| An academic achievement gap exists between European American and African American students in the United States elementary educational system. At present, the achievement gap is currently being measured by local, state, and national standardized assessments and reveals that there is a great disparity among African American and European American students. When implementing standardized assessments schools, teachers, administrators, students and various stakeholders are better armed with the opportunity to identify areas of weaknesses and help improve those weaknesses. However, many of these assessments seldom identify all variables which in turn continue to widen the achievement gap. Closing the achievement gap has been the center of debate and focal point for many researchers; including James Ogbu and Robert Ferguson. The purpose of this study was to bring African American males to the forefront of increased math grades through the use of the Math Blitz After School Program, and to analyze the mathematics academic achievement of 6th grade students at five local elementary schools in South Carolina as measured by the standardized Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS). |
