Attainment Gap
Attainment gap refers to any persistent or significant disparity in the academic achievement and performance between students of different groups such as those from a wealthy background and those from a poor background. Also, the difference in the two groups comes in the racial disparity, gender difference as well as the differences in their locations. The attainment gap describes the outputs in the unequal distribution of educational benefits and therefore bringing a gap in educational results (Pirrie & Hockings, 2012, p. 4). Attainment achievements gaps mainly vary significantly with the severity from place to place or from group to group. For example, a group of fourth-grade boys and a group of fourth-grade girls may perform differently on the same test. Different students will get mixed grades on tests, and this will make them take different courses and therefore demonstrate college completion rates that are different from each other.
Factors of Educational Attainment Gap
Indicators of the attainment gaps become evident after a standardized test is analyzed. The standard test provides a consistent and standardized measure of success through consistent data. The differences can also be illustrated using some early signs of academic preparedness. For instance, a child who lives in a less healthy home will come to school with a smaller vocabulary, lower written language and less oral skill than children coming from better families. The children from these low-income families begin their schooling with a disadvantage and have more to learn. Another indicator of the attainment gaps is the number of students graduating from high school and the success they achieve in education. A study shows that most of the students from these low-income families drop out of school and do not finish their high school. Data shows continuously that fewer Scottish children fail to graduate as compared to the other children mainly from parents who are immigrants (Pirrie & Hockings, 2012, p.12)
Scotland is a multicultural nation and being a multicultural nation it has people from different races, different cultures and different believes. However, many factors can lead to attainment gaps in this set of society. Therefore, all these factors must be considered and looked into before any formal assessment of a child is done. The people in charge of education must know and embrace that there is diversity in the students that they are handling and they have differences in how they respond and have different cultural experiences.
One factor that influences the attainment gaps is language. Language is a factor making the attainment gaps present in the society. Communication plays an integral part in the classroom and is an essential part in the issuing of instructions and teaching at the school (Afari & Khine, 2016, p.4). The non-Scottish children may view their language in a unique aspect of where they come from, and this will prompt them to speak in their native languages once in a while. These native languages will make the students conflict with Standard English, and as a result, the students will find it difficult to communicate.
Lack of communication hinders progress for these children, and therefore a gap is created between these students and those that are fluent in English. Furthermore, the students with poor linguistics skills will find it hard to learn, and they may end up dropping out of school, or even if they stay they will always be way much behind the other students. To appropriately evaluate the type of educational assistance that a child needs, general and special educators must have a good understanding of student's linguistic skills and cultural environments.
Teachers will play an essential role in developing a gap between the majority and minority students. The teacher is the person who fully interacts with the students for an extended period. The interaction between the teacher and the student will, therefore, be very significant in either bringing the students together or making a gap between the different groups of students. The teachers, therefore, are given an ability to help somehow the inferior students feel better and help them be able to be at an equal ground with those that have advantages over them (Khine, 2016, p. 7).
However, as a result of biases from the cultural setting, some teachers may judge the conduct of the less advantaged students as more deviant from that of the majority of students. Judging makes the teachers have perceptions about particular students, and this will lead to favors being granted to certain types of students while the other group of students is oppressed. The inequality created by these favors will lead to a gap being established between the two different groups. Sadly, the guardians and parents usually rely on the teachers to help their children in their areas of challenges and disabilities but some teachers will exclude the children that are not promising, and they feel that they are inferior. These children eventually end up giving up on their studies because no one is following up on them.
Most of the special education teachers and the general education teachers are not competent enough culturally to be able to handle the diverse students at their disposal. The lack of competence in matters concerning culture leads to a lack of understanding of each student's needs and thereby leading to friction between the teachers and the students. Moreover, some teachers have poor teaching skills and curriculums, and this leads to a lack of understanding by some students. The students who are not comfortable with the teaching skills will get wasted, and as a result, they end up not learning comfortably. The lack of proper understanding leads to lagging behind some students.
Students can make incorrect assumptions concerning their abilities as a result of being given labels. In many instances, the students may act concerning how they are labeled, and this is primarily because most students will tend to internalize the labels assigned to them. Labeling the students inappropriately hinders the achievement levels of the students and may cause the students, as well as the educators, despite knowing the abilities that they have. For instance, teachers will tend to believe that a physically disabled person is not as competent as a person who is not impaired. The assumption made by the teacher may make the teacher feel that the student will not be able to perform some functions. If so, then the student who is labeled may not be pushed to the limits, and thus the student may not increase the abilities he or she has. Therefore, there will be limited life expectations towards the student, and as a result, the performance levels will decrease.
An Achievement Gap
An achievement gap is always present between the children from a less fortunate background and the children from the other environments (Pirrie & Hockings, 2012, p.17). On average, children from low-income family backgrounds do less well academically at school as compared to those from higher families. The association between the family background and the performance in school are very consistent and robust. This is because a child from a low-income family will always be lacking something and therefore there is no time that the child will be satisfied. Lack of satisfaction will make the child be constantly under stress or pressure to get some things, and due to this, it will be tight for the child to settle (Baw, 2018, p.141). As a result, the performance in school will decline due to divided attention that the child has. On the other hand, a child from a well and stable family will have everything at the disposal, and therefore the needs and demands are met. When it comes to school work, the child will be able to concentrate and have his or her mind to the books since there is nothing much that will be bothering him or her.
Marginalization is another factor that can lead to the attainment gap. Students from marginalized areas will undergo so much stress to achieve the desired results as opposed to the students from the urban areas (Sleeter, 2012, p.562-584). For example, transport may be a problem in the marginalized areas whereas in the urban centers the transport system is very efficient. More so, the students in the urban areas will easily access the resources that they need for their studies unlike the students from the marginal areas. The differences in the access to resources give the students in the urban regions an advantage and will, therefore, have an edge leading to easily succeeding in their studies unlike the students from the marginal areas. Furthermore, the students from the marginal areas may give up on their studies due to the struggle that they are going through, and as a result, they may end up working as manual workers in their farms. The marginalization, therefore, creates a massive gap in educational attainment.
Policies to Prevent the Educational Attainment Gap
Early interventions have to be made to brush off the social and economic disadvantages that bring the educational attainment gap. The early interventions should more so begin early enough so that balance can be created in the society. The Scottish government has, however, come up with various policies that will bring and enable equity in education. The educational equity can be achieved by making sure that each child has an equal opportunity to succeed mainly focusing on the attainment gap created by poverty (Jackson & Jonsson, 2013, p. 306-338). In 2015, the First Minister launched the Scottish Attainment Challenge. The primary objective revolves around the National Improvement Framework and Curriculum Excellence. More so, this challenge advocate for improved activity in some regions of Scotland focusing on literacy, health, and numeracy. Furthermore, the challenge by the minister will complement and support broader and greater programs that will be able to make the Scotland children be able to attain their full potential.
More funds have also been allocated to the pupil equity funding in the process of uplifting the students from poor backgrounds. There are 750 million Euros that have been invested in this fund over the current parliamentary term that is running from 2016 to 2021. These funds are directed to that have shown the presence of poverty as a leading cause of the attainment gap. The funding is to be overseen by the head teacher as well as the other local authorities working in that area. This move by the government will help in lifting the lives of the children from the less fortunate families, and it will help them to focus more on their education.
The government has also introduced the national standardized examinations that will help pinpoint the progress of the children nationwide. The tests will provide information to the teachers and the education stakeholders on the way forward. The examinations will also give the government information that will enable them to know whether the interventions made are fruitful or not. The standardized online assessments will be for children in P1, P4, P7, and S3. These children will do exams in numeracy and literacy.
In a process to ensure the improvement of educational support, the government has also established a regional improvement collaborative. The collaborative will focus on providing an annual regional plan that all the teachers will use and work. Furthermore, the collaborative will work on supporting the teachers through professionals that are dedicated to making the education system better and be able to establish equality in the education system. The focus of the collaborative will be to meet all the local needs of the children in the region and continuously working on the improvement of the reading environment of the children. Moreover, the regional collaborative will be responsible for overseeing any changes in the curriculum, and they will be responsible for making it better. The Chief Executive of Education Scotland will monitor the function of all the regional collaborative, and they will report to the executive of education.
The policies by the government are very promising, and upon implementation, they have been able to bear delicious fruits in the establishment of educational equality across Scotland (West, 2007, p. 341). The government's efforts to create an equal society with no attainment gaps are very thoughtful and most of the citizens will enjoy the fruits of the attempt by the government. The establishment of equality will lead to the exploitation of full potentials by the students, and as a result, there will be very educated and intelligent people in Scotland.
List of
References
Afari, E., " Khine, M. S. (2016). Non-Cognitive Variables and Academic Success. Non-cognitive Skills and Factors in Educational Attainment, 429-441. doi:10.1007/978-94-6300-591-3_20, pp. 1-37
Baw, S. S. (2018). Poverty, Educational Achievement, and the Role of Courts. Studies in English Language Teaching, 6(3), 228. doi:10.22158/selt.v6n3p228, pp. 141
Khine, M. S. (2016). Non-Cognitive Skills and Factors in Educational Success and Academic Achievement. Non-cognitive Skills and Factors in Educational Attainment, 3-9. doi:10.1007/978-94-6300-591-3_1
Jackson, M., " Jonsson, J. O. (2013). Why Does Inequality of Educational Opportunity Vary Across Countries? Determined to Succeed?, 306-338. doi:10.11126/stanford/9780804783026.003.0011
Pirrie, A. and Hockings, E., 2012. Poverty, educational attainment and achievement in Scotland: a critical review of the literature, pp. 4-32
Sleeter, C.E., 2012. Confronting the marginalization of culturally responsive pedagogy. Urban Education, 47(3), pp.562-584.
West, A. (2007). Schools, financing and educational standards. Making social policy work, 85-108. doi:10.1332/policypress/9781861349583.003.0005, pp. 339-344
