Math and Science Achievement Gaps for Minority and Disadvantaged Students: Developmental and Environmental Influences from Nine Months to 8th Grade

这个建议的项目是一个实证研究，福尔斯属于上下文研究链的REESE计划。 其目的是对STEM教育进行研究，以弥补少数民族和弱势学生与非少数民族学生之间存在的成绩差距。这项研究的结果将有助于解决几种趋势的趋同问题，这些趋势可能会使处于差距低端的个人、经济以及社会和政治观念的成本不断增加。 成就差距是一个看似复杂的科学问题，越来越需要从童年早期开始研究差距的起源和演变。 在这方面，这项研究将结合发展科学、认知和神经科学、经济学、教育研究和其他社会科学领域的研究趋势，制定干预措施，以更有效的方式消除差距。本研究将使用第一个具有全国代表性的大型纵向数据收集。 这个大型数据库包括从九个月到八年级的信息，将用于测试和比较关于差距起源和演变的主要假设。 为了应对将这些数据转化为可能为干预计划和进一步研究提供信息的可信证据的挑战，将使用两种统计估计策略（增长和计量经济模型），支持荟萃分析的信息以及广泛的专家咨询网络进行研究。 研究将侧重于：（1）建立更好的理论和实证研究模型，以了解这些差距从概念到入学是如何发展的;（2）确定有效的战略和发明，可能有效地缩小入学前的差距;（3）更好地解释为什么差距在上学期间如此难以缩小;（4）提出更有力的建议，说明为什么一些少数群体的差距在上学期间扩大，而其他少数群体学生的差距缩小;以及（5）查明少数族裔和处境不利学生在上学期间学习轨迹发生重大积极变化的相关条件，缩小他们的成绩差距更广泛的影响：这项研究可能会推进该领域的知识和发现，因为它汇集了来自许多领域的研究人员，以研究如何更好地理解STEM领域的成就差距。 研究结果可能有利于有兴趣改善所有学生STEM教育的教育利益相关者。 潜在地，这项研究可以告知和影响当前关于强制性学前教育入学的政策考虑，在这方面可能是变革性的。 州和地方决策者将协助传播，并协助通过先前的研究建立国家网点。

This proposed project is an empirical study that falls within the contextual research strand of the REESE program. The aim is to conduct research about STEM education relative to achievement gaps that exist between minority and disadvantaged students and their non-minority counterparts. The outcomes of this study will help in addressing the convergence of several trends that may exact increasing costs to individuals on the lower end of the gap, the economy, and to social and political ideas. The achievement gap is a deceptively complex scientific problem that will increasingly require studying the origin and evolution of gaps from earliest childhood. In that regard, this study will integrate research trends in the developmental sciences, the cognitive and neurosciences and economics, and education research and other strands of social science to develop interventions to address gaps in more efficient ways. The first large nationally representative longitudinal data collection will be used for this study. This large database includes information from nine months to grade eight that will be used to test and compare the leading hypotheses about the origin and evolution of gaps. To meet the challenge of turning such data into credible evidence that might inform intervention plans and further research, two statistical estimation strategies (growth and econometric models), information from supporting meta-analysis, and an extensive advisory network of experts will be used to conduct the study. The research will focus on: (1) Building better theoretical and empirical research models directed toward understanding how these gaps develop from conception to school entry; (2) Identifying effective strategies and inventions that might efficiently narrow gaps prior to school entry; (3) Building better explanations about why gaps are so difficult to close during schooling; (4) formulating stronger suggestions about why gaps for some minority groups expand during schooling, while gaps for other minority students narrow; and (5) Identifying the conditions associated with significant positive changes in learning trajectories during schooling for the small proportion of minority and disadvantaged students who narrow their score differences with white advantaged students.Broader Impacts: The study is likely to advance knowledge and discovery in the field in that it brings together researchers from many fields to examine ways to better understand the achievement gap in STEM areas. The results could benefit education stakeholders interested in improving STEM education for all students. Potentially, this study could inform and influence current policy considerations regarding mandatory pre-school enrollment, and in that regard could be transformative. State and local policymakers will assist with dissemination as well as national outlets established through earlier studies.