Research shows excellence gap in U.S. education

Minority and underprivileged students continue to make up only a small portion of high achievers on national assessment tests, according to an updated study by IU researchers.

“Trends in Excellence Gaps” expands on a 2010 study “Mind the (Other) Gap: The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education.”

Jonathan Plucker, director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at IU and one of the study’s researchers, said the gap has not narrowed in the past few years.

“We saw very little evidence to see that gaps are closing,” Plucker said. “In fact, they seem to be getting bigger.”

The study looks at minority and low-income students and how they differ from their peers in terms of academic excellence.

Plucker analyzed 15 years of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which evaluates high-achieving fourth- through eighth- graders via a biennial assessment.

Between 2007 and 2011, white fourth-grade students scoring on the high end increased by 1.4 percent, compared to just 0.3 percent for African-American students and 0.4 percent for Hispanic students.

Similarly, on eighth-grade assessments, there was a 0.8 percent rise in disadvantaged, such as low-income, students’ advanced performance, compared to a 2.8 percent increase in advanced scoring by their peers. 

“The stats on race are absolutely outrageous,” Plucker said. “We have just not made developing their talent a priority at all. Something is really broken with the system when this happens. It’s shocking to me.”

Plucker noted that if white students achieved at the level of their minority and disadvantaged peers, the issue would receive more focus.

He said this excellence gap poses problems for the U.S. economy.

“We have essentially created a talent underclass,” he said. “This is a problem because economically our country grows based on innovation, creativity, and it’s very hard if you’re not capitalizing on this talent. It’s hard to imagine a scenario long term where our economy will continue to be innovative.”

Considering that minorities continue to make up more and more of the U.S. population, Plucker said, ensuring their success is key to a productive society.
“We need to help them develop these talents, both for our benefit and theirs,” he said.

Whereas the 2010 study was aimed at policy makers, the new study is directed toward educators.

“There is no one answer to this problem,” he said. “Honestly we don’t know how to solve it because we’ve ignored it for so long.”

— Matthew Glowicki