The Schools’ Contribution to the Cumulating Deficit

Abstract

Do school programs contribute to cumulating deficits in academic achievement found between middle-class children and lower-class children through differential emphases given to the basic skills? Fourteen schools, seven serving mostly middle-class children and seven serving mainly lower-class children were identified in a suburban school district near Washington, D. C. An item analysis was performed on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills battery administered routinely to the fifth grade students in these schools. Items with a positive phi coefficient of .35 or higher were identified as discriminating between the two types of schools. Teachers in the schools were administered a questionnaire asking them to estimate the emphasis their program placed on teaching the basic skills. It was found that middle-class schools placed greater emphasis on the basic skills than did lower-class schools. Also, the middle-class schools placed greater emphasis on the skills that discriminates! between the schools than did the lower-class schools, while the emphasis placed on the non-discriminating skills was quite similar.