Education can be a powerful tool to lift people out of poverty, yet those who need it the most often fall behind in numerous categories. Even though America is a country known for it’s vast opportunities, there remains a disparity between the performance in school between minority and white students. This prominent issue in our country is known as the Education Achievement gap. The achievement gap is defined by the National Education Association as the “differences between the test scores of minority and/or low-income students and the test scores of their White and Asian peers.” This is shown in many ways, such as the amount of minority students taking advanced courses, lower high school graduation rates, and lower standardized test scores.
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For example data released by the College Board revealed that 60 percent of white students with strong math skills take AP classes, while only 30 percent of African Americans with strong math skills do so. The data also showed that African Americans and Latinos make up 37 percent of all students who attend high school, but only 27 percent of students who take AP classes. Out of all the students who scored a 3 or higher in an AP class, only 15 percent were Latino. This hurts the ability of minority students to get into elite colleges. Most Ivy League Universities and many first tier colleges expect students to take advanced courses. What is even worse about this problem is that it strips the ability of some students to pay less in college. People who take an AP test and pass it get a college credits, which could help them graduate college sooner, therefore lowering costs. No student should be stripped of the opportunity to do so if they wish, but many school districts do so. Some schools have unreasonable requirements to take AP classes. If a student does poorly one year in one of his or her classes, often times they won’t be able to take any AP classes, even if it’s in a completely different subject than the one they struggle in. Also, some districts have a system known as “tracking” , in which they pick for students what classes they can take since middle school. …show more content…
The College Board has an online tool that can be used to find correlations between psat scores and the success that a student could possibly have in an AP class. If more schools used this tool, many students (many of whom are Latino or African American) would be informed that AP classes would be a good option for them. Guidance Counselors could also be able to help Latino students by providing volunteer translators for their parents during parent teacher conferences. That way parents and teachers could be on the same page, and parents could be more involved. These steps would not require a lot of time or resources, so they should be implemented by all
For example data released by the College Board revealed that 60 percent of white students with strong math skills take AP classes, while only 30 percent of African Americans with strong math skills do so. The data also showed that African Americans and Latinos make up 37 percent of all students who attend high school, but only 27 percent of students who take AP classes. Out of all the students who scored a 3 or higher in an AP class, only 15 percent were Latino. This hurts the ability of minority students to get into elite colleges. Most Ivy League Universities and many first tier colleges expect students to take advanced courses. What is even worse about this problem is that it strips the ability of some students to pay less in college. People who take an AP test and pass it get a college credits, which could help them graduate college sooner, therefore lowering costs. No student should be stripped of the opportunity to do so if they wish, but many school districts do so. Some schools have unreasonable requirements to take AP classes. If a student does poorly one year in one of his or her classes, often times they won’t be able to take any AP classes, even if it’s in a completely different subject than the one they struggle in. Also, some districts have a system known as “tracking” , in which they pick for students what classes they can take since middle school. …show more content…
The College Board has an online tool that can be used to find correlations between psat scores and the success that a student could possibly have in an AP class. If more schools used this tool, many students (many of whom are Latino or African American) would be informed that AP classes would be a good option for them. Guidance Counselors could also be able to help Latino students by providing volunteer translators for their parents during parent teacher conferences. That way parents and teachers could be on the same page, and parents could be more involved. These steps would not require a lot of time or resources, so they should be implemented by all