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Case Study Of An African American Community's Perspectives On Closing The Achievement Gap, Cleopatra Lacewell
Case Study Of An African American Community's Perspectives On Closing The Achievement Gap, Cleopatra Lacewell
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
The disparity in test scores, known as the achievement gap, between African American and European American students has persisted despite research and reforms. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine what African American community members in a North Carolina school district perceived as the causes of the local achievement gap and what support they believed they could offer to close the gap. The theories of cultural-historical psychology, social cognition, learned helplessness, social disorganization, and the funds of knowledge concept, guided the data collection from the 3 focus groups from the local community. Each focus group contained 6 …
Instructional Approaches That Increase Reading Achievement For Boys, Grades 3-6, Tiffany M. Rudek
Instructional Approaches That Increase Reading Achievement For Boys, Grades 3-6, Tiffany M. Rudek
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
An achievement gap persists in many educational settings with females outperforming males in reading. In a Southern California school district, reading scores for boys average 10 percentile points below those of girls. A qualitative case study was conducted to explore which instructional approaches can help close this gender gap. The conceptual framework for this study was based on engagement theory, which proposes that students who are engaged in learning tasks achieve at higher levels. The guiding question asked how reading achievement for boys in Grades 3-6 could be improved in the district under study. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with …