Research Projects Archive
Explaining Student Achievement Trends, 1972-1992
Mark Berends
There is continuing national debate about the quality of children's family environments, the quality of their schools, and how changes in families and schools may be affecting student achievement. Within this debate, questions remain regarding the effectiveness of public policies and increased investments in education and social programs in improving student achievement. Of particular importance are questions related to what accounts for student achievement trends over the past twenty years, particularly the significant gains for specific minority groups (e.g., African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos).
This project empirically examines several school-based explanations for the minority and nonminority test score gains over the past twenty-five years, using data available for three nationally representative cohorts of students between 1972 and 1992. We examine the following questions:
- What changes across schools have had an impact on the test score differences between minority and nonminority students over the past twenty years?
- Are minority student gains related to increased access to higher quality schools due to desegregation or some other school changes?
- Have changes within schools (i.e., tracking) have contributed to the minority test score gains?
- Have curricular tracking practices become more flexible over time so that minority students (who are disproportionately placed in low tracks) have greater opportunities to move into a higher tracks?
- Have the criteria for track placement changed over time?
- Have the effects of tracking on student achievement changed over time?
(Completed December 2003)
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