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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

BEHIND from the start

By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
          Why do Anglo children outperform Hispanic, Native American and black students in school? Why do poor students fare worse academically than children who come from middle-class and more affluent families?
        Scholars have spent decades trying to answer those vexing questions.
        Among the conclusions they have drawn is that from the time children are born, environmental factors begin affecting their cognitive development, including such things as remembering, problem-solving and decision-making.
        Infants and young children who are read to begin developing language skills that become their academic foundation, giving them a head start on learning. Minorities and poor children are read to less frequently than Anglo children and children who aren't poor.
        And so the achievement gap begins to form long before children step foot in a classroom.
        Summer vacation also is a factor.
        Students who are exposed to museums and books and are engaged in other learning activities get a boost in cognitive development compared with classmates who spend their summer camped out in front of the television. Some research traces more than half of the achievement gap between lower- and upper-income students to summer break.
        Those two factors are among 16 identified in a report published last year by the Educational Testing Service that gets to the heart of why the achievement gaps exist.
        • Low-income students and minorities are more likely to have teachers who aren't certified.
        • Teachers with less than five years' experience are thought to be less effective than those with more. Hispanic, black and low-income students in one study were more likely than their counterparts to have inexperienced teachers.
        • Frequent teacher absences are linked to lower achievement. One study found that the rate of teacher absence is higher for minority and poor students than for Anglo students and those not economically disadvantaged. Another study suggests that Hispanic and black students are more likely than Anglo students to have a teacher leave before the end of the school year.
        • Smaller class sizes are thought to be better for students, yet teachers in schools with a high percentage of minorities are more likely to have large classes.
       

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