| Jennifer Bausmith
Rutgers University
Reducing the gap: Factors associated with high achievement growth among student racial/ethnic groups
FINAL REPORT
Utilizing restricted use NAEP data in mathematics and reading, this study investigates the frequency and impact of various factors on racial/ethnic student subgroup achievement. Specifically, this report examines the effects of student, teacher, instructional, assessment, and professional development variables and their impacts on fourth and eight grade math and reading scale scores. Descriptive analyses revealed many areas where there were differences in the frequencies of the variable reported by racial/ethnic group but these differences did not always overlap with the regression analyses which indicated significant impacts on student achievement. As expected, most of the variance in achievement can be explained by student background characteristics. Teacher content area training is especially critical at the eighth grade level where the subject matter becomes more complex. Instructional practices, assessment type, and professional development experiences play a smaller role in student outcomes.
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