Surprising News About the Achievement Gap

The inability of our inner-city, public school systems to adequately teach our Black students to read in grade school and work with grade- appropriate subject materials, has led to a very precarious, and chaotic situation. Black social scientist, and educators have known for some time, that, in order to successfully move accross the curriculum, students must be able to read and comprenhend grade appropriate subject matter, in Standard American English(SAE).. The Bridge Reading Program, was field tested, in 1976, under actual day-to-day clasroom conditions, iwithin inner-city predominately Black,inner-city schools, grades 7-12. The field test was designed by Houghton Mifflin, and Gary Simpkins. The five centers were located in school systems in Chicago, Ill; Phoenix, Ariz; Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tenn; and, Macon County, Ala. The experimental group, and the control group(students given previously planned remedial reading activities), displayed very different levels of gain scores at the end of the program. The experimental group displayed a mean gain, in grade equivalency scores of 6.2 months, for 4.0 months of instruction. The control group displayed, a mean gain of 1.6 months, for the 4.0 months of instructions. Teachers, involved with the program, consistently reported, that the behavior management section was extremely effective in keeping students on task, and, that, they experienced fewer discipline problems in the classroom. Students exhibited high motivation levels throughout the program. All teachers reported that, students enjoyed working with the program, and"were motived to do well". The test may or, not proved that a lot had been gained, but, one thing was for certain: Student attitudes towards reading had changed! The teaching-learning strategy used in the Bridge Reading Program, is the process in which students proceed from the familiar(their own vernacular), to the less familiar(Standard English), in a series of steps. The goal of Associative Bridging, is to help the students improve their reading abilty. and, to enable them to read, and comprehend Standard Englih material; they must read, and , understand in school, and , everyday life. Associative Bridging embraces the Dewey Axiom, "Start where the child is". The student"s dialect becomes a meaningly basis for the presentation of Standard English. Reading in Standard English, is taught as a logical extension of reading in the student's dialect. The student's vernacular, and , Standard English, are presented on equal footing. Black cultural expression is recognized, respected, and, utilized, while, at the same time, students learn to understand, and, read Standard English. The stories within the program are sequenced so that the student starts with Black vernacular, proceed through several step of Associative Bridging from study book one, two, three, and. four, and, finish with Standard English in study book five. "Between the Rhetoric and Reality";Lauriat Press,2009.

Frank Simpkins of CA 5:39PM December 17, 2009

The inability of our inner-city, public school systems to adequately teach our Black students to read in grade school and work with grade- appropriate subject materials, has led to a very precarious, and chaotic situation. Some Black social scientist, and educators have known for some time, that, in order to successfully move accross the curriculum, students must be able to read and comprenhend grade appropriate subject matter, in Standard American English(SAE).. The Bridge Reading Program, was field tested, in 1976, under actual day-to-day clasroom conditions, iwithin inner-city predominately Black,inner-city schools, grades 7-12. The field test was designed by Houghton Mifflin, and Gary Simpkins. The five centers were located in school systems in Chicago, Ill; Phoenix, Ariz; Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tenn; and, Macon County, Ala. The experimental group, and the control group(students given previously planned remedial reading activities), displayed very different levels of gain scores at the end of the program. The experimental group displayed a mean gain, in grade equivalency scores of 6.2 months, for 4.0 months of instruction. The control group displayed, a mean gain of 1.6 months, for the 4.0 months of instructions. Teachers, involved with the program, consistently reported, that he behavior management section was extremely effective in keeping students on task, and, that, they experienced fewer discipline problems in the classroom. Students exhibited high motivation levels throughout the program. All teachers reported that, students enjoyed working with the program, and"were motived to do well". The test may or, not proved that a lot had been gained, but, one thing was for certain: Student attitudes towards reading had changed! The teaching-learning strategy used in the Bridge Reading Program, is the process in which students proceed from the familiar(their own vernacular), to the less familiar(Standard English), in a series of steps. The goal of Associative Bridging, is to help the students improve their reading abilty. and, to enable them to read, and comprehend Standard Englih material; they must read, and , understand in school, and , everyday life. Associative Bridging embraces the Dewey Axiom, "Start where the child is". The student"s dialect becomes a meaningly basis for the presentation of Standard English. Reading in Standard English, is taught as a logical extension of reading in the student's dialect. The student's vernacular, and , Standard English, are presented on equal footing. Black cultural expression is recognized, respected, and, utilized, while, at the same time, students learn to understand, and, read Standard English. The stories within the program are sequenced so that the student starts with Black vernacular, proceed through several step of Associative Bridging from study book one, two, three, and. four, and, finish with Standard English in study book five. "Between the Rhetoric and Reality";Lauriat Press,2009.

Frank Simpkins of CA 2:39PM December 17, 2009

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Languageshop of 2:42PM December 10, 2009

Observe classes at both a random suburban school and random inner-city school, and I'm sure you'll notice right away why this achievement gap exists.

In one school, the students learn. In the other school, they either act like animals or are forced to do tedious, boring assignments while a teacher does something other than teach. Take a guess as to which is the suburban school and which is the inner-city school.

Christine of IL 4:20AM August 07, 2009