Can you answer this question ?

1

Recommendations for Solving Low Rates of College Readiness at James Monroe High

School, West Virginia

Michael Whitener

School of Education, Liberty University

In partial fulfillment of EDUC 816

Author Note

Michael Whitener

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael Whitener

Email: [email protected]

2

Literature Review Outline

I. Overview

II. Narrative Review

a. Achievement gaps in school districts (Hung et al., 2019)

Analysis of factors contributing to performance gaps between White and African

American students. 2, 868 districts schools participated. The researchers investigated

achievement in English and Math. Findings show achievement gaps result from racial

inequality, parents’ academic attainment and economic gaps

b. Parental education attainment and student social environment (Boyce et al., 2020)

The study’s aim was to determine how parental academic attainment affects the social

environments of students and the impact of race. 1706 students in the 10th grade

participated. Results showed that high parental academic attainment reduced social

environment risks for learners while low parental academic attainment increased social

environment risks. Parental academic attainment is influenced by race, with White

parents having higher academic attainment than black parents.

c. Improving indicators of college readiness (Leeds & Mokher, 2019)

The authors assert that using placement tests to assign students developmental course

results to misplacement. One of the ways of improving college readiness indicators is

embracing cutoffs that minimize misplacement. Each state must consider its unique

needs.

d. Improving college readiness for underserved students (Mac Iver et al., 2017)

Schools can increase college readiness through leadership commitment and collaborating

with neighboring communities and higher learning institutions. Also, college readiness

3

can be improved by developing a robust data infrastructure, building adult capacity

around data use and college readiness, and connecting indicators with supports to

promote college readiness.

e. Reasons for achievement gaps between students from different backgrounds

(Henry et al., 2020)

The authors discuss some of the factors that contribute to achievement gaps. Some factors

mentioned are socioeconomic status and race. These factors affect academic achievement due to

the role they play in child development.

i. Student Gender (Reardon et al., 2019)

A total of 10,000 school districts investigated. Results showed that

girls perform better in English Language Arts (ELA) while boys

excel in Math.

ii. School Holidays (Stewart et al., 2018)

Holidays negatively impact students from low-income families

leading to achievement disparities. During holidays, many of them

have no access to food, appropriate care and learning resources. On

the other hand, students from wealthy backgrounds have access to

essential needs to make them perform well.

iii. Inequality in economic and social resources (Owens, 2017)

Learners from high income families perform better than those from

low-income families.

f. Strategies to improve students’ performance in schools

i. Employing high performing and qualified teachers (Lee, 2018)

4

Students taught by highly trained and qualified teachers achieve

short-term and long-term academic success

ii. Parental involvement in the learning process (Day & Dotterer,

2018)

The role of parent engagement in the learning process is broadly

researched. The authors found that engaging parents in the learning

process led to academic improvement among ethnically diverse

learners.

iii. Using technology (Fakherji, 2019)

The study showed that using technology to teach subjects like

science was very effective in bolstering learners’ performance.

iv. Enhancing the school learning climate (Daily et al., 2020)

School environments affect students’ achievement. When students

have a positive perception of their learning environment, academic

performance improves. However, when students have negative

perception of their learning environment, their performance

declines.

III. Theoretical Framework

IV. Summary

5

References

Boyce, S., Bazargan, M., Caldwell, C. H., Zimmerman, M. A., & Assari, S. (2020). Parental

educational attainment and social environment of urban public schools in the U.S.:

Blacks’ diminished returns. Children, 7(5), 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/children7050044

Daily, S. M., Mann, M. J., Lilly, C. L., Dyer, A. M., Smith, M. L., & Kristjansson, A. L. (2020).

School climate as an intervention to reduce academic failure and educate the whole child:

A longitudinal study. Journal of School Health, 90(3), 182–193.

https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12863

Day, E., & Dotterer, A. M. (2018). Parental involvement and adolescent academic outcomes:

Exploring differences in beneficial strategies across racial/ethnic groups. Journal of

Youth and Adolescence, 47(6), 1332–1349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0853-2

Fakherji, W. (2019). Teachers’ use of technology in science supports student knowledge.

Journal of Research in Curriculum Instruction and Educational Technology, 5(1), 135–

158. https://doi.org/10.21608/jrciet.2019.31979

Henry, D. A., Betancur Cortés, L., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2020). Black–white achievement gaps

differ by family socioeconomic status from early childhood through early adolescence.

Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(8), 1471–1489.

https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000439

Hung, M., Smith, W. A., Voss, M. W., Franklin, J. D., Gu, Y., & Bounsanga, J. (2019).

Exploring student achievement gaps in school districts across the United States.

Education and Urban Society, 52(2), 175–193.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124519833442

6

Lee, S. W. (2018). Pulling back the curtain: Revealing the cumulative importance of high-

performing, highly qualified teachers on students’ educational outcome. Educational

Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(3), 359–381.

https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373718769379

Leeds, D. M., & Mokher, C. G. (2019). Improving indicators of college readiness: Methods for

optimally placing students into multiple levels of postsecondary coursework. Educational

Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(1), 87–109.

https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373719885648

Mac Iver, M. A., Mac Iver, D. J., & Clark, E. (2017). Improving college readiness for

historically underserved students: The role of the District Office. Education and Urban

Society, 51(4), 555–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124517728102

Owens, A. (2017). Income segregation between school districts and inequality in students’

achievement. Sociology of Education, 91(1), 1–27.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040717741180

Reardon, S. F., Fahle, E. M., Kalogrides, D., Podolsky, A., & Zárate, R. C. (2019). Gender

Achievement Gaps in U.S. school districts. American Educational Research Journal,

56(6), 2474–2508. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831219843824

Stewart, H., Watson, N., & Campbell, M. (2018). The cost of school holidays for children from

low income families. Childhood, 25(4), 516–529.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568218779130

7