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Achievement Gap
Much has been said and written about the racial achievement gap nationwide. Loosely defined, it refers to the difference in performance between Black and White students on any of a variety of measures. Its existence in SOMSD was first conclusively shown in November 1997 during a presentation by a joint citizen/administration test review committee for the Spring 1997 standardized tests. The committee was disbanded immediately thereafter.
Following the 1997 presentation no racial dissaggregation of test data was done for district students until the NJDOE provided such break-down for its Spring 2002 tests in September 2003. It has followed with similar data for the Spring 2003 tests as required by the federal NCLB statute.
This analysis is based upon data from results of the NJDOE test battery. Unlike historical comparisons found elsewhere on this site that are based on the performance of different Classes on the same NJDOE test, this analysis focuses on the performance of the same Class on two consecutive NJDOE tests. Because of the inherent differences between tests, a statistical approach has been used.
Using the cohorts developed below, the MEAN score of the cohort Blacks and Whites for each of two subjects tested was determined and the difference calculated. The difference was divided by the Standard Deviation for the entire population of South Orange-Maplewood students taking the test in the given year. The result is the statistic d that is used to estimate the size of the difference in the performance of the two groups in a standardized way. The d values for the two academic subjects tested for the first NJDOE test were compared with the results of the second NJDOE test taken by the Class and charted. The result is an approximation of the direction of the Achievement Gap within each Class cohort over time. A better method would have been to use the Standard Deviation for either all Suburban NJ or All NJ test takers in a given year, but that data is not available.
All SOMSD cohorts evidenced little change in the Achievement Gap in Mathematics as measured by NJDOE scores over the three or four years between tests.
Currently, there is data from NJDOE tests for four Classes of South Orange-Maplewood students. These included members of the Classes of 2003, 2004 and 2005 who have taken both the GEPA (eighth grade) and HSPA (eleventh grade) tests and those members of the Class of 2007 and Class of 2008 who have taken both the ESPA/NJ ASK (fourth grade) and GEPA (eighth grade) tests in this district. The Class of 2006 will take the HSPA in Spring 2005. As there was no NJDOE fourth grade test in 1998 when that group was in fourth grade, it has not taken two NJDOE tests.
South Orange-Maplewood cohorts (SOM Co) are comprised of
all students who took both the earlier and subsequent test. The Black and White
data on these charts are drawn from this universe of students. The SOM Tot
(total), DFG I and Suburban NJ indices included for comparison are not cohort
based. In the case of DFG I and Suburban NJ, the populations are of
sufficient depth and breadth to make comparisons meaningful. The SOM Tot line is
included to show whether the cohort is outperforming or under-performing the
entire population of the Class in question.
The make-up of the cohorts was determined by comparing the individual student numbers and scores between the two tests, and removing those individuals who did not appear on both. In some cases individuals were recorded in both years, even though they did not have a recorded score for one or both subjects tested (Language Arts and Mathematics). Best efforts were made to factor such anomalies out of the calculations.
Class of 2003 – 432 students had scores on the
GEPA in 1999. The student numbers of 123 of these were not found in the HSPA
results of 2002 making the cohort 309 students. An additional 100 students had
scores on the HSPA in 2002. Some were students either from or formerly from the
Class of 2002 and some were students new to the district beginning 2000-01
school year.
Class of 2004
– 472 students had scores on the GEPA in 2000. The student numbers of 124 of
these were not found in the HSPA results of 2003 making the cohort 348 students.
An additional 175 students had scores on the HSPA in 2003. Some were students
either from or formerly from the Class of 2003 and some were students new to the
district beginning 2001-02 school year.
Class of 2005
– 484 students had scores on the GEPA in 2001. The student numbers of 113 of
these were not found in the HSPA results of 2004 making the cohort 371 students.
An additional 190 students had scores on the HSPA in 2004. Some were students
either from or formerly from the Class of 2004 and some were students new to the
district beginning 2001-02 school year.
Class of 2006
– 513 students were listed as 8th
graders in 2001-02. The class is
scheduled to take the HSPA in the Spring of 2005 meaning that it does not have
scores on two NJDOE tests to use in a cohort comparison.
Class of 2007 –
512 students had scores on the ESPA in 1999. The student numbers of 121 of these
were not found in the GEPA results of 2003 making the cohort 391 students. An
additional 134 students had scores on the GEPA in 2003. Most new students were
new to the district beginning 1999-00 school year.