Mathematics Achievement of African American Students in Georgia from 2009-2014 after the Enactment of NCLB: A Comparison of Two City and County School Systems
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Authors
Warren-Williams, Tiffanie Shiver
Issue Date
2017-08
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
African American students , Mathematics , United States. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 , Education--United States--Georgia , Achievement gap, research, practice, and policy
Alternative Title
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine mathematics achievement for African American students from Grades 3 through 8 for two county school districts and two city school districts over the years 2009 to 2014 in order to determine the trend of mathematics achievement of African American students and to examine achievement gaps between African American students and Caucasian students over that time period. Data from City School District A and County School District A as well as City School District B and County School District B from 2009 to 2014 were analyzed to achieve the purpose of the study. These analyses also provided data for considering the effect of the No Child Left Behind national education legislation on mathematics achievement. A quantitative, non-experimental approach was used to assess the changes in performance in both City School Districts and County School Districts in reference to African American and Caucasian students’ academic progress and achievement in mathematics after the enactment of NCLB. There was a comparison of City School Districts’ academic performance to County School Districts’ academic performance, in addition to a comparison of African American students’ academic performance to Caucasian students’ academic performance within each school district and between the pairs of school districts. Results of chi-square tests showed that a statistically significant achievement gap existed between African American and Caucasian students in all four systems from 2009 to 2014, though passing rates did improve. In all four school districts, the percentage of African American students meeting or exceeding the passing score increased in Grades 3, 4, and 5. Three of the four districts showed increased passing percentages for Grades 6 and 8, and two of the four districts showed increases over the time period for Grade 7. When compared to Caucasian students, statistically significantly lower passing percentages for African American students were identified in 124 out of 144 comparisons over the 6 years of the study. Comparisons between city and county school districts in the same geographic area were similar, and African American students’ passing percentages were generally higher in county systems than in city systems. Mathematics achievement did improve after the enactment of NCLB; however, achievement gaps still existed.