Why the Achievement Gap Exists Between Caucasian and Hispanic Students?
By Michelle Garcia
EDCI 4322-60 Human Development & Instruction
School of Education
University of Texas at Brownsville
Spring 2008
-This paper was presented at the 2nd Conference of Elementary Secondary Teaching & Learning (CESTL) in April, 2008, Brownsville, Texas. If you have any questions or comments regarding this paper, please contact the author directly at michelle.garcia@utb.edu.
Introduction
Many studies show that Non-Caucasian Hispanics have lower grades academically. The purpose for my research is to find out why there is an achievement gap between Hispanics and Caucasian students. My hypothesis regarding the reasons behind this gap include a feeling of inferiority, parents’ low educational background, lack of parental support or encouragement for their children’s education, or Hispanic culture or value on education. All these are possible reasons causing the achievement gap.
Through this research I hope I can use my findings to not only show my students the statistics on the gap as well as provide them the information or solutions needed to close it. I believe this research is very important because students who do not do well in school tend to drop out. Since many dropping-outs can not find good jobs to earn enough money to support their family, they tend to apply for the welfare from the government. I believe that closing this achievement gap will not only help us Hispanics economically but also empower us as a cultural group (e.g. not feel inferior).
Literature Review
According to EPE Research Center and the America Promise Alliance in Yahoo News, “Asian-Americans score the highest graduation rate, at 80%, with whites at 76.2% and Hispanics at 57.8%.” Texas Education Agency shows that Hispanic students have a higher rate of not graduating from high school than Caucasian students. The following table shows facts about a 2006 Graduating Class in BISD. This table shows that the starting class started with 2,595 students, and how it changed and in the period of four years. Table 1. shows you BISD facts of cumulative students and Table 2. shows the numbers for Hispanic students alone. (see below)
Methodology
Research Question & Hypotheses
My research question was:
Why is there an achievement gap between Caucasian (Non-Hispanic) and Caucasian (Hispanic) students?
My hypothesis to this research questions is that this gap exists due to one if not several of the following reasons:
1. Sense of inferiority. Why? Because most Hispanics students have low working class parents, most students developed a strong sense of inferiority. As children grow up, they feel they will not be able to achieve anything much higher than their parents or just can not imagine better.
2. The first hypothesis brings me to my second point: parents’ educational background. Why? Many Hispanics who came here as immigrants did not even finish elementary school in their country. They came here for a better job opportunity and I think that for most, their goal was for there children to achieve something higher than they had already had. An example is that their students were not allowed to have their own children until they are 18 years old or older, while they themselves started to have their own family while they were 14 or 16 years old. Another example is that they expect their children to graduate from high school while they themselves did not. Most Hispanic parents just want their children to live a “better” life than themselves and do not set as high standards for their children.
3. Parents’ low value/priority on educational value. As sorry to say, many Hispanic families are supported by the government. Because parents rely on the government money, children grow up in that environment thinking that “why work or why do more if I can get food stamps or Medicaid from the government?” In short, they settle for mediocrity or resignation. Parents do not push their children for a better life nor do they know any better. Due to lack of value in education, Hispanic students have little or no motivation to work harder.
Research Site
My research question was:
Why is there an achievement gap between Caucasian (Non-Hispanic) and Caucasian (Hispanic) students?
My hypothesis to this research questions is that this gap exists due to one if not several of the following reasons:
1. Sense of inferiority. Why? Because most Hispanics students have low working class parents, most students developed a strong sense of inferiority. As children grow up, they feel they will not be able to achieve anything much higher than their parents or just can not imagine better.
2. The first hypothesis brings me to my second point: parents’ educational background. Why? Many Hispanics who came here as immigrants did not even finish elementary school in their country. They came here for a better job opportunity and I think that for most, their goal was for there children to achieve something higher than they had already had. An example is that their students were not allowed to have their own children until they are 18 years old or older, while they themselves started to have their own family while they were 14 or 16 years old. Another example is that they expect their children to graduate from high school while they themselves did not. Most Hispanic parents just want their children to live a “better” life than themselves and do not set as high standards for their children.
3. Parents’ low value/priority on educational value. As sorry to say, many Hispanic families are supported by the government. Because parents rely on the government money, children grow up in that environment thinking that “why work or why do more if I can get food stamps or Medicaid from the government?” In short, they settle for mediocrity or resignation. Parents do not push their children for a better life nor do they know any better. Due to lack of value in education, Hispanic students have little or no motivation to work harder.
Research Site
My research site was at Rivera High School at Brownville, TX. For the greater part of the time I did my observation with two different instructors, Mr. Gonzalez during 5th and Mr. De la Garza during 6th period for about a one month and a half. The purpose for observing two classes of students consistently was that I was able to observe the same group of students as they always are. I believe this would eliminate discrepancies that might make my observations false or less accurate. The last two days I went to observe each of my two mentors for the most part of the day, meaning 1st period to 5th period. The purpose for doing this was because I wanted to see how classes varied from period to period.
Data Collection
Classroom Observations
For my observations I observed three times a week for 5th and 6th period starting on Feb 20, 2008 to April 14, 2008. From these days on 4/11/08 I observed for the greater part of the day Mr. de la Garza and on 4/14/08 I observed for the greater part of the day Mr. Gonzalez. While conducting my observations after students completed their TAKS preparation worksheets, I would occasionally chat with them about what they wanted to do, what their accomplishments, goals were, and what their high school experiences were like.
Interview
I was very happy that I was able to conduct an interview with Mr. Gonzalez, who gave me a lot of useful information for my research. I interview both teachers and students informally. I had an interview with Mr. Gonzalez and one of his students. The only object that I felt limit the validity of my research was that I had no students that were Caucasian who wanted to participate in the interview which would help me validate my hypotheses.
Findings
My study revealed at least three important factors to explain the achievement gap: students’ low expectations for the future, poor preparation for college, and lack of parental support.
1. Low expectations for the future
First of all, through my information chatting with the students after they took the TAKS, I was very sad to learn that most high school student did not have high expectations for their future. For example, I asked one of the students, Albert, what he wanted to do after high school and he said that he wished to do absolutely nothing and he did not wish to contribute to the society in any way. I was puzzled because I could tell that he had a lot of potential by talking to him. Albert said he did not want to do the work or could have done better but he was lazy. In a previous conversation he told me about a band he was in, so I asked him if he wanted to pursue a career in the music business and he replied by saying “no.” Although some people told him that his band was good, he himself did not believe that. It is sad to see how much negativity there can be in a student. This is where culture and values come to place. That same day I went home and heard the songs they had on the internet and honestly I thought it was good for the genre. I asked what his parents thought about him not wanting to contribute to society and who was going to raise him, he responded that his parents said he was stupid. He then told me that he would probably go to college because his parents will make him go but if he did not like it he would flunk out that same semester. I was surprised and I wondered why he had such a negative attitude about life in general.
Poor preparation for college
Through my interview with Mr. Gonzales, I found another factor which might explains the achievement gap: that most students were poorly prepared for college. I especially liked the information Mr. Gonzales gave me about the ACT/SAT preparation class he taught. He told me that he thought that 40% of his students should be going to college and out of those 40% of students, only 30% were actually prepared.
However, although most students did not seem prepared for college, I did found that all classes have there own uniqueness and character and some teachers did spend a lot of time and effort preparing students for college. For example, Mr. Gonzalez together with another teacher team-teach this class. They mentioned that this class was designed, but not limited, to the top 10% of the senior class. There objective was to help these students go through the entire process that a counselor would normally do, but instead of the student had to go look for the counselor, they would go to this class for their entire senior year and provide the help on daily basis. Part of the help these students received in this class was to learn how to apply to three in-state universities and two out-of-state universities.
The teachers also helped them fill out the applications for the schools, creating and revising essays for admission, applying for financial aid, looking for scholarships, and more importantly giving them that extra help and push they need that some of these students are not getting from home for various reasons. Some students come from large families, others from single-parent homes, and others unfortunately whose parents simply did not provide the time or effort. Mr. Gonzalez also told me that within five years, ten of the students who took this class got the Bill Gates Scholarship. Mr. Gonzalez also mentioned that it is a disappointment that nobody recognizes this and that our community tends to focus more on the negative things than the positive ones. I was amazed by the positive outcome that this class had.
Lack of Parental Support
Another factor was, as I hypothesized, lack of parental support for students’ school work. One student that I observed and I frequently helped with her school work while my observations was Inelda. Inelda was a good student who wanted to learn but who was struggling with the class. I got so concerned about Indelda that I talked to Mr. de la Garza about her difficultness in his class. Mr. Garza told me that he knew and that he has tried talking to her and her mother and letting them both know about an after-school tutorial program he offered, but Inelda never showed up in this program once. This is where the parent’s lack of involvement and support play a role. Had her mother pushed her or showed more concern, I believe then Inelda if not after school maybe during school she would have come to get that extra help she needs. Indelda lacked basic skills and depended a lot on the calculator. About 90% of his students had no idea of how to work out a problem without the help of the calculator.
Through casual conversations, teacher interview, and student interview I found that parent involvement is very not enough. When I asked one student about the involvement her parents had for her education, she answered that they were not that involved. She said that had they been more involved, she would probably have tried harder in school. When I interviewed one of the students at my observation site campus, Rivera, she said that Caucasian students do better because their parents are stricter than our parents (Hispanic) and that they are more involved with the education of their children in school.
However, I can not only blame the parents or culture for the achievement gap between Caucasian and Hispanic students. My mother grew up in an environment very much like the student I interviewed. Although it took her a long time to get where she is right now she accomplished and made something of herself. Therefore, I think a lot has to do with the attitude and values that one individual has. Where there is an aspiration in the individual, then he will also develop hope and strength to do better and come out of what seems like a never ending negative life cycle.
Also, although parents did not show much support for students’ school work, they did provide emotional support and motivation in the long run. As every generation continues, each generation tends to want better thing for their next generation of children. Children learn from their parents and they do better on their own. Their children will see what their parents did was not enough and would strive to do better than their parents. Having higher expectation for their children will encourage their children search for better opportunities.
Lastly, I would also like to add that I do not think that language barrier is an excuse as several of my class mates concluded, nor a reason for parents not to push and encourage their children to do better in school. I know parents, including mine, who did not know any English and they both made something of them selves and found a way to help me with my education as I was growing up. I think it is the culture each individual grows up in that made a difference in one’s attitudes towards education.
1. Low expectations for the future
First of all, through my information chatting with the students after they took the TAKS, I was very sad to learn that most high school student did not have high expectations for their future. For example, I asked one of the students, Albert, what he wanted to do after high school and he said that he wished to do absolutely nothing and he did not wish to contribute to the society in any way. I was puzzled because I could tell that he had a lot of potential by talking to him. Albert said he did not want to do the work or could have done better but he was lazy. In a previous conversation he told me about a band he was in, so I asked him if he wanted to pursue a career in the music business and he replied by saying “no.” Although some people told him that his band was good, he himself did not believe that. It is sad to see how much negativity there can be in a student. This is where culture and values come to place. That same day I went home and heard the songs they had on the internet and honestly I thought it was good for the genre. I asked what his parents thought about him not wanting to contribute to society and who was going to raise him, he responded that his parents said he was stupid. He then told me that he would probably go to college because his parents will make him go but if he did not like it he would flunk out that same semester. I was surprised and I wondered why he had such a negative attitude about life in general.
Poor preparation for college
Through my interview with Mr. Gonzales, I found another factor which might explains the achievement gap: that most students were poorly prepared for college. I especially liked the information Mr. Gonzales gave me about the ACT/SAT preparation class he taught. He told me that he thought that 40% of his students should be going to college and out of those 40% of students, only 30% were actually prepared.
However, although most students did not seem prepared for college, I did found that all classes have there own uniqueness and character and some teachers did spend a lot of time and effort preparing students for college. For example, Mr. Gonzalez together with another teacher team-teach this class. They mentioned that this class was designed, but not limited, to the top 10% of the senior class. There objective was to help these students go through the entire process that a counselor would normally do, but instead of the student had to go look for the counselor, they would go to this class for their entire senior year and provide the help on daily basis. Part of the help these students received in this class was to learn how to apply to three in-state universities and two out-of-state universities.
The teachers also helped them fill out the applications for the schools, creating and revising essays for admission, applying for financial aid, looking for scholarships, and more importantly giving them that extra help and push they need that some of these students are not getting from home for various reasons. Some students come from large families, others from single-parent homes, and others unfortunately whose parents simply did not provide the time or effort. Mr. Gonzalez also told me that within five years, ten of the students who took this class got the Bill Gates Scholarship. Mr. Gonzalez also mentioned that it is a disappointment that nobody recognizes this and that our community tends to focus more on the negative things than the positive ones. I was amazed by the positive outcome that this class had.
Lack of Parental Support
Another factor was, as I hypothesized, lack of parental support for students’ school work. One student that I observed and I frequently helped with her school work while my observations was Inelda. Inelda was a good student who wanted to learn but who was struggling with the class. I got so concerned about Indelda that I talked to Mr. de la Garza about her difficultness in his class. Mr. Garza told me that he knew and that he has tried talking to her and her mother and letting them both know about an after-school tutorial program he offered, but Inelda never showed up in this program once. This is where the parent’s lack of involvement and support play a role. Had her mother pushed her or showed more concern, I believe then Inelda if not after school maybe during school she would have come to get that extra help she needs. Indelda lacked basic skills and depended a lot on the calculator. About 90% of his students had no idea of how to work out a problem without the help of the calculator.
Through casual conversations, teacher interview, and student interview I found that parent involvement is very not enough. When I asked one student about the involvement her parents had for her education, she answered that they were not that involved. She said that had they been more involved, she would probably have tried harder in school. When I interviewed one of the students at my observation site campus, Rivera, she said that Caucasian students do better because their parents are stricter than our parents (Hispanic) and that they are more involved with the education of their children in school.
However, I can not only blame the parents or culture for the achievement gap between Caucasian and Hispanic students. My mother grew up in an environment very much like the student I interviewed. Although it took her a long time to get where she is right now she accomplished and made something of herself. Therefore, I think a lot has to do with the attitude and values that one individual has. Where there is an aspiration in the individual, then he will also develop hope and strength to do better and come out of what seems like a never ending negative life cycle.
Also, although parents did not show much support for students’ school work, they did provide emotional support and motivation in the long run. As every generation continues, each generation tends to want better thing for their next generation of children. Children learn from their parents and they do better on their own. Their children will see what their parents did was not enough and would strive to do better than their parents. Having higher expectation for their children will encourage their children search for better opportunities.
Lastly, I would also like to add that I do not think that language barrier is an excuse as several of my class mates concluded, nor a reason for parents not to push and encourage their children to do better in school. I know parents, including mine, who did not know any English and they both made something of them selves and found a way to help me with my education as I was growing up. I think it is the culture each individual grows up in that made a difference in one’s attitudes towards education.
Applications
So, what are the applications to close the achievement gap? As Mr. Gonzalez said “Educate Hispanic parents about the opportunities that their sons/daughters may have by going to college… Educate our students and possibly parents too through parent-teacher conferences.” As future teachers we should always try to help our students whenever needed. Do not settle for mediocre work from our students. We never know how much potential a student has and how much we can inspire or impact a student. Knowledge is Power. I believe that closing this achievement gap will not only help us Hispanics economically but also empower us as a group.
References
de la Garza, Rodolfo O. EDRS. Latino National Political Survey. Day Dec. 1992. 4 Apr. 2008
"Only 1 of 2 students graduate high school in US cities: study." 1 Apr. 2008.
Texas. Division of Accountability Research. Texas Education Agency. Longitudinal Completion Rates, Grades 9-12, Class. 6 Nov. 2007. 3 Apr. 2008
Texas. Division of Accountability Research. Texas Education Agency. Longitudinal Completion Rates, Grades 9-12, by Eth. 6 Nov. 2006. 4 Apr. 2008http://www.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker?_service=marykay&_program=acctres.armast.sas&prgopt=completion%2F2006%2Fdistsum_demo.sas&year4=2006&year2=06&topic=completion&search=district&namenum=031901.
To read other articles of this week:
How high school and college students learn differe...
0 comments:
Post a Comment