Table Of ContentClosing the Achievement Gap from an International
Perspective
Julia V. Clark
Editor
Closing the Achievement
Gap from an International
Perspective
Transforming STEM for Effective Education
1 3
Editor
Julia V. Clark
Chevy Chase
Maryland
USA
ISBN 978-94-007-4356-4 ISBN 978-94-007-4357-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-4357-1
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013951533
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To the memory of my mother and father,
Bessie M. Clark and Frank Clark, who
taught me the value of a strong educational
background and who by example taught
me the power of principle; to my sister,
Mary C. Lewis (retired school teacher)
and nephew Kelvin C. Lewis for their
encouragement and support throughout
my professional career; and to all teachers
who believe that all children are capable of
learning and succeeding in school.
v
Preface
In the very interesting essays that are collected here, one learns that the gap in aca-
demic achievement that has caused so much consternation among educators in the
United States is not unique to North America. From these descriptions of exemplary
efforts at making more efficient the teaching and learning of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics we see, let alone what can and should be done peda-
gogically, we are reminded that the underproductivity of teaching and learning with
some populations of students is an international problem that is bigger than educa-
tion alone can solve.
In his brilliantly conceived book, Paths Toward a Clearing, Professor Michael
Jackson problematizes the task of the anthropologists who seek to discern meaning
from their observations of the lived experience of the other. Jackson interrogates
the insufficiently addressed issue, “with what degree of certainty can I interpret the
meaning to the other person of the experiences she, herself, has lived.”
The late distinguished anthropologist, Ogbu (1978), avoided this problem in
much of his work by focusing not on interpreting meaning to the other, but on the
correlates and apparent consequences of the life lived by the other. In Ogbu’s insight-
ful studies of the lives of people in different parts of the world who experienced low
caste and caste-like status, he concluded that the status of the experiencing person
influenced the degree to which that person became socialized to the standards and
values of the hegemonic culture. Low-status, marginalized and underresourced peo-
ple all over the world tend to fair poorly in the educational institutions to which they
are exposed. To the extent that the inferior status is perceived as immutable, as in
low-caste or low-caste-like status, this association between status and achievement
tends to be even more prominent. Thus, when one’s assigned status is identifiable
by physiognomic characteristics, such as skin color (even in the absence of caste),
the identification as low-class functions as caste. Thus, Ogbu describes Blacks in
the United States as a caste-like group, and he describes academic achievement and
life-outcome characteristics as consistent with the expectations associated with that
caste-like status. Ogbu goes on to report similar relationships in caste or caste-like
groups in Australia, India, Japan and the United States.
In the collection of essays assembled here at The Achievement Gap in Inter-
national Perspective, we see Ogbu’s perspective reflected again. Concern with
vii
viii Preface
the achievement gap may have first come to recent public notice in the United
States in the contexts of Black/White comparisons of academic achievement. Clark
(1954), Coleman (1966), Miller (1995), and National Task Force on Minority High
Achievement (1999). However, the essayists included in this collection remind us
that disparities in academic achievement are worldwide phenomena begging for a
solution. Guidance toward a possible solution may be found in an interrogation of
Jackson’s and Ogbu’s perspectives on this issue.
Much of the work underway on this problem in the United States and around the
world is directed at helping underdeveloped persons to achieve what I have written
about and labeled as intellective competence. I have defined such competence as
the universal currency of technologically developed societies. I generally refer to
such attributes as the capacity to access and utilize information that is grounded in
such disciplines as the humanities, mathematics and the sciences. The use of such
information is reflected in the capacity to create and manage engineering and tech-
nology projects. In addition, I refer to the intentional command and control of one’s
affective, cognitive and situative mental capacities as essential in intellective com-
petence. This is the complex of human competencies that we recognize to be the
by-products of one’s having studied and mastered the so called STEM disciplines.
But these indicators of intellective competence are largely identified with the cul-
tures of the social orders that have also used these competencies to subordinate their
low-class or low-caste members. To close the achievement gap, these subordinated
populations must embrace the standards, skills and values of the very people who
have used these factors in the service of their own advancement and the suppression
of the low-status members.
Following Jackson, we cannot be certain that we are accurately interpreting the
meaning of the lived experiences associated with ones having been forced to learn
the ways of the dominating other. But Ogbu's work with Black boys in Compton,
California suggests that the low-status persons are very much aware of the absence
of a sense of polity for themselves. As a result, according to Ogbu, they constrain
their investment of effort in the mastery of the hegemonic cultural forms, informa-
tion, techniques and values. Should this way of conceptualizing the problem prove
to be correct, our domestic and international efforts at improving our strategies for
improving the teaching and learning of STEM and other essential academic subjects
may be limited until we also find a way to bring a greater sense of polity into the
lives of low-class and low-caste members of the societies of the world.
In the collection of essays that follow, we see examples of exceptional pedagogi-
cal efforts directed at the more effective teaching and learning of STEM subjects,
but our elevation of this work makes the task seem too easy. Solid curriculum, good
and creative teaching, and engaged learners are important, but they may not provide
an adequate solution to a problem that involves more than schooling. Even with
excellent teaching and well-resourced schools, it may be necessary for attention
to be given to the personal attributions that are assigned to the lived experiences
of the persons who must do the learning. Jackson reminds us that such interpreta-
tions are one of the challenges to the anthropologist. I claim that understanding
the lived experience of the learner, and appropriately adapting our teaching to it,
Preface ix
is one of the continuing challenges to those of us who teach. Yet we know that the
personal attributions assigned to the actual experiences of one’s life are only a part
of the dynamic. Those actual lived experiences do influence the attributions that are
assigned by the persons living the experience. Thus pedagogical efforts at closing
the achievement gap in the United States and in other countries around the world
must be viewed as more than problems of the goodness of the teaching and learn-
ing of STEM and other subject matter. To close the academic achievement gap in
societies where people live lives of inegalitarian conditions and statuses, education
may need to be thought of more comprehensively and thought of as inclusive of
both the conditions of life for the learners and the meanings that they assign to their
conditions of life. Education may have to begin with serious attention being given
to the improvement of the quality of life for the learners. Obviously, education is
not synonymous with schooling. These essays remind us that this admonition is true
worldwide.
Edmund W. Gordon is the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology, Emeritus at
Yale University and the Richard March Hoe Professor of Psychology and Educa-
tion, Emeritus at Teachers College, Columbia University
References
Clark, K. B. (1954). Segregated Schools in New York City. Paper presented at the Child Apart,
Northside Center for Child Development, New Lincoln School NY.
Coleman, J. S., Campbell, E. Q. Hobson, C. J., McPartland, J., Mood, A. M., Weinfeld, F. D.,
et al. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office.
Jackson, M. (1989). Paths toward a clearing: Radical empiricism and ethnographic inquiry. Bloo-
mington: Indiana University Press.
Miller, L. S. (1995). An American imperative: Accelerating minority educational advancement
New Haven: Yale University Press.
National Task Force on Minority High Achievement. (1999). Reaching the top: A Report of the
National Task Force on Minority High Achievement. New York: College Board.
Ogbu, J. (1978). Minority education and caste: The American system in cross-cultural perspective.
New York: Academic Press.
Acknowledgements
I have often felt that much of my current and future anticipated success can be attrib-
uted to a broad educational foundation, a plethora of professional and community
experiences, networking opportunities, and a commitment to teaching and learning.
Many people have contributed very extensively to my learning over the years. With-
out family, writing would be intolerable. First and foremost, I express my heartfelt
thanks to my beloved deceased parents for always giving me their blessings. They
have been my inspiration and motivation for continuing to improve my knowledge
and move my career forward. They have been my rock, and I dedicate this book to
them. For individual and collective contribution to this effort, encouragement, and
moral support, I wish to acknowledge with special thanks my sister, Mary C. Lewis
(a retired teacher), and my nephew Kelvin C. Lewis.
I wish to thank several colleagues, teachers and friends for directly or indirectly
influencing my thinking on the writing of this book and for their encouragement and
interest in my professional growth, especially Drs. Willie Pearson, Marvin Druger,
and Madelyn “Faye” Neathery. Unreserved thanks to Faye for her many years of
friendship and for her valuable advice and support.
Special thanks to Professor Edmund W. Gordon, my mentor and friend, whose
scholarly work and interest in the quality education of all children inspired and mo-
tivated me to excel to my fullest potential. His professional input in the writing of
this book is appreciated immensely.
I also dedicate this book to the teachers, administrators, and policy-makers com-
mitted to the improvement of education. I thank them for their willingness to chal-
lenge mainstream viewpoints. These people are involved in changing systems to
ensure universal education in the future.
My thanks to Drs. Gavin W. Fulmer, Joseph Krajcik, and Lorenzo Taylor for
assisting me in selecting some of the contributors to this book. In the end, I believe
that this team of authors has provided the perfect blend of knowledge and skills
that went into this book.
Thanks to Leonard S. Rosenbaum for his superb editing of the book. He not only
noticed the mistakes but also suggested those additions that can seem obvious in
hindsight but that would never occur to you.
xi
xii Acknowledgements
I express my sincere gratitude to my colleagues affiliated with the National As-
sociation for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society, and
the Kellogg National Fellowship Program (KNFP) for their inspiration and encour-
agement in carrying out this project.
Most importantly, I would like to thank the authors of this book for devoting
their time and effort. They have helped to bring a new dimension to our knowl-
edge of what is happening on an international scale. Many thanks to Drs. Edmund
W. Gordon, Linda Darling Hammond, Motoko Akiba, Guodong Lang, Larry D.
Yore, Leslie Francis Pelton, Brian W. Neill, Tim W. Pelton, John Anderson, Todd
M. Milford, Armando Sanchez Martinez, Marcos A. Rangel, Ricardo A. Madeiria,
Geoff Whitney, Jake Anders, Mustafa Sami Topcu, Gaoming Zhang, Yong Zhao,
Sonya N. Martin, Seung-Um Choe, Chan-Jong Kim, Youngsun Kwak, Jason TAN,
Nick Taylor, Johan Muller, and Debra Panizzon. Working with all of you made this
a magnificent experience. The support received from all of you was vital to the suc-
cess of the project. I appreciate that you believed in me to provide the leadership
and knowledge to make this book a reality. You have helped bring a new dimension
to our knowledge of what is happening on an international scale. As researchers,
you were interested in addressing achievement gap issues as they related to school
effectiveness from an international perspective involving academies, practitioners
and policy makers that play major roles in reform efforts in different parts of the
world. Your chapters will influence global changes in the world. Through this book
and my travel, I will continue to spread your message of support to others wishing
to improve the teaching and learning of all students.
Julia V. Clark
