Quantifying and Exploring Elementary School Excellence Gaps Across Schools and Time

Abstract

Despite considerable reform activity surrounding K-12 education over the last 20 years, racialand socioeconomic disparities among students who achieve at advanced levels have receivedlittle attention. This study examined how excellence gaps, defined as differences in performanceat the 90th percentile of subgroups, change over time and their potential antecedents. Weanalyzed Measure of Academic Progress achievement data in reading and mathematics from acohort of approximately 60,000 students from third to fifth grade in 742 elementary schools.Multilevel modeling results indicate Black/Hispanic and White/Asian excellence gaps wererelatively stable in reading. However, excellence gaps in mathematics increased during theschool year and across time, and higher achieving schools demonstrated larger excellence gapsthan lower achieving schools.