The Black-White Achievement Gap Amongst Struggling Readers: A Case Study of Early Intervention Outcomes in Massachusetts

A number of analyses of large data sets have suggested that the reading achievement gap between African American and White U.S. is negligible or small at school entry, but widens substantially during the school years because African American students show slower rates of growth in elementary and secondary school. Identifying when and why gaps occur, therefore, is a an important research endeavor. In addition, being able to predict which African American children are most likely to fall behind can contribute to efforts to close the achievement gap. This paper analyzes first grade and third grade data on African American and White children in Massachusetts who all were identified in first grade as struggling readers and enrolled in Reading Recovery—an individualized intervention. All the children were low-income and attending urban schools. Using Observation Survey data from first grade, and MCAS Reading data from 3rd grade, we found that the African American and White students made equal average progress while in first grade, but by the end of third grade showed a large gap in MCAS proficiency rates. We discuss the results in terms of school quality, reading development, dialect issues, testing formats, and the need to provide long-term support to vulnerable learners.

What Happens in the Links? Framing Judgment in Context

Scholars of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales have focused much of their research on the interpretation of individual tales in the collection. The meaning behind these tales is clearly important to the work as a whole, as the Tales discuss grand themes that run throughout human life. The choice of themes and arguments in each pilgrim’s tale can also reflect back on the pilgrim’s own motivations and ideas. However, in searching for some greater meaning for Chaucer’s collection, it is important not to leave out the framework within which the tales exist. The links that join the tales to one another, arguably the portions of the piece that are the most original to Chaucer, do not always receive the same kind of attention that is focused on the most popular tales. In a work that is so complex, with its layered narration and interactions between tale and teller, the tales cannot possibly stand on their own, containing all of the meaning behind the work. The links have the potential to be particularly revealing in terms of how the audience should read the entire story of Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrimage, because they ground the tales in specific circumstances.