Achievement gaps between Black students and White students have existed since public education was desegregated, and they still persist despite efforts to close the gap. This research describes the achievement gaps between Black and White 3rd through 8th grade students in the state of Tennessee from 2017-2019. This is a non-experimental, quantitative, comparative-analysis describing the ELA and math test scores of Black students and White students in each of the three geographic regions of Tennessee. Data were arranged in 2x2 contingency matrixes to compare the expected frequencies of students in each race scoring on-track and mastered versus below and approaching. The data from the matrixes were analyzed in SPSS using Chi Squared tests to determine if the difference between Black student scores and White student scores was statistically significant. All twelve test score groupings showed an achievement gap between Black students and White students. The largest achievement gap was in West Tennessee’s elementary school ELA scores. The smallest achievement gap was in West Tennessee’s middle school math scores. Although there were gaps between Black students and White students in all twelve groupings, East Tennessee’s gaps were the smallest overall, ELA scores had smaller gaps than math scores in general, and middle school had smaller gaps than elementary school. These significant findings suggest there is much work to be done in Tennessee to close the gap between Black students and White students in order to provide a more equitable school experience.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-5358 |
| Date | 01 May 2021 |
| Creators | Dirmeyer, Haley |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright by the authors. |
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