Can students themselves narrow the socioeconomic-status-based achievement gap through their own persistence and learning time?

Authors

  • Haigen Huang University of Missouri-Columbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.1977

Keywords:

achievement gap, persistence, effort, socioeconomic status, 2012 program for international student assessment

Abstract

Despite decades of educational reforms, the achievement gap based on socioeconomic status (SES) persists in the United States. Not only does the SES-based achievement gap persist, it has also been widening. This study focused on the role of students, hypothesizing that students might reduce the SES-based achievement gap by increasing their learning time and persistence. I used both ANOVA and two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) to analyze the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) United States data. The findings suggested that students viewing themselves to be persistent were likely to perform better than those viewing themselves to be less persistent. Also increased time learning in school was associated with increased achievement. However, high-SES students generally spent more time learning in school and viewed themselves to be more persistent. Thus learning time and persistence were not likely to address the SES constraint on achievement for a majority of low-SES students unless schools provided them extra classes and learning opportunities.

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Author Biography

Haigen Huang, University of Missouri-Columbia

Haigen Huang was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri. He is currently a statistician/data analyst in the Department of Teacher Education, Miami University. His research interests focus on comparative education and policy issues related to educational equity and social justice.

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Published

2015-11-01

How to Cite

Huang, H. (2015). Can students themselves narrow the socioeconomic-status-based achievement gap through their own persistence and learning time?. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23, 108. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.1977

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Section

Articles