Racial achievement gaps in Chicago increased in all three eras, with African American students falling behind all other groups, especially in Era 3¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · checked against its sources 2026-10-16 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2014: local conditions change quickly

Subclaims¶

q2 i? African American students' reading scores showed virtually no improvement over the three eras while white, Asian, and Latino students showed modest or slight improvements. → Luppescu 2011 q2 i? African American students' math scores improved only slightly while other groups improved moderately, so African American students increasingly fell behind over 20 years. → Luppescu 2011 (2)

Evidence¶

Luppescu 2011¶

Luppescu, S., Allensworth, E. M., Moore, P., de la Torre, M., Murphy, J., with Jagesic, S. (2011). Trends in Chicago's Schools Across Three Eras of Reform. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/trends-chicagos-schools-across-three-eras-reform-full-report

q2 · i? · associational · r3

Trend analysis of CPS reading scores by racial/ethnic group across three reform eras. The report contrasts the near-absence of reading gains among African American students, the largest racial group in CPS, with modest white and Asian and slight Latino improvements. No effect size is printed.

"There were virtually no improvements in reading scores among African American students, while white and Asian students showed some modest improvements and Latino students showed some slight improvements."

Luppescu 2011 (2)¶

Luppescu, S., Allensworth, E. M., Moore, P., de la Torre, M., Murphy, J., with Jagesic, S. (2011). Trends in Chicago's Schools Across Three Eras of Reform. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/trends-chicagos-schools-across-three-eras-reform-full-report

q2 · i? · associational · r3

Trend analysis of CPS math scores by racial/ethnic group across the three eras, reported in the executive summary. Slight math improvement among African American students is contrasted with moderate improvement among other students, especially in the elementary/middle grades. No effect size is printed.

"Average scores for African American students improved slightly in math, while improving moderately among other students."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Race and Ethnicity — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• Elementary/middle-grade math scores improved incrementally across all three eras while reading scores remained fairly flat for two decades — related
• Graduation rates improved for all racial, ethnic, and economic groups, but racial and ethnic gaps increased while gender, poverty, and disability gaps declined — related
• Publicly reported school accountability statistics are not useful for measuring achievement trends over time — related
• African American students are the most mobile group of CPS students, and the gap between them and other students widened after 2000-01, especially at the elementary level — related
• Percent meeting standards is an imprecise metric whose cut-score concentration produced the Era 2 misconception that Chicago taught basic skills better than high-level skills — related
• The CPS test score gap between African-American students and other ethnic groups widened over the decade because Asian, white, and Latino scores improved at faster rates — related
• African-American students and mostly African-American South Side communities showed less improvement in graduation and dropout rates than other students and North Side communities — related
• Graduation rates by age 19 in Chicago varied substantially by race/ethnicity and gender, with African-American boys lowest (39 percent) and Asian girls highest (85 percent) — related
• No evidence that the racial/ethnic achievement gap in CPS elementary scores narrowed or widened from 1992 to 2000 — reports the opposite
• During Phase I reform, a subset of very disadvantaged, racially isolated African-American schools showed weak improvement — related
• African-American students' disproportionate retention was largely explained by lower prior test scores — related
• Asian and white CPS students score consistently higher than Latino and African-American students in reading and math, and Asian students score significantly higher in math than white students — related
• Achievement disparities by student race/ethnicity widened substantively during the pandemic — related
• Senior-year advanced coursework is unevenly distributed by race/ethnicity among CPS graduates — related
• Black students in LBUSD score behind all other ethnic groups and ELLs on the 2024 SBAC, with only 20 percent meeting or exceeding achievement in math and 34 percent in ELA — related
• Racial achievement gaps persist among California middle and high school students, with Asian and White students reporting higher academic achievement than African American, American Indian, and Hispanic students — related
• Predominantly Hispanic and schools serving large numbers of African American and Hispanic students have lower standardized test scores than predominantly White schools even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors — related
• Large racial and socioeconomic achievement disparities persisted in an affluent high-performing district — related
• Teacher-perpetuated racial or ethnic discrimination in math classrooms is associated with worse engagement, grades, and test scores for all students — related
• Among all students, Black, Latino, and low-SES students take Algebra I or higher in eighth grade and advanced math in high school at lower rates than White, Asian, and higher-SES peers — related
• Only the White–Black gap at grade 4 narrowed; gains for minority students did not consistently close racial/ethnic or gender achievement gaps — related
• ACT scores rose even with more test takers, growing most in Era 3 in selective enrollment and racially integrated schools — reports the opposite
• Failure to transition to literacy early triggers a Matthew effect of widening reading and vocabulary gaps — related