<![CDATA[Some additional plots of within school achievement gaps]]>In a prior post I compared the performance of various ethnic groups directly against each other within the same schools.  That method has the advantage of reducing the effect of racial/ethnic composition from influencing the apparent relationship between each groups performance within school environments.  However, there aren’t always enough of both groups to clear the minimum reporting requirements for student privacy and the school average is a better indicator of “school quality” in some peoples’ minds.  Below I simply took the reported average for all students on the x-axis so that I could compare multiple groups at once.

I do not believe that this is a particularly good way to view the data, since it’s confounded by racial/ethnic composition and sorting by education levels (despite the obvious correlation), but if you do happen to think that the average score is a particularly good measure of “school quality” this approach might be eye opening.

I also plotted this same data for poor and non-poor blacks and whites and (all race/ethnic) scores by parental education level below.  You’ll need to scroll down a ways to see it though.

English

English Grade 2

school_ela_g2

English Grade 4

school_ela_g4

English Grade 6

school_ela_g6

English Grade 8

school_ela_g8

English Grade 10

school_ela_g10

English Grade 11

school_ela_g11

Maths

Math Grade 2
school_math_g2

Math Grade 4

schol_math_g4

Math Grade 6

school_math_g6

Math Grade 7

school_math_g7

Math summative (grade 9-11)

school_math_summative

Algebra I

school_algebraI

Algebra II

school_algebraII

Geometry

school_geometry

Sciences

Science Grade 5

school_sci_g5

Science Grade 8

school_sci_g8

Science Grade 10

school_scig10

Physics

school_physics

Earth Science

school_earth_science

Biology

school_biology

Chemistry

school_chemistry

History

U.S. History

school_us_histWorld History
 school_world_hist

Some black & white comparisons with SES measures

Math Grade 2sses_bw_math_g2

Math Grade 6sses_bw_math_g6

Math Grade 7sses_bw_math_g7

Math Summativesses_bw_math_summative

Algebra II

sses_bw_algebraII

English Grade 2sses_bw_ela_g2

English Grade 6sses_bw_ela_g6

English Grade 9sses_bw_ela_g9English Grade 11sses_bw_ela_g11

U.S. History

sses_bw_us_hist

Physicssses_bw_physicsYou might notice that within similarly ranked schools poor whites generally perform at least as well as non-poor blacks (save mainly early elementary school subjects).

Some comparisons by parental education levels (all races/ethnicities included)

English Grade 2

ses_school_ela_g2

English Grade 4

ses_school_ela_g4

English Grade 6
ses_school_ela_g6 English Grade 8ses_school_ela_g8

English Grade 10ses_school_ela_g10 English Grade 11ses_school_ela_g11

U.S. Historyses_school_us_history

Math Grade 2ses_school_math_g2 Math Grade 4ses_school_math_g4 Math Grade 6ses_school_math_g6 Math grade 7ses_school_math_g7 Math summative (grades 9-11)ses_school_math_summative

Algebra Ises_school_algebraI Algebra IIses_school_algebraII Physicsses_school_physicsScience Grade 5
ses_school_sci_g5 Science Grade 8ses_school_sci_g8 Science Grade 10

ses_school_sci_g10

You might note that the better the average score the larger the apparent difference between education levels.  This “effect” is probably somewhat real, but it is likely confounded by race/ethnicity too, as in, the “educated” on the left side of the distribution are apt to be proportionately more black and latino than on the right side.  There are also meaningful differences in the academic rigor behind different levels of credentials (e.g., CalTech physics PhD  != 3rd tier U. education PhD) and people sort along these lines within and between school districts.

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