When most children are little they aspire to graduate college, to be the president of the United States, or to be an astronaut. They have certain goals and expectations for their future which they aspire to achieve and which they use as motivation to continue throughout their education. However, research shows that there is a drastic difference between the educational expectations of Latino youth and their white and black counterparts. The disparity in future expectations contributes to the growing achievement gap between students.
Tag: Expectations
Extensive research shows the continued presence of the achievement gap in the United States, drawing links predominantly between the quality of schools and children’s poorer academic performance (see here and here). However, a growing body of research suggests several health factors are being neglected consistently, while disproportionately negatively impacting school-aged children, especially low-income, urban minority youth (see here). Continue reading
Research shows that “environmental exposures may contribute to the etiology of the achievement gap”. Connections have been found between childhood lead exposure and increased cognitive disadvantages, such as decreased performance on standardized intelligence quotient (IQ) tests and cognitive functioning tests, worse end-of-grade (EOG) test scores, and increased neurobehavioural, behavioural, and attention deficits (see here). Continue reading
Think back to high school. Did a teacher ever tell you that you weren’t strong enough academically to attend a 4-year college? Did your teachers care if you did well? Did they expect you to excel? Continue reading