African-American students' disproportionate retention was largely explained by lower prior test scores¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2004 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? After adjusting for prior reading and math achievement, African-American and Latino students were no more, and in some grades less, likely to be retained than white and other race students. → Nagaoka 2004

Evidence¶

Nagaoka 2004¶

Nagaoka, J., & Roderick, M. (2004). Ending Social Promotion: The Effects of Retention. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/ending-social-promotion-effects-retention

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Observational analysis of retention probabilities by race (Graph 2), 1998-2000, unadjusted and adjusted for prior reading and math scores; unadjusted disparities favoring higher African-American retention reversed or disappeared after adjustment.

"after adjusting for prior achievement, African-American third graders were not more likely to be retained and were actually less likely to be retained in the sixth and eighth grades."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

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

Related Claims¶

• Racial achievement gaps in Chicago increased in all three eras, with African American students falling behind all other groups, especially in Era 3 — 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
• 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
• Retention rates for Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino students dropped more steeply between the second and third semesters than for White and Asian students in both cohorts — related
• African American children show lower prekindergarten math but faster math growth, and higher prekindergarten letter–word knowledge with slower growth after covariate adjustment
• 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