The achievement gap between white and non-white students: a conceptual  (Page 18/19)

Jeynes (2007) evaluated religion, family involvement, SES, and how these factors affected academic achievement between White students and minority students. The National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88) and a meta-analysis were utilized by Jeynes to establish factors that influenced academic achievement. Results were that students in religious schools who were in the lowest SES quartile achieved higher test scores (from 5.4 to 8.2% higher) on standardized tests than students who were in public schools in the same SES category. Students in religious schools came from families that were highly religious and intact. When considering ethnic status, Hispanic and Black students in religious schools scored 8.3% higher than their counterparts in public schools. Jeynes (2007) concluded that students who attended religious schools from lower SES benefited by 5.1% to 5.7% more on standardized tests than their counterparts in public schools.

Reading improvement and academic achievement among minority students was evaluated by Erickson (2008) in a study conducted to determine whether the Intensive Reading Program increased student achievement. Erickson examined three cohorts from the 2002-2003, 2003-2004, and 2004-2005 school years. The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills for reading comprehension subtest was given to all students in the fall and again in the spring. The Intensive Reading Program was introduced to help students improve their achievement in reading comprehension. Statistically significant increases were present in mean scores for all three cohorts after taking the pre-post Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. For the 2002-2003 year Hispanic students had the largest mean gain (21.5) followed by White students (19), African American students (17), and Asian students (4). For the 2003-2004 school year, Asian American students total mean gain was the highest (35.2), followed by Native American students (35), White students (25.7), Latino students (22.5), and Black students (22.2). For the 2003-2004 school year, Asian American students made the largest gain (31.3), followed by Latino students (26.6), African American students (24.6), White students (23.4), and Native American students (13.6).

Lleras and Rangel (2009) discussed the effects of assigning Hispanic and Black students in low ability groups and how they compared to high ability grouped students in academic achievement. Students in ability groups were also compared to students who were not grouped by ability and how they performed in academic achievement in reading. Lleras and Rangel (2009) examined first and second follow-up surveys from the ECLS-K of students who were first graders and the 2001-2002 follow-up survey of third graders. Students who were placed in groups demonstrated lower academic achievement than students who were either placed in high ability groups and students who were not placed in groups in both first and third grade. Overall, students who were not placed in groups outperformed both African American and Hispanic students. Hispanic students outperformed Black students in third grade reading achievement.