NCREL Policy Issues
Issue 13, December 2002
Addressing Racial Disparities in High-Achieving Suburban Schools
By Ronald F. Ferguson, Ph.D.
On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Among other important features, this legislation dictates that states should publish achievement results separately for racial and ethnic groups and work to alleviate intergroup disparities. Thus, for the first time in the nation's history, raising achievement levels among racial and ethnic minorities and closing achievement gaps are explicit goals of federal policy.
Improving the quality of inner-city schools will be an important aspect of pursuing these goals, but it will not be sufficient. Suburbs must respond as well. An analysis of U.S. Census data for the year 2000 indicates that 33 percent of the nation's African-American children, 45 percent of Hispanic children, 54 percent of Asian children, and 55 percent of white children live in suburban communities. Some children attend poor, segregated schools, similar to the poorest in the inner city, while others attend racially integrated schools in well-off communities where resources are relatively abundant and schools are reputedly excellent.
This paper concerns racial and ethnic achievement disparities in places where schools are reputedly excellent. All racial and ethnic groups in these districts are represented throughout the achievement distribution—at the top and the bottom. However, blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented at the top and heavily overrepresented at the bottom.
Following are some findings from a recent survey of secondary school students in high-performing suburban school districts. Findings concerning encouragement focus attention on the possibility that effective teacher-student relationships may be especially important resources for motivating black and Hispanic students in particular. When teachers have strong content knowledge and are willing to adapt their pedagogies to meet student needs, adding good teacher-student relationships and strong encouragement to the mix may be key. Such relationships and encouragement may help black and Hispanic students seek help more readily, engage their studies deeply, and ultimately overcome skill gaps that are due in substantial measure to past and present disparities in family background advantages and associated social inequities. Therefore, this paper emphasizes the importance of professional development programs that have a combined emphasis on content, pedagogy, and relationships.
New Data from High-Achieving Suburban Districts
Until recently, racial and ethnic achievement disparities in elite suburban school districts were seldom discussed in public. Schools took pride, as they still do, in the numbers of graduates scoring high on college entrance exams and matriculating to prestigious universities. Public officials, parents, and teachers alike considered the latter achievements to be proof-positive that the quality of education was high. Not surprisingly, the idea that schools and teachers should be searching relentlessly for ways to raise achievement—with special attention to African-American, Hispanic, and low-income students—was seldom a focus.
Recently, however, public discourse has begun changing. In 1999, 15 middle- and upper-middle-income districts in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, California, and Virginia formed the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN). Together, they acknowledged the racial and ethnic achievement disparities in their primary and secondary schools. They resolved jointly to seek ways of narrowing gaps between European-American and Asian-American students, on the one hand, versus Hispanic and African-American students, on the other.
One of their first joint initiatives was an effort to understand better what students of different racial and ethnic groups were experiencing in school that might affect their engagement and achievement. During the 2000-01 school year, 95 schools across all 15 districts surveyed middle and high school students using a survey titled the "Ed-Excel Assessment of Secondary School Student Culture." The present paper reports some of what was learned from the responses of students in Grades 7-11 and discusses some implications. For these grades, the sample includes 7,120 blacks, 17,562 whites, 2,491 Hispanics, 2,448 Asians, and 4,507 mixed-race students. The analysis and associated tables in the paper pertain to this full sample of students.
Questions in the Ed-Excel survey cover family characteristics, opinions about the quality of instruction, enjoyment of studies, achievement motivations, course-taking patterns, effort, comprehension, grade-point averages, and more. It is well known that survey data can have self-reporting biases. Further, it is virtually impossible—with data collected at one point in time and with only one observation per student—to distinguish causal relationships among variables from mere correlations. Nonetheless, the data indicate strongly that there are common forces at work across the various states and localities represented.
Compared to whites and Asians, black and Hispanic students in MSAN districts have lower average test scores and grade-point averages and lag behind as well in self-reported measures of knowledge and skill. For example, in the Ed-Excel survey, black and Hispanic students report less understanding of their teachers' lessons and less comprehension of the material that they read for school. (See Table 1.) These skill and knowledge gaps are predicted in part by differences in family background and home learning resources. The high degree of similarity among MSAN districts underscores the strength and consistency of historically rooted social and economic forces that today produce such patterns in so many different places.
The data here are not from an evaluation and cannot prove the efficacy of any particular policy intervention. Nonetheless, the revealed patterns of data have implications for understanding the challenge of raising achievement and narrowing disparities. Specifically, opportunities for improvement will be increased if teachers and their allies in professional development focus jointly on all three legs of the instructional tripod (content, pedagogy, and relationships) as they search for ways of helping all students, but especially low achievers, to achieve at higher levels.
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Group-Level Differences in How Hard Students Work
Narrowing achievement gaps substantially among secondary students is likely to require special efforts from teachers. In addition, it may require black and Hispanic students to exert more effort than white classmates who currently have more academic knowledge and skill. After all, no runner ever came from behind by running the same speed as race leaders. Fortunately, 86 percent of blacks and the same percentage of Hispanics in these data agree that they could do a lot better in school. The comparable percentages for whites, Asians, and mixed-race students are 61 percent, 77 percent, and 75 percent, respectively.
The best measure of student effort in the Ed-Excel data is the student's report of how much time he or she spends studying and doing homework on weekdays after school. The data show very small racial differences among classmates. Only Asians stand out as studying more than other groups. Among students not enrolled in honors or Advanced Placement (AP) classes, Asians report that they study and do homework for about half an hour more per night than other groups. Among those enrolled in at least one honors or AP course, Asians report about two-thirds of an hour more. The differences between Asians and others in this regard are statistically significant. Among blacks, whites, Hispanics, and mixed-race students, differences in time on homework come primarily from differences in the degree to which the groups enroll in honors and AP courses, not from differences among students taking the same classes. To a substantial degree, differences in honors and AP enrollments correlate with differences in skill.
Blacks, Hispanics, and mixed-race students report lower rates of homework completion than whites for any given amount of time spent studying. The differences are not huge, but they probably are large enough to be noticed by teachers and may cause some teachers to assume that blacks, Hispanics, and mixed-race students put less time and effort into their studies compared to white or Asian classmates. Although apparently correct concerning Asians, such assumptions about time and effort appear to be incorrect regarding how blacks, Hispanics, and mixed-race students compare to whites. Instead, time on homework is quite similar among these groups, but knowledge, skills, and background supports contribute to continuing gaps in homework completion and other measures of school performance.
Consequently, it appears likely that working harder than whites will be required if black and Hispanic students are to narrow the achievement gap. This result seems unlikely to occur without approaches to instruction that push them toward higher goals and make achieving those goals both feasible and rewarding.
What Inspires Effort From Black and Hispanic Students?
Are particular strategies for eliciting effort likely to be more effective than others? Some insight in this regard comes from student responses to the following question in the Ed-Excel survey: "When you work really hard in school, which of the following reasons are most important to you? (Mark as many as apply to you.)" For each of 14 items, students could darken a bubble indicating that the item is important or they could leave the bubble blank.
Table 2 shows student responses by race/ethnicity, ranked in order from the item that received the most responses (among whites) to the item that received the least. For most items, the rank order from top to bottom is the same for all race/ethnic groups, and the percentage of the group indicating that any given item is important does not differ greatly across groups. For example, the top item among all groups is "I need the grades to get into college." The percentage of students indicating that this reason is an important one ranges from 71 percent of Hispanic students to 81 percent of Asians. Whites, blacks, and mixed-race students are nearly identical in their responses, at 78 percent of whites and 77 percent of blacks and mixed-race students. The percentage marking "To please or impress my parents" occupies a narrow range, from 61 percent of whites to 64 percent of Asians. Whites rank lowest and Asians rank highest regarding the extrinsic goals of preparing for good jobs and tough college courses. For the more intrinsically oriented purposes—specifically, "I want to learn the material" and "The subject is interesting"—group differences are very small. For most items in Table 2, no group stands out. The similarities are remarkable.
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Two items show quite interesting race/ethnic differences, however, especially when considered together. Specifically when compared to whites, black and Hispanic students are more likely to indicate "My teachers encourage me to work hard" as a motivational factor and less likely to identify "The teacher demands it." Blacks are three times as likely to endorse encouragement as they are to cite teacher demands; 47 percent of blacks identify teacher encouragement as an important motivator, compared to 15 percent for teacher demands. Hispanics are two times as likely to cite encouragement (41 percent) compared to demands (19 percent), and whites are likely to cite each roughly equally (31 percent for encouragement and 29 percent for demands). Asians (31 percent for encouragement and 20 percent for demands) and mixed-race students (37 percent for encouragement and 24 percent for demands) fall between the patterns for whites on one side, versus blacks and Hispanics on the other.
Responses regarding demands and encouragement are mostly unrelated to measures of socioeconomic status. As Table 3 shows, no matter how many parents the students live with or how many years of schooling the mother has attained, race/ethnic differences in the relative importance of encouragement follow the same basic pattern. Not shown is that responses also are unrelated to this study's other measures of socioeconomic background.
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This study has not examined precisely what teachers' statements, demeanors, and behaviors are interpreted by students in MSAN districts as demanding or encouraging and whether these differ by race and ethnicity. Fortunately, a few black and Hispanic students in MSAN schools have offered suggestions for understanding the findings concerning encouragement and demands. Concerning demands, they have very little to say. However, they have a great deal to say about encouragement. One student says, "I find it encouraging when teachers tell me I 'can do it' and when they don't make judgments about why I haven't done something that I was supposed to." Another says, "I find it encouraging when teachers give me full explanations to help me understand things, instead of short 'yes' or 'no' answers." A third student says, "I find it encouraging when teachers stay after school to give me extra help and don't seem like they're in a big hurry to go [home]."
Based on these and other anecdotal observations, encouragement seems to entail assurances from teachers that students have the ability to succeed and teacher behaviors that provide active support for success. Conversely, a demand is an order to submit to the power of the person making the demand and carries no assurance that the person making the demand really cares about the student or will offer any special assistance. Especially for students of color, survey responses indicate that teacher demands probably are not very effective.
Visible Differences, Hidden Similarities
The Ed-Excel survey asked students to identify the characteristics of the most popular crowd in their first year of middle school or junior high. Black and mixed-race students cited "tough" more than did whites, Hispanics, or Asians. Conversely, larger percentages of whites, Asians, and mixed-race students reported that members of the most popular crowd were "self-confident" and "outgoing." For example, there are not many differences in the percentages of blacks responding that the most popular crowd is "tough" (35 percent), "outgoing" (36 percent) and "self-confident" (39 percent). However, whites identified "outgoing" (54 percent) and "self-confident" (53 percent) more than twice as often as they identified "tough" (22 percent). Although there are no survey responses from teachers, anecdotal reports from teachers suggest that group differences in demeanor continue through high school.
Based on homework completion rates and the ways that students carry themselves, teachers may assume that black and Hispanic students not only work less hard than white classmates but also place a lower priority on earning good grades and enjoy school less. The Ed- Excel survey responses from MSAN districts, however, do not support such inferences.
The Ed-Excel survey asked students whether their friends believe that working hard to get good grades is "very important," "somewhat important," "not too important," or "not at all important." Table 4, Panel A, shows only modest race/ethnic variation in how students responded. For each race/ethnic group, roughly 90 percent answered that their friends regard studying hard to get good grades as either "very important" or "somewhat important." The largest percentage answering "very important" was among blacks (56 percent), while the smallest percentage was among whites (42 percent). This result is the opposite of what many teachers might expect based on what they observe. Similarly, Panel B shows that groups are quite similar in responses concerning effort and motivation. Almost half of each group agrees, "If I didn't need good grades, I'd put little effort into my classes." Roughly two-thirds agree, "I don't like to do any more schoolwork than I have to." Whites are the group that agrees most with the latter statement. Finally, nonwhite students want additional tutoring. Although they already report more hours of tutoring per week than white peers, Panel C of Table 4 shows that the gap between what they get and what they want also is larger.
Groups also are similar in the percentages reporting that they enjoy their studies. Panel D of Table 4 shows patterns for three variables pertaining to enjoyment of books and math problems and four measures pertaining to the percentage of the time that teachers make lessons interesting. There is no clear pattern indicating that one group enjoys school more or judges teachers differently regarding how frequently they make lessons interesting. Hispanics, at 62 percent, are the group with the largest percentage saying that they enjoy the books and plays they read for English; percentages among the other groups range from 53 percent of blacks to 58 percent of Asians. Asians (at 62 percent) have the largest percentage that enjoys doing math problems, while the lowest percentage is among whites (45 percent). Whites also are least likely to agree that history and science books are interesting.
Panel E of Table 4 shows a high level of agreement among the groups about the percentage of the time that teachers make lessons interesting. Note that with the minor exception of Hispanics in social studies, fewer than half of each group agrees that teachers in any subject make lessons interesting more than half the time. For all of the groups, math ranks lowest and the other three subjects are roughly even with one another.
For all groups, students with higher grade-point averages are more prone to feel close to teachers, more likely to think that grading is fair, and less likely to think that friends avoid asking for help when they need it. Panels A and B of Table 5 show that among students with similar gradepoint averages, students of different race/ethnic groups are quite similar in their views regarding whether grading is fair and whether they feel close to their teachers. Panel C of Table 5 shows that students with higher grade-point averages are less inclined to believe that friends avoid asking for needed help.
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Finally, one small but nonetheless notable difference is among students with grades in the "A- to A" range. Among these students, whites are consistently the most likely to consider grading fair, to feel close to their teachers, and to say that friends do not avoid asking for help. As most of what this paper has discussed, this pattern for white students in the "A- to A" range holds not only in the aggregate but also for most individual districts. One plausible explanation that is impossible to prove or disprove with the present data is that teachers are more friendly and supportive to high-achieving white students than to white students with lower grades or students of other racial and ethnic groups.
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Implications for Policy and Practice
Findings in this paper have implications for schools and communities as well as for state and federal policymakers. For schools and communities, there are four recommendations.
1. Assume no motivational differences. It seems likely that incorrect assumptions about group differences in effort and interest may lead some schools to underinvest in searching for ways to raise achievement levels among African-Americans, Hispanics, and some mixed-race students. Teachers should assume that there are no systematic, group-level differences in effort or motivation to succeed, even when there are clearly observable differences in behavior and academic performance.
2. Address specific skill deficits. Racial and ethnic disparities in self-reported understanding of lessons and readings call attention to the fact that gaps in standardized test scores and school grades reflect real disparities in academic knowledge and skill. To help raise achievement and close gaps, schools should endeavor to identify specific skill and knowledge deficits that underlie comprehension problems for individuals in particular racial and ethnic groups and respond in targeted ways.
3. Supply ample encouragement routinely. Given the importance that black and Hispanic students assign to teacher encouragement, teachers need to be aware of what students regard as encouraging. Using this awareness, they need to provide effective forms of encouragement routinely. Further, as the other recommendations imply, encouragement should be matched with truly effective instruction and other forms of academic support both inside and outside the classroom.
4. Provide access to resources and learning experiences. In response to differences in family background advantages, schools could supply more educational resources and learning experiences outside the home. They could provide access to books and computers and extracurricular opportunities for intellectual enrichment.
Even in the well-to-do suburban communities examined in this paper, teachers and youth-serving professionals may need targeted professional development in order to follow these recommendations. Professional development requires resources. To be persuaded to provide such resources, policymakers need to understand the rationale. At least initially, these recommendations may seem to conflict with current fashions in education policy. In fact, however, there is complementarity.
For the past several years, policymakers have placed a heavy emphasis on standards-based reforms. Promoted most prominently by the No Child Left Behind legislation, such reforms are the centerpiece of a national strategy for raising achievement and closing achievement gaps. At their core, standards-based reforms entail a heavy focus on content and alignment. Specifically, there is to be alignment between content standards (i.e., the prescribed knowledge that students are supposed to learn), the content of the curriculum, the content tested on state assessments, and the content that teachers are trained through their schooling and professional development to understand and teach. With some notable exceptions, the possibility that relationships might affect whether students actually learn the content that teachers are trying to teach seldom enters the policy discourse. Nonetheless, findings in this paper concerning the importance of encouragement to black and Hispanic students suggest that teacher-student relationships may be quite important resources for raising achievement and narrowing achievement gaps.
Content, pedagogy, and relationships are three legs of the instructional tripod. If one leg of a tripod is too weak, it falls over. Professional development activities that equip teachers to attend simultaneously to all three legs of the instructional tripod stand a better chance of helping states meet their education-policy objectives. Attending well to all three will affect a teacher's capacity and commitment to engage students effectively in learning and, therefore, will influence students' preparation to reach prescribed performance standards in the domains of particular content standards that state policies have articulated.
Conclusion
There is much that does not meet the teacher's eye, but that nonetheless may affect how ambitiously and effectively students learn. African-American and Hispanic students in MSAN districts have fewer family-background advantages on average, compared to white and Asian students. In addition, they have lower grade-point averages and report less understanding of their lessons. They have lower homework completion rates than white classmates but report spending virtually the same amount of time doing homework. Skill gaps and differences in home academic supports—not effort or motivation—appear to be the primary explanations for why they complete less homework and get lower grades than whites. Conversely, part of the reason that Asians complete more homework and get higher grades than other nonwhite groups is that they devote more time to their studies.
Perhaps the most interesting finding here is the distinctive importance of teacher encouragement as a reported source of motivation for nonwhite students, especially African-American students, and the fact that this difference is truly a racial one, mostly unrelated to measures of socioeconomic status. The special importance of encouragement highlights the likely importance of strong teacher-student relationships in affecting achievement, especially for African-American and Hispanic students. It also highlights the importance of trying to understand racial and ethnic differences in how students experience the social environments of schools and classrooms.
Across the nation, standards-based reforms have been catalysts for a growing number of professional development initiatives to prepare educators to teach new content standards. However, if the aim of these efforts is to raise achievement and narrow gaps, focusing on content and pedagogy alone may be insufficient. A key implication of the findings in this paper is that even in well-to-do suburbs, professional development strategies might wisely attend to all three legs of the instructional tripod—content, pedagogy, and relationships—not just one or two. In this way, such strategies may prepare teachers better to inspire the trust, elicit the cooperation, stimulate the ambition, and support the sustained industriousness that are required in order to find success with No Child Left Behind.
Ronald F. Ferguson, Ph.D., is a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he has taught since 1983, and a senior research associate at the Wiener Center for Social Policy Research.
