@article{Achievement:3574,
      recid = {3574},
      author = {Leatherwood, Darnell},
      title = {A National Assessment of School District Variation in  Black Student Academic Achievement},
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {Ph.D.},
      address = {2021-12},
      pages = {161},
      abstract = {In this study, I analyzed standardized test score data  from the Stanford Education Data Archive version 2.1, which  also includes population data on educational contexts and  outcomes for public school districts in the United States,  to address the following two research questions: (1) How  much do districts vary with respect to the academic  outcomes of the Black students they serve? (2) What school  and environmental factors are correlated with Black student  academic outcomes. I studied academic outcome in three ways  in this dissertation to describe in as much detail as  possible the educational productivity of Black students in  the United States and to combat the pitfall of heralding  grade-level academic achievement as the single marker of  Black student academic success. In particular, I examined  average district level Black student academic achievement  (grade level achievement), average district level Black  student improvement rate (the rate at which scores change  across student cohorts, within a grade), and average  district level Black student learning rate (the rate at  which scores change across grades, within a student  cohort).For Black students grades 3-8 for academic years  2008/2009-2014/2015 on standardized test scores in both  mathematics and English language arts, I found substantial  heterogeneity in average district-level Black student  academic achievement, average district-level Black student  improvement rate, and average district-level Black student  learning rate nationally. Across the approximately 3000  districts in the United States that service Black students  and report Black student academic outcomes, 95% of these  districts reported average district-level Black student  academic achievement between the 2.5 and 6.0 grade levels,  average district-level Black student improvement rate  between −0.169 and 0.203 (average per year grade-level  improvement for students in the same grade across cohorts),  and average district-level Black student learning rate  between 0.65 and 1.17 (average per year grade-level  improvement for students in the same cohort across  grades).
Additional findings in this study suggested there  are correlates to district-level Black student academic  outcomes for Black students grades 3-5 for academic years  2008/2009-2014/2015 on standardized test scores in  mathematics. Key predictors of interest included in this  study were composite indices of district location  (reference group: urban districts), district racial  composition (reference group: proportion Black students in  district), district size, district resources, Black  concentrated advantage of district, and Black concentrated  disadvantage of district. There were several statistically  significant predictors associated with each of the 3  academic outcomes of interest. Where there is some overlap  there are unique associations for each of the  outcomes.
Districts as educational units varied on Black  student academic outcomes in important ways. These findings  expand a sparse literature on the role of districts in  student academic achievement (Whitehurst et al., 2013).  Districts varied substantially on Black student academic  outcomes. Additionally, school and environmental factors  appear to be associated with these differences in various  ways and magnitudes. Further research is needed to deepen  the understanding of district-level variation in student  academic outcomes and the potential to leverage resources  and opportunities at the district level to best support  students nationally.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/3574},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.3574},
}