Reducing the Achievement Gap Between Latino and Asian Students: A Case Study from Lincoln High School

Scott Petri CSUN ELPS 600

According to Lincoln High School’s 2009 AYP report, there is currently a gap of 253 points between Latino and Asian students.

What variables can reduce or reverse this achievement gap?

Is student motivation as simple as The Will to Achieve?

18,000 students show that getting paid to achieve has the equivalent of adding three months of instruction to the school year.

Dr. Roland Fryer, an economist from Harvard University, conducts a four city, $6.3 million dollar study in hundreds of classrooms.

Other educational scholars claim that rewards damage a student’s intrinsic motivation to learn.

Will authentic financial incentives improve academic achievement and boost high school graduation rates for male Hispanic students?

To measure student motivation factors, students who choose to attend LEMA will be compared to a control group of students from LHS who do not choose to attend LEMA during the May 2010 SLC lottery/selection period.

Graduation rates, attendance, student attrition, GPA, and CST scores will serve as data points to measure student motivation annually for 5 years.

Outliers with perfect attendance or students who have missed more than 30 days of school will be excluded from this study.

I’ll finally meet the

Hispanic male of my dreams

in college!

We want to meet college-educated Hispanic men too!

Guys with 21st Century job skills!

I’m going to college. I’ll be there for you ladies…

Eliminating the achievement gap means that Public Education provides equal opportunity in America.