as well as their students’ test and performance scores. Student outcomes directly lead to teacher outcomes, which lead to school ratings. Everyone is constantly working toward a quality grade for their school, so that their funding opportunity can be increased (OSPI, 2020).

Aspect: Curriculum and Instruction

Previously, it was mentioned that the instruction materials used locally had so many additional resources an educator could use that it would be quite easy for a new or even an established educator to get overwhelmed believing that they have to do every activity in the book. However, quality lessons can be created without the use of a particular “curriculum” per se, as long as the lesson is well-designed. Though the curriculum currently being used has begun to steer lessons into a more student centered approach, much of the direct instruction techniques are limited to a lecture format, which can lose an elementary level class quickly if a teacher doesn’t possess a charismatic sense of intrigue for the students. As such, the fluidity of the lessons can be easily thrown off with even one interruption, and with class sizes ranging from 20-38 (CITE CLASS SIZE SOURCE) students depending on where you are, these numbers leave a lot of room for interruption, and not a lot of time to focus on the material.

Furthermore, even in higher level classrooms, the need to keep students focused on the academics at hand, can’t always be done simply by telling them to pay attention or read a particular chapter, the students need something interesting to captivate their attention and provide reason and value for the lesson. Especially in later ages, the question of why, and especially “why is this important to me?” becomes a constant question in the back of adolescent minds. Relevance becomes vital to students, and therefore the curriculum and delivery of instruction should be too. Efficient teachers now recognize that, value the implication, and do a lot of extra work in the background to find resources that cater to their class interests or backgrounds. 

Additionally, the curriculum used for academics in the later years seems mildly handicapping for students, as the critical thinking often remains isolated and rarely discussed amongst peers when the reflection questions are used in practice. While it is understandable that teachers may be valuing the individual thought, the time students are given to ponder, let alone discuss some of these questions is so limited, it seems to take away from the overall point and end goal of the lesson that is trying to be taught despite the best efforts of the teacher at providing a quality lesson.

Aspect: Methodology

 Teaching methods used today are all over the place, newer teachers are being taught updated research, and the value of flexibility and adaptability for the students, long time teachers tend to be stuck in their ways and unwilling to change. This is why teachers are moving toward a more student centered approach, as the students are put in control of their learning, and the educator is able to better serve the students in the role of a guide, rather than an information search engine. 

Dave Burgess, the writer and creator of Teach Like A Pirate demonstrates that you have to keep your transitions smooth, like an act, in order to keep the audience captive, a captive audience is listening, a listening audience is learning. He mentions that you have to keep transitions as seamless as possible, by keeping your lesson related and interesting, otherwise the focus is lost, and the time is wasted (Burgess, 2012). Many teachers today are being taught and encouraged to work in their lessons this way, not just in younger grades, but in older grades as well, as topics increase in relevance and catch the eye of students, current world issues classes have curriculum often based around situations and events happening around the world at the same time, or recently in the students lives. Relevance, interest and method are the biggest factors in creating a quality learning experience. 

Aspect: Bilingual and ELL Learning

To come full circle, and remember that the achievement gap typically refers to the academic disparity between white students, and their peers hailing from various other non-white demographics, we must discuss how bilingual education is being affected by teachers. Sure, it is true that overall the scores among all student demographics are collectively raising, and that the “achievement gaps have narrowed since 1998 between white students and Hispanic students not classified as English Language learners.” (Sparks, 2011) however, the progress has been much less for Hispanic English Language Learners, who continue to trail far behind both white students and their Hispanic peers possessing better English-language skills. As such, white students remain two grade levels higher. Furthermore, Sean P. Buckley the NCES Commissioner agrees that the policies implemented over the last 20 years have been ineffective at closing the gaps, even though they’ve effectively raised the averages overall (Sparks, 2011). 

Therefore, despite the hundreds of hours of training specifically for teaching these students, and the additional preparation needed in order to assist English language learners, there is still more to be done, more that can be done, and it is not about requiring more training either. Bilingualism should be valued more, especially in teaching, and especially going forward. 

Teachers are taught to create a community in the classroom, by developing an inclusive, loving, and interesting environment filled with representations of their students’ cultures and other cultures around the world. But bilingualism isn’t labels of different languages on the wall, or decorations specific to different parts of the world. Bilingual and multilingualism are the tools we can use going forward to create a better community amongst our younger generations and for the benefit of the future. 

Aspect: Diversity and Inclusion

To add to bilingual education, regardless of the language being spoken in the classroom, representation matters, and unfortunately in many places diverse students do not tend to see representatives of their demographics leading a classroom. Over the years more people have come into the field, and administrators are looking for that diversity amongst teachers in order to give the students more examples of, but as of 2016 “Only 18% of our teachers are teachers of color,” (US Dept of Education, 2016). Though good strides have been made in order to provide adequate inclusion in the classroom setting for all learnings by the efforts of the teachers facilitating each lesson, it is important to understand that a white majority facilitating nearly all instruction for students who they do not represent take away from the benefits the student can learn from being taught by someone who doesn’t represent them and vice versa. The implications of creating a more diverse community of educators means that the students’ education level out, creating interactions that develop a global sense of community (Kapila, Hines, Searby, 2016).

Pros and cons for each APPROACH;

The good news is that the legislation calling attention to the problem of these achievement gaps has been that the focus shifted onto these issues, provided a baseline, and sent specialized funding to schools in need in order to invest in the students. Though it is arguable that we would not have had the progression in overall scores without the efforts implemented through these efforts, the actual gap remains largely the same, and legislation does little to actually specify the “how” rather than the “must.” 

Teachers however have already pulled their weight, going through the hours of additional training beyond their degrees, and the ongoing training throughout each year that is required, but also through the innovativeness that they have to present in the classroom as the curriculum, requirements, students, and current events change. 

They do their best already, but they can’t always get to everyone because they lack the time to meet each student’s individual needs; and so as hard as they work, the current team of teachers, though effective and passionate, will never be able to meet the needs of the students. 

Going Forward

Going forward, instead of focusing on the aspects the system in place cannot control, let us shift our focus to the areas we can control; starting with the teachers and standards currently set in place for today’s system! While we have already started the preliminary work toward becoming and expecting better teachers by raising the standard of excellence through higher baselines of their education and ongoing training. We are maintaining these new expectations set upon us by the legal attempts. Through these two approaches, we have begun to address slight portions of the problem. We have two intertwined approaches based on the aspects of public policy, teachers, and standards, as well as curriculum and instruction to thank for what progress has been made, despite how slight. Though expecting excellence on the part of our teachers is by no means a pitfall, the regulations in place put the responsibility of the students’ progress entirely on the teachers. While these educators understand that they have agreed to take on a majority of the responsibility for the student’s development, however teachers lack the resources, time, and funds to complete the job adequately, currently, they are underpaid, undervalued, overlooked, and overworked for their duties. 

While the blame for this can be pointed in many directions, solutions for the underfunding and limited resources can easily be rendered by the government if they were to be pushed to do so. If more substantial funding were to be directed toward the education of our students, we could implement more time and energy into the students’ individual needs by means of hiring additional effective and innovative teachers. Additional funding could provide a plethora of additional, valuable programs to benefit the students. One such program to actually address the achievement gap between white and their non-white peers would be to create a program in Bilingual or even Multilingual education. 

Bilingual education, diversity & inclusion go hand in hand. Having a community of diverse teachers that teach methods of inclusion lead to a sense of community that can be valuable in an adolescent’s life. Thus fostering a better atmosphere for growth, understanding, and development; going further, one of the first steps in understanding other cultures is being exposed to them, and with more diversity in our schools, our future generations would have the upper hand simply because they have had that exposure in the past. A speech from the Archives of the US. Department of Education states that:

 “A majority of employers, across all sectors, small business, large business, want and prefer bilingual employees. We know that our international competitors often do a significantly better job of preparing bilingual students. And so, we’ve got work to do as a country to ensure that we embrace bi-literacy and multiliteracy…” (U.S. Dept. of Ed., 2016)

“By learning in a bilingual environment alongside classmates and teachers from all over the world, we are convinced that our students do not only improve their language skills but increase their understanding and respect for other cultures.” Said the head of Accadis International School, Janina Sparks (Bilingual Education – A Competitive Advantage, 2020). Other benefits to a bilingual education include increased cognitive thinking, problem-solving skills, and other various benefits to assist a bilingual student later on in the future regarding their health, finances, adaptability to culture, and career (The Benefits of A Bilingual Education, 2015)

Regarding diversity and inclusion, it is interesting to note that, “More people favor offering comparative religion classes… 77% of all adults and 76% of parents, rising to 87% of teachers” (Frustration In The Schools, 2019). By shifting our focus not only on the academics on learning, but how to be a global citizen through the use of combining the separated efforts to join these 5 aspects through these approaches. 

Ponder: our legislation currently puts in place the necessary avenues to address the achievement gap. Teachers are spending heaps of time trying to adhere to the expectations set on them by the public, by the standards they are meant to adhere to, and by the legislation mentioned above to address the achievement gap. 

Make no mistake, teachers work tirelessly to adhere to everything they are expected to – and it is exhausting. But while the system currently in place to address these gaps, particularly the one between white students and students of color, we can shift our focus to diverse multilingual education in an attempt to facilitate community and understanding. We can do this by shifting the methodology from the direct instruction in a single dominant language, to explorative instruction taught in multiple languages through the use of immersive education. The curriculum currently in place could be improved with the use of better primary sources, as those from cultural areas become more valuable as more people are able to read them in the language they were written in without the context change of translation. 

Furthermore, the students deserve quality instruction, part of what needs to be addressed here as well is the lack of funding for the teachers. The teachers are the direct line to a quality learning experience, regardless of what kind of modern method of instruction is being used. If a teacher is undervalued, and underpaid, how are they able to take care of themselves? When someone is run-down, tired, and feeling beat, we always tell them that they have to take care of themselves before they can take care of others, but how can they do that if they are constantly concerned over how they are going to provide for themselves and their families? Investing in our teachers means we are investing in our students. 

Setbacks

Noted is the argument that what is being suggested would be a difficult and systemic change. The switch to multilingual education would be a shock to students and teachers alike if it was attempted to be implemented essentially overnight. So we can acknowledge that this change would not be able to happen rapidly. 

Another argument would include the fact that the improvements suggested would require a great deal of funding. But taking into account the results of PDK Poll’s Frustration in the Schools results, we can conclude that most adults would support the additional funding being directed from a few different avenues into the funding for the education provided publicly.

Some positives to the initiatives above, include the facilitation of a profession teachers and teaching candidates actually want to pursue and be a part of, as it sits more and more of these potential leaders are leaving the profession due to lack of promise, pay, and respect. But leaders working passionately in the field now are advocating for changes leading to better equity for students. Being bilingual even just in Spanish, as it is the second most spoken language in the United States would be beneficial on a practical level outside of school and after graduation, as you are most likely to run into a native speaker of this language than most others. Practically speaking, it would limit the need for translators in common languages, and facilitate better communication amongst people. It has been shown, as mentioned above, that students who are bilingual possess better critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as the learning and knowledge of different languages helps to gain perspective and understanding. 

What the future of education could look like

The future of education envisioned above consists of multilingual teachers collaborating with one another to promote a diverse and inclusive environment, through the use of language, and cultural (and religious) comparative studies in order to promote understanding of others amongst students. Part of understanding one another, and different people is just by meeting them, the other part is being able to communicate, and speaking the same language or a similar language, fills many of the gaps of misunderstanding. The future of education could look like an ideal if we would let it. We have the means to give our students much better than we do, and one search comparing different countries’ systems to our own would prove that. 

Credibility and Bias

The sources used in this paper are made up of websites written by education professionals, both for the public and for other teachers and teaching candidates. The US Department of Education, for example, is made up of officials who are meant to deal with the funding and the legislation for academic students, and are in charge of monitoring the school’s progression and ratings. So while they have a bias as they are directly related to the cause, and are meant to make things better, the US Department of Education  up of Officials and Educators who are typically considered experts in the field, as such, the use of the information was valuable.  Closely related, is the source material from the Every Student Succeeds Act, which is direct legislation relating to the achievement gap, and was meant to ensure promotion of student academic scores and wellbeing. However, the excerpts taken and written here were from essays summarizing the legislation rather than quoting the exact law. More information can be found for both of these on the US Department of Education website, the two references here mentioned have the citation labels as (US Dept. Of Ed.,2020) and (ESSA, 2020)  The other source materials used in this paper were taken from reputable websites also written by professionals directly related to the field, some portions are written from experience, and may contain bias as they are written from the perspective of the teacher, most others however like those from Edweek, are written for educators, by other educators, and often contain other reputable references in their work, therefore backing their claims by other printed and notable sources. 

Conclusion:

The achievement gap discussed in this paper refers to the academic disparity between differing student demographics, and has been an educational issue we have been trying to tackle since the 60’s. Unfortunately, despite rising scores and increased student progress overall, the achievement gap remains. Though the governmental approach has been effective in focusing attention on the issue, through the use of baseline standards and legislation requiring that officials take the responsibility of the students’ education, curriculum and instruction tailored to those standards, while the government doesn’t have much of a hand in the methods on which the students are taught, the assumption is made that the students will be taught in such a way that benefits both themselves and others as they enter society. Efforts by the government have also been made to address the need for diversity and inclusion in our schools, especially in the way of bilingual education, as the need grows more and more. Despite best efforts created by existing legislation and the dedicated professionals trying to implement these regulations, the reality is that it has done very little in the way of actually closing the gap. 

Furthermore, even though teachers are remaining dedicated to their students learning by adhering to both the teaching standards set by Washington state, but also the students standards described in the common core system. The teachers invest a lot of time, and energy into their ongoing learning, utilization of new methods, hours of training for bilingual students, and inclusion and diversity training, yet they remain unable to close the gap on their own, despite the passionate attempt at doing so for their students. The reality is that both approaches have made an effort, and have done some good at increasing scores overall, but that the gap they set to close in the first place still remains ever present. 

The future possible for our students could be greatly created around a sense of inclusion and community, if only we increased the diversity among our teachers and fostered a system of communication through multilingualism. If we close the language gap, and nurture an environment for the pursuit of understanding we can help students greatly, and though the suggestions listed to improve the situation could be costly, approximately 3 out of 4 adults would agree and support additional funding for both schools and teachers.

Promoting communication and collaboration can only mean later benefit for both students and society, as they will have the upper hand in workforce skills. Though the sources used for this document are undoubtedly credible, as they are all written by various experts and professionals in the field of education, those of us in the field are known to be passionate and detailed in our experiences, so it is possible that some of these sources may be affected by bias, and have therefore leaked into the paper. But these biases don’t take away from the importance of the topic nor the need to address the issue. The achievement gap must close, and even though we have worked tirelessly toward closing it, our goal results have not yet been met, and thus we must continue working and utilizing new ideas in order to tackle the problem. 

Resources

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