Summary of the study.
The achievement gap in schools is significant in Compton California thus it was the best place to conduct your research because the Black and Latino population added up to 89 per cent thus the perfect target population for the study( Compton city Census Interactive Population 2010). The school system is managed by the Compton Unified School District. The research study we came up with was to find the cause for this academic gap, the reasons why the gap is increasing and the measures being taken in the communities to mitigate the issue. To come up with conclusive findings the scope of the study had to be determined, samples collected and the procedure for data collection was summarised. To get accurate data we had to choose quantitative (survey) and qualitative (Interview) methods.
The survey method included questionnaires which had open and structured questions with choices. The interviews were a second stage for the study in that the potential respondents from the questionnaires that were sent back were asked for a face to face interview. The reason for combining both techniques was to ensure that the findings can result in a numerical measurement and an in-depth exploration of the academic gap between the European/whites which made up 0.8 per cent of the population. A pilot study had to be conducted first to determine the feasibility of the study thus We sent out almost 20 questionnaires to the two elementary schools, one adult school and two of the high schools in Compton city. The interviews were conducted from the returned questionnaires once we determined the promising results. Once the pilot tests results came back with the recommended changes and answered the necessary changes were made and the final questionnaire and structured interview was created. The sample had already been selected as the major schools in the city since they would be the best representation of the entire population that was being affected by the academic achievement gap among the ethnic communities.
Limitations of the study.
Every research method has some sort of setbacks, errors and biases. The questionnaires we sent were mailed to the school systems and more often than not they come with limitations. The low response is one of the main disadvantages and thus may end up distorting the samples but for this case, the benefits outweighed the imitations ( Fricker & Schonlau 2002). The issue was sorted by us sending a large number of questionnaires(450) which meant that an estimated 150 would be returned. In case of non-response then an email was sent to the respondents after three weeks to remind them about the mail that they had received and the importance their cooperation to the study will help find a solution to the problem of academic gaps. There was also an issue where the respondent did not answer some questions or did not understand thus gave an unsatisfactory answer, this limitation was handled during the interview.
Even though it is said that no survey is better than a questionnaire (Moser & Kalton, 1973), it still has to be backed up with another form of method so that the biases can be reduced. This is the main reason that we choose interviews as the second method.
Interviews if structured correctly can result in very quality information from the respondent. However, if the interviewer does not have the needed skills then it is most probable that the outcome won’t be helpful to the study and thus there won’t be any cooperation to provide data for the study. The lack of rapport between the interviewer and interviewee was an issue and this made the replies have information that was vague and not forthcoming. The interview had to be curated to a standardized version so that it can be easier to analyze the results.
Future recommendations.
The results from the study showed that indeed the students in Compton City were having a hard time at school and the results of the challenges they were facing led to the shortcomings they were experiencing in academic achievements. Through interviews which have become the main data collection procedure that is closely related to getting qualitative research (Englander, 2012), we were able to know where the problem lies. The early education system of the students has to be curated to ensure that they can handle the students who have delayed development or that are underdeveloped from childhood. It is best that African American and Latino parents be more involved in the early development of their children, help them outside of school and also ensure that their children do not have gaps between the preschool and primary school. This gap is one of the main reasons that have prompted students to have a hard time in school.
Teachers are the parents of the students in school and once they have a perception about their student’s performance and label them as underachievers, the students start to identify themselves as underachievers. Instead, the teachers should try and understand the history of their students, their situation at home and try their best to mentor them so that they feel like they can achieve anything. Their empowerment will kick start the change that they need, along with as it comes with support, resources from the government and encouragement from the fellow students, parents and teachers
Works cited.
Fricker, R. D., & Schonlau, M. (2002). Advantages and disadvantages of Internet research surveys: Evidence from the literature. Field methods, 14(4), 347-367.
Englander, M. (2012). The interview: Data collection in descriptive phenomenological human scientific research. Journal of phenomenological psychology, 43(1), 13-35.
“2010 Census Interactive Population Search: CA – Compton city”. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.