Consistency of Performance Across Subjects Among African American Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Equity Considerations in School Improvement

Abstract

Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study, our multivariate multilevel model showed that performance between reading and mathematics was extremely consistent among African American high school students and this consistency was independent of student and school characteristics. Although, average (within-school) performance between reading and mathematics was consistent among schools that African American students attended, this consistency was dependent on student and school characteristics. Although variance attributable to schools was statistically significant, it was quite secondary in comparison to variance attributable to students in both areas. Finally, we identified mother’s SES and midsize schools as critically important variables at the student and school levels that demonstrated statistically significant effects on performance in both reading and mathematics among African American students.

Authors

• Natasha Murray, Kentucky Department of Education

• Xin Ma, University of Kentucky