{"id":65060,"date":"2022-10-02T12:37:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T16:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=65060"},"modified":"2022-10-02T12:37:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T16:37:10","slug":"the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\/","title":{"rendered":"The term \u2018achievement gap\u2019 fosters a negative view of Black students"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nDespite long-standing efforts to\u00a0close the racial \u201cachievement gap\u201d in education<\/a>, the term does more to trigger racist stereotypes and causes a lower sense of urgency than when the issue is presented as the need to \u201cend inequality in educational outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are the key findings of a new study in which we\u00a0examined the effect<\/a>\u00a0that the two different terms had on teachers and others.<\/p>\n

To reach this conclusion, we conducted two different survey experiments \u2013 one with\u00a0teachers<\/a>\u00a0and one with\u00a0nonteachers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the experiments, we randomly asked respondents to answer one of two versions of a question on a survey. Some were asked how important it was to \u201cclose the achievement gap\u201d between Black and white students. Others were asked how important it was to \u201cend inequality in educational outcomes between Black and white students.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we\u2019d guessed, respondents gave lower priority to racial equity when the issue was presented as a matter of closing an \u201cachievement gap.\u201d This was true for both teachers and nonteachers. Specifically, when asked about ending inequality in educational outcomes, 57% of nonteachers and 78% of teachers said it was a \u201chigh priority\u201d or \u201cessential.\u201d But when asked about \u201cclosing racial achievement gaps,\u201d only 44% of nonteachers and 70% of teachers rated it as a \u201chigh priority\u201d or \u201cessential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the term \u201cachievement gap\u201d had a larger negative effect among teachers who hold stronger anti-Black or pro-white implicit stereotypes, as measured by an\u00a0implicit association test<\/a>. The term also led respondents to express stronger anti-Black and pro-white stereotypes. Twenty-four percent of respondents who saw the inequality version rated white Americans as more intelligent than Black Americans, while 36% did so after viewing the achievement gap version of the item. This suggests the term \u201cachievement gap\u201d tends to intensify racial stereotypes among who people already hold them.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In working to advance racial equity, we think it is important to use language that doesn\u2019t stigmatize students. Instead, we think it would be more beneficial to use language that puts the focus on structural inequalities in education. Despite its long-standing use, the term \u201cachievement gap\u201d falls short in this regard.<\/p>\n

For instance, in prior research, one of us found that when people watched a TV news report about \u201ctest score gaps\u201d between Black and white students, it led viewers to\u00a0express more exaggerated stereotypes<\/a>\u00a0of Black Americans as lacking education. Our latest study found the term \u201cachievement gap\u201d has a similar effect.<\/p>\n

Consequently, when politicians, journalists, researchers and educators use the term \u2013 even if they mean well \u2013 it could end up doing more harm than good.<\/p>\n

What still isn\u2019t known<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While our study shines light on how the term \u201cachievement gap\u201d affects people when it\u2019s used to discuss racial disparities in educational outcomes, we see a need to learn more about how it affects the viewpoints of people in other groups and on other issues in education. For example, does it lead people to stereotype other students who are described as having achievement gaps, such as English language learners or students with learning differences? How does it affect people\u2019s views on which educational goals are the most important to pursue?<\/p>\n

Also, might it have a more positive effect to apply \u201cgap\u201d language to structural issues in education, as opposed to students? For example, the phrase \u201copportunity gap<\/a>\u201d puts the focus on differences in opportunities that students have for learning, versus differences in students.<\/p>\n

For those reasons, we think it would be beneficial to see whether educational outcomes improve if the term \u201cachievement gap\u201d is retired. Similarly, we\u2019d like to see what happens when the term is replaced with language that stresses the differences between the educational structures in which those students are served.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Tara-Marie Desruisseaux is a Research Associate in Education and David M. Quinn is Associate Professor of Education both at the University of Southern California<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite long-standing efforts to\u00a0close the racial \u201cachievement gap\u201d in education, the term does more to trigger racist stereotypes and causes a lower sense of urgency than when the issue is presented as the need to \u201cend inequality in educational outcomes.\u201d Those are the key findings of a new study in which we\u00a0examined the effect\u00a0that the […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[433648],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-65060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-achievement-gap"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe term \u2018achievement gap\u2019 fosters a negative view of Black students - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The term \u2018achievement gap\u2019 fosters a negative view of Black students - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite long-standing efforts to\u00a0close the racial \u201cachievement gap\u201d in education, the term does more to trigger racist stereotypes and causes a lower sense of urgency than when the issue is presented as the need to \u201cend inequality in educational outcomes.\u201d Those are the key findings of a new study in which we\u00a0examined the effect\u00a0that the […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-02T16:37:10+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/the-Achievement-Gap.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"The term \u2018achievement gap\u2019 fosters a negative view of Black students\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-02T16:37:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":658,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/the-Achievement-Gap.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"achievement gap\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-term-achievement-gap-fosters-a-negative-view-of-black-students\\\/\",\"name\":\"The term \u2018achievement gap\u2019 fosters a negative view of Black students - 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