Degree Name
EdD (Doctor of Education)
Program
Educational Leadership
Date of Award
5-2021
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
William Flora
Committee Members
Pamela Scott, Heather Moore
Abstract
Achievement gaps between Black students and White students have existed since public education was desegregated, and they still persist despite efforts to close the gap. This research describes the achievement gaps between Black and White 3rd through 8th grade students in the state of Tennessee from 2017-2019. This is a non-experimental, quantitative, comparative-analysis describing the ELA and math test scores of Black students and White students in each of the three geographic regions of Tennessee. Data were arranged in 2x2 contingency matrixes to compare the expected frequencies of students in each race scoring on-track and mastered versus below and approaching. The data from the matrixes were analyzed in SPSS using Chi Squared tests to determine if the difference between Black student scores and White student scores was statistically significant. All twelve test score groupings showed an achievement gap between Black students and White students. The largest achievement gap was in West Tennessee’s elementary school ELA scores. The smallest achievement gap was in West Tennessee’s middle school math scores. Although there were gaps between Black students and White students in all twelve groupings, East Tennessee’s gaps were the smallest overall, ELA scores had smaller gaps than math scores in general, and middle school had smaller gaps than elementary school. These significant findings suggest there is much work to be done in Tennessee to close the gap between Black students and White students in order to provide a more equitable school experience.
Document Type
Dissertation - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Dirmeyer, Haley, "Black and White Student Achievement Gaps in Tennessee" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3862. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3862
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.