Center for the Study of Curriculum

Science Excellence Gaps in the United States

Nathan Burroughswith Leland Cogan

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Defining an “excellence gap”

2 ways of looking at it:

lower performance of the highest achievers within a given subgroup

Underrepresentation of a subgroup among the highest performers

Center for the Study of Curriculum

2 Reasons to Worry About Excellence Gaps in Science

Reason #1: Human Capital

Economic growth is dependent both on average educational quality AND the knowledge of “high flyers.” (Hanushek & Woessman 2007)

Note that the % of disadvantaged students is increasing.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Over 40,000 “missing” Black and Hispanic S&E graduates every year.

Bachelors PhDsResident 242,235 13,880Non-Resident 10,279 10,857Black & Hispanic 34,087 1,203Blacks & Hispanics if proportional to population share 77,031 4,414

“Hard” Science & Engineering Graduates in 2009

Blacks & Hispanics make up nearly a third of 18-24 year olds, but only 14% of resident S&E Bachelors and 9% of PhDs.

#’s above don’t consider under-representation of low-income or female students.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Reason #2: Moral

The excellence gap is evidence for inequality of opportunity.

Reinforcing background inequalities is a paradigmatic instance of injustice.

2 Reasons to Worry About Excellence Gaps in Science

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Evidence for science excellence gaps in the U.S.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) demonstrates excellence gaps along class and racial lines of two to three grade levels.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Gaps at the 90th PercentileGrade 4 Grade 8 Grade 12

Poor 176 175 175

Non-poor 199 198 199

White 198 198 199

Black 168 167 166

Hispanic 173 173 176

SES Gap 23 23 24

White-Black Gap 32 31 33

White-Hispanic Gap 25 25 23

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Joint Effects of Race and ClassGrade 4 Grade 8 Grade 12

White poor 186 186 185

White non-poor 201 199 200

Black poor 161 160 158

Black non-poor 179 176 175

Hispanic poor 167 168 169

Hispanic non-poor 185 183 181

White poor Gap 15 13 15

Black poor Gap 40 39 42

Black non-poor Gap 22 23 25

Hispanic poor Gap 34 31 31

Hispanic non-poor Gap 16 16 19

Reference category for gaps is White non-poor performance.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Trends in the Science Excellence Gap

Difficult to say because the new 2009 science framework complicates direct comparisons.

Two approaches using standard deviations: Same grade over timeCohorts

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Gaps May be Shrinking A Little…

SES 4th WB 4th WH 4th SES 8th WB 8th WH 8th0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1996200020052009

Major subgroup gaps over time.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

…Or They Might Not

Grade 4 Grade 8 Grade 12

SES Gap 0.68 0.63 0.66

White-Black Gap 0.86 0.87 0.94

White-Hispanic Gap 0.73 0.69 0.66

White poor Gap 0.44 0.39 0.44

Black poor Gap 1.13 1.14 1.20

Black non-poor Gap 0.61 0.67 0.72

Hispanic poor Gap 0.98 0.89 0.87

Hispanic non-poor Gap 0.46 0.46 0.55

Detailed subgroup gaps in 2009 by grade level.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

A Gender Gap Too

Male Female Gap

4th Grade 194 191 3

8th Grade 195 188 7

12th Grade 198 190 8

Center for the Study of Curriculum

States as Policy Laboratories

Feds have a growing role in education policy, but still mainly the responsibility of states.

States are increasingly centralizing their control of schools.

Considerable variation among states in the magnitude of excellence gaps.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

State science achievement strongly related to race & class.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

200

f(x) = 47.849129092119 x + 129.204497021394R² = 0.720747947497502

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Combined SES & Racial Excellence Gaps

Blue: Below US AverageRed: Above US Average

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Exploring which (if any) state policies mitigate excellence gaps.

Examining 4th and 8th grade gaps by SES, White-Black, and White-Hispanic.

Extant data (NAGC survey, other sources)

Regression equation controls for state GINI coefficient, share of group of interest, state per capita income

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Potential Approaches for Reducing the Excellence Gap

Teacher quality Curriculum Monitoring Mandates And, of course, $

Results suggested a few might help, although effects are generally small.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Policies associated with smaller SES excellence gaps

Share of school districts with gifted-education administrators

Requirement of certification for gifted-education teachers

Dedicated gifted-education funding

State approval of district gifted-education plans

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Policies associated with smaller White-Black excellence gaps

State mandates to identify, serve and fund gifted students

Share of school districts with gifted-education administrators

Share of teachers with gifted-education PD/staff development

Center for the Study of Curriculum

What about content?

State-level analysis suggested that if anything higher standards resulted in larger gaps.

Tracking? Concentration of high quality teacher/resources in advantaged districts?

Center for the Study of Curriculum

District-level analysis

Most of the action in education still takes place at the school district level.

PROM/SE study: NSF-funded project to improve math and science achievement through fashioning a more coherent curriculum.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Mean Number of Science Courses in 16 Districts

Center for the Study of Curriculum

In a few PROM/SE districts, there were enough black and white students to examine gaps within districts, although not excellence gaps per se.

Surveyed teachers on what science topics they covered = combined into a general measure of intra-district content variation. Controlled for proportion of minority & free and reduced meal eligible students.

Insights from PROM/SE

Center for the Study of Curriculum

On PROM/SE science assessment, districts with greater variation in coverage of science topics had larger achievement gaps.

Parameter Estimate

Robust Standard

ErrorsPr > |t| Standardized

Estimate

Intercept -0.398 1.961 0.845 0.000

StDev Topic Coverage 2.381 0.573 0.004 0.610

% Disadvantaged -0.122 0.045 0.031 -0.594

Adj. R-Squared 0.385

Insights from PROM/SE

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Final Thoughts

Large excellence gaps by race, class, gender.

Racial and SES gaps are distinct problems.

State and district policies may reduce these gaps.

There’s still a lot we don’t know.

Center for the Study of Curriculum

Acknowledgments

Jonathan Plucker, Indiana University

William Schmidt,Phil Babcock,Michigan State University

National Science Foundation