
Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gap
AIU Strategies for Closing the Gap Participants: Please review the following compiled
lists of practical applications that we developed as a group. Please refer to them as
needed, as you implement them into your instructional methods. Use the "Contact Me"
link to communicate with this site as to how these strategies are fairing in your
classrooms. I will follow up by posting your responses to this site. This way, we have
access to know how effective these strategies are, what is going well, and what you are
trying differently.
Please contact me within one month in order to post your response in that time.
Thank you.
Epryl King
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Updated Practical Application of Strategies:
Fourty-two school districts with Allegheny County convened for the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit's 3rd Annual County-wide Professional Development Day Workshops. Once again,
Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gap for African-American Students was offered as one
of the workshops. This workshop, presented by Epryl King, was held at Gateway Senior High
School, in the library where around 50 teachers met to learn strategies to close this gap, and
collaborated on how those strategies could be applied within their own classrooms. The
participating teachers represented approximately 7 school districts within the county and ranged
in background from 2nd through 12th grade and taught a variety of subjects. Teachers were
given research-based broad, "umbrella" strategies and collaborated with their colleagues to
develop practical applications of those strategies for use within their own classrooms and
schools. The following is the result of their productivity:
Broad, Research-Based Strategies:
1. Use Data to Close the Gap
2. Become Aware of the Role of Bias or Prejudice and Stereotyping
3. Become Aware of Students’ Attitudes about Their Learning Environment:
4. Change Students’ Attitudes About Learning or Their Environment:
5. Incorporate Examples of Distinguished African-Americans and Their
Contributions
6. Ensure Equitable Academic Attention
7. Incorporate Student Background and Culture into Instruction
8. Raise Own Awareness of African-American Cultural
9. Increase Parent Involvement
10. Invite Input from African-American Groups
11. Build Relationships of Mutual Respect with Students
Practical Application of the Broad, Umbrella Strategies, for Use Within the Classroom:
1. Use Data to Close Achievement Gaps
- 4-Sight Assessments
• Scores are disaggregated
• Given 3 times a year
• Scores should be shared with students
- PSSA Scores
• Scores are disaggregated
- Progress Reports
• Shows scores from every ethnicity
- Tutoring
• Focus on basic students based on data
• Given pre-assessments and assess throughout the year
- Differentiate Instruction
• Use pre-assessments to identify students in need
• Use tiered lesson plans and homework based on student needs data
2. Become More Aware of the Role of Prejudice, Bias, and Stereotyping in
Students’ Lives:
- Journals
• Use quick-write prompts to determine student attitudes of their
environment
• Open-Ended Questions: prompts based on real-life experiences
- Parent Conferences
• Information Gathering
• Workshops
- Peer Groups
• Character Building
• Brainstorming
- Role Playing
• Disciplinary/Life Situations
- Modeling
• Appropriate behavior
• Fairness
• Respect
3. Become Aware of Students’ Attitudes about Their Learning Environment:
- Individual Student Interviews
- Parent/Guardian Survey
- Interest Inventory
- Role Playing
- Goals and Dreams
- Use positive reinforcement as motivation
- Create open dialogue
- Display and model success
- Use peers and adults as role models
- Journals
• writing prompts
• self-reflection
• notes to teacher (with a response back)
- Classroom discussions
• What would you change?
• How could things be better for you…etc?
- Debates on current events and how the student feels about it. Could these
things happen where you live?
4. Change Students’ Attitudes About Learning or Their Environment:
- incorporate community and businesses to promote positivity and
encouragement
- have multicultural events
- showcase academic achievements (not just honor roll) at an Academic
Fair or in a Showcase
- Work with businesses (shadowing, gardening, small projects)geared for
middle school – (Real World Experiences)
- Ask the students about their feelings, attitudes, ect and build up
from there.
5. Incorporate Examples of Distinguished African-Americans and Their Contributions:
- Give past and present examples of contributions and accomplishments, both
nationwide and local
- Match student birthdays to distinguished African-American birthdays
- Define “distinguished”
• is it someone well-known around the country for past or present
contributions, or someone in our family that had a great impact on our
family
- Use video to support bibliographical information
- Current events/news and announcements during morning group meeting
• students share about a contribution made by an African American
(having already defined distinguished, the students will deter from just
bringing in articles about athletes
- Use Materials that “Look Like Me” (Primary Sources)
- Short stories, poems…etc. that include authors of all backgrounds and
stories about all different backgrounds (Characters)
- Use ethnic names when presenting math problems “rapmatics”
- Review units and look for opportunities to tie in
• current events
• sports statistics
• popular culture / political
• corporate role models
• scientists
• inventors
• leaders
• biography
6. Ensure Equitable Academic Attention:
- Popsicle Sticks / Classroom Mapping
• to make sure all students are answering or being act to engage.
- Differentiation – so all students can participate at their levels
• look at test scores and data to level questioning to meet individual
student needs
• Utilize learning styles and preferences in instructional activities
- Equitable attention doesn’t and shouldn’t mean everything is the same for
every student
7. Incorporate Student Background and Culture into Instruction:
- Acknowledgement of positive black role models
- Choose literature with multicultural characters/themes
- Have students discuss their neighborhoods and families
• How do these people and places affect you?
• Have parents or successful people from their neighborhoods come in to
motivate.
- Make content, assignments about the students (use their names, and
interests…etc)
- Classroom discussion
• make connections and build background
- Put the positivity back in the meaning of background (T-Shirt Campaign)
8. Raise Own Awareness of African-American Cultural
- Talk to the students and their families about their history
- Surveys and Questionnaires of parents and students
- Internet Research
- Documentaries, movies, videos, books and other media
- Invite storytellers or speakers to the classroom
- Go to African-American colleagues for ideas and resources
- Have a “Multicultural Day” that encourages parent involvement
- Community Involvement / Readers
- African-American History Games (Board games on this topic are out there)
- Visit Museums
- Theater
- Talk about holiday celebrations and traditions
- Share books, music, poetry, videos, photo, magazine pictures
- Multicultural Day and Projects
- Classroom Visitors and Speakers
- Visual Displays and Showcase Use
9. Increase Parent Involvement Within the Classroom
- Guest Readers or Storytellers to share hobbies and occupation
- Newsletters
- Book In A Bag
- Field Trip Chaperon
- Assist with Class Projects
- Grandparents Day
- Classroom by Classroom Initiative
• Invite parents to a lesson
- Multicultural Day with Parents
- Parent Readers
- Parent Helpers / Volunteers
- Parent Checklists with Incentives
- Weekly Contacts
• Phone Calls
• Emails
• Assignment books
- Meet them at extra-curricular activities
10. Invite Input from African-American Groups
- Partner with the Community
• Usage of Facilities
• Partner with leaders
• Localize Locations
- Develop Learning Cell for Parents
- Group Mentoring and Character Development
11. Build Relationships of Mutual Respect with Students
- Greet them every day
- Learn something about them
- Push them to do their best, beyond what they would normally do
- Create a positive learning environment, giving students the right to form
their own teams (from a group criteria sheet developed by the teacher – and
Model the criteria
- Identify goals to raise the bar
- Skills development
- Trips
- Social Activities
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(Previous Year's Workshops and Their Input)
On Monday, October 9th, 2006, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit had their second AIU Countywide
Professional Development Day. I presented this information to mostly secondary level and some
elementary level teachers. As with last year, when I worked with mostly elementary level staff, we
collaborated to find ways to apply researched-based strategies to the classroom setting. Some of what
we came up with may differ from suggestions made by elementary level only teachers. What I had
hoped to achieved was to have developed a spectrum of strategies that would apply to classrooms K-
12. The following are the practical applications of strategies we came up with, to close the
achievement gap within the K-12 classrooms.
Building Relationships of Mutual Respect:
1. Give respect first – be a model (with peers and students)
2. Role play appropriate social skills
3. Be consistent with expectations of respect
4. Come together as a class community (“get to know games”)
5. Get to know parents
a. Notes home
b. Conferences
c. Phone calls
6. “Catch” children acting appropriately
7. Tell students you care about them!
Ensure Academic Attention
1. Use of Popsicle sticks to ensure calling on various students
2. Include wait time
3. Rephrase questions to make them more student friendly
4. CSRQ
a. Complete sentence
b. Restate question
c. … “why”
5. Partnering/Grouping
6. Being consistent with all rules
Inclusion/Invitation of Input from African-American and Low Income Groups:
1. Look at PTA/PTO for equal representation
2. Give staff time to make phone calls to encourage input
3. Localized meetings/alternative locations
4. Transportation for adults to events/meetings
5. Partner with community stake holders
Learn About the Attitudes of Students to Determine If a Need Exists in the Area of School
Atmosphere
1. Needs Assessment Survey
a. Agree/disagree
b. Smith Cards
c. Open Ended
2. Observation
a. Culturally different writings
3. Clear up prior notions and expectations to allow learning to take place.
How can I, my district, or my school, monitor more closely the scores of African-Americans
and low-income students, so that students who need additional support can receive it?
1. Using available data to drive instruction
2. Content area pre- and post- testing that is aligned with the standards and anchors
3. Homogeneously grouped small group instruction
How can I build relationships of mutual respect with my students?
1. We must get to know our students as individuals to design questions that will lead to learning
that makes sense and has meaning.
2. We must establish a non-threatening environment where students can be risk takers by first
answering questions, then further developing their thoughts. (Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal
Development)
3. At MSMS, “We must get to know our students will to effectively guide their learning.”
Other strategies:
1. Use predetermined lessons to teach about many types of prejudices
2. Role Playing
a. “How would you feel if…”
b. “What if someone…”
3. Use “teachable moments”
4. Have classroom discussions that students facilitate
5. Always remember – we are the role models!!!
6. Correct, but also change negative behaviors.
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On Monday, October the 10th, 2005, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit had their first AIU Countywide
Professional Development Day. Teachers from all over Allegheny County selected workshops that
they felt would help them grow professionally. These workshops were presented by teachers,
administrators, and community members with a variety of background knowledge to impart about their
topics. Those who volunteered to present submitted their proposals and were selected to present.
I chose to present on the Achievement Gap. The purpose of my workshop was to inform teachers of
what the Achievement Gap is, what causes it, what the effects are, and what we as teachers can do
about it. The goal of the presentation was to equip teachers with strategies to close the gap in their
own classrooms and schools. The dilemma was that while the information I researched did provide
strategies for closing the gap, many of these strategies were general, and were difficult to implement.
Teachers would want to know how they could apply those strategies within the classroom setting. So,
with this in mind, the most important phase of the workshop was to use collaboration among the
teachers to find specific ways to implement these strategies into their own classrooms. Teachers were
given questions to consider that correlated to researched areas of opportunity regarding the gap. This
is what they came up with:
1. What are some ways I can (within my classroom) ensure equitable academic attention?
- randomly pick popsicle sticks out of a can that have the students’ names on them
- provide each child an opportunity to participate in an activity within one class period
- when conferencing with a child, allow the child to sign up for a scheduled time
- utilize popcorn reading strategies or allow students to choose the next participant
2. What are some culturally appropriate ways I can use questioning strategies, model critical
thinking and help children to apply their knowledge?
- Have a checklist which includes all levels of questioning. Tally the types of questions asked of
each student making sure all students are asked higher level questions
3. How can I, my district, or my school, monitor more closely the scores of African-Americans
and low-income students, so that students who need additional support can receive it?
- computerized standardized and local test data
- PVAAS
- CDA (Comprehensive Data Analysis through the AIU)
- Pro Soft
- IST
- SAP (a religious based SHINE Program at Turtle Creek Library Christian Center)
- ASAP (after school tutoring program)
4. How can I help my district to include/invite input from African-American and low income
groups?
- District-formed Parent Advisory Group
- Ask for parental views on reasons for achievement gap
- Goal of group to guide district as they attack this problem
- Enticement gift for attendance goals
- Quarterly parent open house meetings
- Parent/child “fun” education nights
- Regularly scheduled events that are well advertised (district provided calendars that were
personalized)
- Invite African-American business leaders, social-political leaders, church leaders/mentors,
parent tutors, civic or fraternal organizations
5. How can I (in my classroom or school) learn about the attitudes of students to determine if a
need exists in the area of school atmosphere?
- through group discussions, morning meetings, sharing time
- interest inventory/questionnaire
- observe student interactions
- parent communication/input
- expression of self through artwork or writing assignments
6. How can I build relationships of mutual respect with my students?
- Referring to the classroom as “our classroom” or “our family”
- Treat students equally
- Respect our students (teacher models)
- Respectful classroom environment
- VALUE their differences
7. What opportunities do we have to use direct teaching processes in our instruction?
- Multi-sensory Instruction
i. See it
ii. Hear it
iii. Smell it
iv. Hear it
v. Taste it
- don’t assume anything
- question and listen
- provide a comfort zone
I felt that since more practical and specific ways to implement strategies for closing the gap were
needed, the first step in implementing strategies were to find more specific ways teachers could do it,
and in their own classrooms. The next step would be to study whether or not these ways were
effective, or not.
