Advocacy and Alternative Settings as Intervention Strategies for Reducing the Achievement Gap
Author: Thomas, Dominique
Date: 2013-05-02
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Advocacy,Achievement Gap,Intervention,Racial Differences,African American Students,White Students,High School Students,Graduation Rate,Social Problems,Nontraditional Education,Educational Benefits,Outcomes of Education,College Readiness,Program Implementation,Program Effectiveness,Prevention,Program Evaluation

The academic achievement gap between African Americans and their White counterparts has been an issue that has been discussed and dissected for several decades. In 2010, the Schott foundation released a report on Black males in school. It was reported that for the 2007-08 school year, there was only a 47% high school graduation rate for Black males and only 9% of Black male 8th graders scored at a level of proficiency in reading (Schott, 2010). The implications of this gap come through in economic attainment, which then leads to disparate health outcomes. Ross and Wu (1995) found that education both directly improves health and indirectly improves health through work and economic conditions, health lifestyle, and social-psychological resources. With its impact on economic, social, and health outcomes, the achievement gap is a social problem that needs to be addressed and reduced. The two intervention strategies that are proposed for addressing this social problem are the creating alternative settings and advocacy. When alternative settings are being created, it is because the current setting or system is inadequate and changing the system is not a good enough option; therefore, the system or setting is completely abandoned and another is created (Cherniss &amp; Deegan, 2000). Advocacy involves representing group interests in established institutional arenas (Checkoway, 1995). With each strategy comes both strengths and weaknesses but it is the author's position that they serve as the best options for solving the issue of the achievement gap. There are several strengths of creating alternative settings. One strength is that there is a sharper focus on the guiding principles of the setting (Cherniss &amp; Deegan, 2000). Another strength is that the climate tends to be characterized by high energy and good will. Additionally, creating alternative settings would help students to feel as though they belong in the setting. Advocacy also has a number of strengths. It allows the interests of the group to be represented at various institutional levels (Checkoway, 1995). With strengths come weaknesses as well. Alternative settings are typically limited in the number of people they can serve (Cherniss &amp; Deegan, 2000). Establishing these kinds of settings may discourage the larger society from assuming responsibility and addressing this social issue. Advocacy comes with its own weaknesses as well such as the backlash and pushback from opponents. When considering advocacy and alternative settings as viable intervention strategies, there are several critical questions that must be addressed. Other than charter schools, what other alternative education settings are there? Are the alternative settings better than the traditional settings they would replace? Is the alternative setting supposed to serve as an alternative or as a model of what should be done? At which level should advocacy efforts should be directed (community, state, national)? Is the community ready for the change? While these questions are important to consider, there are limitations in the existing literature that must be addressed to adequately answer these questions. There seems to be a lack of consensus on what constitutes an alternative setting. Additionally, there have been studies that have examined how alternative settings have worked when applied to different places or populations, but there does not seem to be much that looks at the effectiveness of the settings compared to setting with greater numbers of clients. The issues must be addressed to ensure the successful implementation of these prevention strategies. Conyne (2010) outlines ten steps for establishing a prevention program and evaluating it. Some of these steps will be useful in terms of addressing specific concerns that were raised. Both strategies are viable and both may be needed to handle such a complex issue as the achievement gap.