Prospective Teachers from Urban Environments Examine Causes of the Achievement Gap in the United States

Abstract

This study analyzes the educational achievement gap between low and high socioeconomic students from the perspective of sixty-two prospective teachers in an undergraduate educational foundations course at a public majority minority urban university in the northeastern United States. The majority of these college students come from, and plan to teach in, lower socioeconomic areas; consequently their insights are uniquely relevant. These prospective teachers cite the following as key causes of the achievement gap: lack of parental involvement, linguistic conflicts between home and school, a lack of bicultural teachers, and the perception of anti-intellectual k-12 school climates. Implications of how these views may affect these prospective teachers when they enter the teaching profession are addressed.