Reflecting on the Gap:  What can the Implementation of an Urban School
Counseling Project Teach Us about the Achievement Gap?  

Alan Green, Ph.D., Jacqueline A. Conley, Ph.D., Kim Barnett, Ph.D.,
and Eric Benjamin, Ph.D.  

Abstract:  For nearly three decades, school reform has not addressed the persistent academic achievement gap that negatively impacts the future of African American students. Recently, more student-focused interventions have been recommended to provide underachieving African American urban students with better opportunities to improve their school performance. In this article, exploratory analysis of evaluation data from the implementation of an urban school counseling project was used to learn more about how the academic achievement gap resists change. Recommendations for closing the academic achievement gap are discussed in light of the wider ecological context in which the project was implemented.   

Introduction  

According to the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report, nationally, there is a significant and persistent academic achievement gap among American students. For example, more African Americans (61%), Latinos (57%), and Native Americans (53%) compared to Asians (31%) and Whites (26%) scored below basic levels on fourth grade standardized reading tests (Education Trust, 2004). In Maryland, these trends in achievement are aligned with those reported nationwide. In particular, fourth graders below basic reading levels, for Maryland’s African Americans (59%) and Latinos (48%), were significantly higher, when compared to Whites (24%) and Asians (20%) (Education Trust, 2004).   

Although these achievement patterns have existed for several decades, recent efforts to promote and demand change have failed to produce sustainable and replicable interventions. Typically, school reform efforts have sought to close the achievement gap by reducing classroom size (Hunn-Sannito, Hunn-Tosi, & Tessling, 2001; Krieger, 2002), decentralizing management (Odden, Wohlstetter, & Odden, 1995; Wagoner, 1995; Wohlstetter, Malloy, Chau, & Polhemus, 2003), raising the stakes for failure (Paris & Uden, 2000; Reville, 2004), and altering classroom instructional processes (March & Peters, 2002; Ross & Lowther, 2003). In addition to the aforementioned reform strategies that have produced limited results, there are more student-focused efforts used to close the achievement gap. These reform strategies seek to compensate for learning deficits by providing more instructional and study time for those students who are identified as being at-risk for academic failure. As a result, many school systems are opting to provide supplemental education and after-school programming for underachieving and at-risk students (Bridglall, Green, & Mejia, 2005). On the contrary, these efforts have produced marginal and incremental successes along the way, such as disparities in academic achievement based on student ethnicity (Ogbu, 2003). In particular, urban schools that serve predominately African American students have had a difficult time closing the achievement gap, in spite of numerous efforts.   

In addition to administrative, instructional, and supplemental reforms, students at-risk of academic failure still need ongoing exposure to caring and competent adults who are capable of identifying and addressing individual and systemic barriers that prevent learning (Adelman & Taylor, 2001; Kinsler & Gamble, 2001; McNeil, 2000). Recent developments in the field of school counseling have attempted to direct specialized student support services toward addressing the needs of African American students in urban schools through contextually appropriate school counseling services (Green, Conley, & Barnett, in press; Green & Keys, 2001; Holcomb-McCoy, 1998, 2001; Lee, 2001). While sustainable and replicable programs that produce positive outcome data have not been completely identified, urban school counseling programs can help stakeholders gain a better understanding of the broader aspects of the achievement gap.  

This article has three foci. First, we discuss how the academic achievement gap is as much of a by-product of poor schools and student performance, as it is a by-product of the social-ecological context in which schools are placed. Second, we present highlights of a program evaluation of a school counseling program intended to promote academic achievement in an urban context. Third, we discuss the lessons learned from this program implementation and make specific recommendations for decreasing academic disparities in the future.   

The Urban Context and the Achievement Gap  

Research indicates that the achievement gap is the result of ongoing personal and institutional discrimination (Van Laar & Sidanius, 2001). In the United States, many schools that serve African American students are located in urban environments, where the effects of the achievement gap parallel a history of slavery, racial segregation, and oppression. Becker and Luthar (2002) found that academic and school attachment, teacher support, peer values, and mental health are critical factors that influence academic performance. In order to close the achievement gap, we suggest that these factors must be addressed.  

Among the studies identified in the literature that were effective in increasing achievement, the findings of one study in particular (Picucci, Brownson, Kahlert, & Sobel, 2002) suggest that high expectations, collaboration, teacher support, and the provision of extra services were instrumental in turning around seven high-poverty middle schools. While these findings make logical sense, they are among the few examples of identified principles being used to improve student academic performance. Evidence supporting the replicability and transferability of these programs has not been found in the literature.  Meanwhile, many underachieving students attend schools where administrative and instructional reforms, however well intended, are resisted by what Towns (1996) referred to as structural hypocrisy.  This refers to the way in which different elements of the school (i.e., administrative, instructional, and student support teams) work against one another to prevent change. These elements are byproducts of past and present sociopolitical realities that are often overlooked by school reformers.   

Thus, urban schools do not exist independent of the larger social and political context, which they are located; they are impacted by human and organizational relationships referred to as social capital that effect achievement (Orr, 1999). For example, in Baltimore, Maryland, school reform has been a central part of the political agenda for nearly three decades; however, the way in which school-based interventions are received in the school depends heavily upon the norms and agendas set by local school, community, and business networks (Orr, 1999). These social capital networks interact with one another and are profoundly influenced by historical and present day political struggles involving race, poverty, and the quest for social justice.  Lessons learned from a recent implementation of an urban school counseling program in a predominately African American elementary school system suggest that we should pay more attention to the role of social capital in education and reform as they pertain to increasing the academic achievement of African American Students.    

Using Comprehensive School Counseling Programs to Promote Achievement  

Traditional reform efforts typically seek to increase achievement by changing the behavior of students or educational staff within a school or at the district level.  This approach utilizes the prevailing logic that students, families, and teachers alone are responsible for academic achievement disparities.  Our experiences applying this logic to the academic achievement gap have led to new insights regarding the education of African American students.   

Over the past 10 years, the transformation of the school counseling profession has made strides toward filling the void in student support services. Through models that promote what is referred to as comprehensive school counseling programs and services, school counselors seek to address all of the developmental needs of students, including their academic achievement (Gyspers & Henderson, 2000, 2001; Schawallie-Giddis, ter Maat, & Pak, 2003; Sink & Stroh, 2003). The primary goal of a comprehensive school counseling program is to support student growth in academic, career, and personal-social domains (Gysbers & Henderson, 2001; Paisley & Hayes, 2003). These programs allow school counselors to shift their focus away from reacting to crisis towards becoming proactive about student needs as they are related to achievement (Gyspers & Henderson, 2000; Sink & MacDonald, 1998).    

Historically, school counselors have focused primarily on meeting the social and emotional needs of students and have assumed that this focus alone would have the most positive impact on school outcomes (Galassi & Akos, 2004). Over time, this has not proven to be effective, because focusing on personal and social well-being alone bypasses opportunities to proactively promote learning through teacher and administrative collaboration (Bemak, 2000). Historically, adopting a mental health only approach has also contributed to the perception that school counselors and their work are not always directly related to the primary goal of learning. As the field evolved in the 1990s, school counselors were encouraged to link their services and interventions to the school’s mission and purpose, which typically focused on improving achievement (House & Hayes, 2002). While efforts to place a high priority on learning was a step in the right direction, preliminary outcome research reveals that mainstream programs did not measure up, when addressing the needs of culturally diverse students (Lapan, Gysbers, & Sun, 1997).  

Urban School Counseling and African American Students’ Academic Needs  

Within urban settings, schools that serve African American students are faced with several challenges that should be taken into consideration and that otherwise can make the provision of school counseling services particularly challenging (Holcomb-McCoy, 1998). These challenges include: (a) student diversity, (b) a lack of available school resources, (c) poverty, (d) family issues, (e) violence, and (f) high drop out rates. Each of these challenges requires that a broader perspective be taken, when providing support for learning. Given the inability of traditional comprehensive models to meet the needs of culturally diverse students, particularly in terms of the achievement gap, school counseling programs designed specifically for urban environments have begun to receive increased attention (Green, Conley & Barnett, in press; Green & Keys, 2001; Holcomb-McCoy, 1998, 2001; Lee, 2001).  

The emergence of urban school counseling programs has begun to provide a more effective and user-friendly framework that school counselors can operate to meet the needs of students in urban settings. The primary difference between mainstream school counseling programs and that of the urban variety is the way in which barriers to learning are viewed and addressed. Typically, school counselors operate from a developmental perspective that views individual-level functioning as being independent from the larger ecological context where the development takes place (Galassi & Akos, 2004). Such a perspective is limiting, when the ecological context of the child and the school is filled with historical and contemporary barriers to learning (i.e., diverse learning styles, poverty, and social injustice). Under these circumstances, it is important that individual student performance be understood with these challenges in mind and that interventions are tailored to meet students’ needs as idiosyncratically as possible (Burton, Obedallah, & Allison, 1996).  

Through an urban school counseling approach, contextually relevant needs assessments are conducted to identify students who need universal school counseling services typical of traditional comprehensive students. For those students whose needs require further assistance, urban school counseling provides targeted counseling (e.g., individual, small and large group, and classroom guidance), consultation, and coordinated services that are mindful of the contextual antecedents surrounding the challenges that prevent learning (Green, Conley, & Barnett, 2005; Green & Keys, 2001). Through this model, students are not blamed inadvertently for the difficulties they experience but instead are encouraged to become critically aware of the issues that impact their learning. Parents and families are also included in the helping relationships that are formed on behalf of student development and learning. For a complete review of urban school counseling, see Holcomb-McCoy & Lee (2005).   

To learn more about how an urban school counseling model can promote academic achievement and development among African American students, a federally funded elementary school counseling project was implemented in historically under performing urban elementary schools that serves predominately African American students. This implementation project grew out of a partnership between a large, urban school district’s school counseling office and the graduate department of a counselor education program located at a local university.   

Findings from the program evaluation of this urban school counseling project revealed both positive and negative outcomes associated with a school-wide student support service intervention. Partial results of the study are presented below and discussed in light of the academic achievement gap. These program evaluation findings presented here are not intended to be directly generalized to the larger African American student population or other urban students. Rather, these findings are offered to help further our understanding of how and why achievement disparities continue to exist, in spite of such efforts to reduce or eliminate them altogether.  

The Counseling Project and its Findings  

The primary goals of the urban school counseling project were to improve students’ personal, interpersonal, academic, and career development. Secondary goals were to improve attendance, increase achievement, and reduce disruptive behaviors. The program model aimed to transform the role of the school counselor, emphasizing leadership roles in creating school-family-community partnerships; system-focused interventions; and collaboration and consultation with teachers, families, and community agencies.  

In the fall of 2000, five master degree level school counselors, trained in the urban model, were placed in three underachieving schools. At the beginning of the project, the urban school counselors instituted a needs assessment to identify priorities and resources. The needs assessment categorized students into three groups, regarding academic achievement: (a) high, (b) medium, and (c) low. These classifications were not used to track students but rather to support those students and instructional practices that were working well and to identify targeted strategies for promoting change where needed.  

The urban school counselors engaged in classroom-focused interventions, thereby increasing each student’s exposure to the model. This included classroom guidance on culturally and developmentally appropriate topics and consultation with teachers on factors that affect learning, such as student-teacher relationships, negative peer interactions, and barriers that may have existed in the classroom's organizational structure. School counselors provided applied behavioral programming for disruptive students, individual and group counseling as well as parent and caregiver interactions.  

The urban school counseling model sought to support collaboration between school counselors and administrators so that they could work together as agents of systemic change (Green & Keys, 2001). School counselors and other school leaders (e.g., teachers, administrators) were encouraged to participate in activities, such as: (a) facilitating teacher-family member conferences, (b) providing tutoring services, (c) behavioral medication seminars, (d) career days for students, (e) job fairs for parents, and (f) various community outreach activities (i.e., identifying and collaborating with grassroots community leaders to support community-based parent education projects and programs). To maximize impact, the project also sought to link with existing programs and services in the community at large to help assure sustainability.  

School counselors engaged in weekly professional supervision and consultation to discuss psycho-social issues of students and the impact on academic achievement. With supervisor assistance, these school counselors developed comprehensive learning plans to address the needs of students individually and/or in a group setting. An ongoing process and outcome evaluation was also conducted as a part of the project, and it provided the data for this article. Details regarding the urban school counseling model are beyond the scope of this article, and these descriptions can be found in Green, Conley, and Barnett (2005).  

The Students  

Each project school served from 375 to 730 students, and each school was comprised mostly of African Americans (e.g., 95%). Additionally, each school had 90% or more of its students enrolled in the federal subsidized Free and Reduced Meals Program (FARM). School performance data revealed that low academic achievement, disruptive behaviors, attendance problems, and transience were constant challenges faced by each school. Additionally, three control group schools were identified for comparison with the three project schools. These three control groups were also comparable to the schools in the project; however, the only difference was that these schools did not receive any school counseling services and had average populations of 375 to 600 predominately African American students. The project and control group schools were selected based on previous academic performance in standardized assessments for reading and mathematics. From 2000 to 2003, students attending the three intervention schools received urban focused school counseling services as described in the previous section.   

Evaluation Findings

Using exploratory analysis of program evaluation data, school wide reading and mathematical median percentile rankings for each of the intervention schools (IS) (n=3) and control group schools (CGS) (n=3) were compared for the academic year, prior to the intervention (1999-2000) and after the third year of the project’s implementation (2002-2003) (BCPSS, 2003). Both group-ranking comparisons, for reading and mathematics, are presented in Figures 1 and 2 respectively. A t-test for independent groups was also conducted to determine if there were significant differences between pre- and post-intervention mathematical and reading performance as measured by the Terra Nova. Additional analysis of project artifacts, such as school counselor logs and service feedback data, is illustrated in the discussion section to interpret the findings.

Figure1.  Pre- and Post-Intervention Terra Nova Median Reading Scores for Intervention and Control Group Schools (1999-2003).

Figure 2. Pre- and Post-Intervention Terra Nova Mean Mathetical Scores for Intervention and Control Group Schools (1999-2003).

In order to assess the affects of urban school counseling project, the Terra Nova (also referred to as the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills – Fifth Edition [CTBS-5]) was utilized to (McGraw-Hill, 2000). The Terra Nova is widely used by school districts throughout the United States to track the educational process of students in grades K-12. The Terra Nova was selected to measure academic achievement because it is used by the Maryland State Department of Education as an assessment tool for state and nation-wide comparisons in reading and mathematics. 

The Terra Nova is a norm-referenced, group administered test of individual academic achievement. It assesses five basic content areas: (a) language, (b) reading, (c) mathematics, (d) social studies, and (e) general science. For the purpose of this article, the median percentile ranks on the reading and the mathematical subtests were examined in comparison to the control group schools at pre- and post-intervention periods. The Terra Nova internal consistency reliability coefficients range from .82 and .93.  The Terra Nova has also been demonstrated to have acceptable discriminant and convergent construct validity (McGraw-Hill, 2000).  

Exploration of the Counseling Project Achievement Data  

Analysis of the counseling project’s achievement data revealed mixed findings. Each of the three IS and the three CGS reported an increase in national median percentile rankings from the pre-intervention period to the post-intervention period. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the median Terra Nova scores at both pre- and post-intervention for reading and math (for the school years 1999-2003), respectively (BCPSS, 2003). 

The comparisons of reading performance indicated that two of the three intervention schools reported greater increases between pre- and post-intervention periods compared to the composite increases of the three control group schools.  A comparison of increases in median percentile rankings between intervention and control group schools for mathematics revealed that one of the three intervention schools reported a greater increase from pre- to post-intervention compared to the composite increase of the three control group schools.  

Discussion  

The project evaluation data presented here are an exploratory analysis for the purposes of reflecting on the academic achievement gap existing among American K-12 students.  The data are not presented to make inferences about the project and other urban elementary school settings.  The analysis of the data derived from the project’s broader evaluation effort caused the researchers and participants of the project to view the achievement gap from a different perspective. Prior to the project, the general sentiment held by the principal investigator and project staff (including the school counselors) on the gap, paralleled that of the prevailing theories and research found in the literature. That is, traditionally underachieving schools and many of the students who attend them are generally lacking what it takes to achieve. It was further assumed that the mere provision of what was lacking (in this case, school counseling services) would solve the problem.  

This perspective places the blame for poor academic performance at the local level, rarely making room for any of the broader structural antecedents associated with underachievement (Towns, 1996). For example, within the large predominately African American city where this project and study were implemented, there is a well-documented history of how social capital severely impacts the processes and outcomes of the local public school system (Orr, 1999).  In this particular urban context, efforts to work collaboratively toward the improvement of schools are heavily influenced by present and past experiences of public and private social networks.  Influences from the federal, state and local education systems, community organizations, unions, and the larger society among others, directly impact what happens in schools (Glosoff & Koprowicz, 1990). Therefore, the successful implementation of an urban school counseling program into this environment hinges upon past and future budget crises, turf battles, insularity, racial group defensiveness and apathy towards these and other contextual factors that fall well beyond the ability of students and schools to increase achievement alone.  

The recognition of these issues as they relate to achievement must be incorporated into any analysis or subsequent proposed solutions to the achievement gap problem (Pajak & Green, 2003). With the best of intentions, this project and the succeeding analysis of the data were undertaken to determine how an urban school counseling program could help to close the existing achievement gap. As the data from this evaluation continue to be analyzed from different theoretical perspectives, project staff openly wondered if the persistent academic achievement gap experienced by specific ethnic groups, regardless of income, was truly a result of limited intellectual ability, low motivation, poor school management, ineffective classroom instructional practices, and the lack of family support. The following discussion is offered in order to shed light on how to address “the gap” in the future.   

Each of the intervention schools in this study reported at least a 19% increase in national median percentile rankings on the Terra Nova standardized reading and mathematical tests from pre- to post-intervention. Independent t-test statostocs supported the notion that these differences were significant at the < .01 level. These results, in conjunction with other project artifact and evaluation data, indicated that an urban school counseling program shows promise for closing the achievement gap and benefits African American students in particular. Further research, utilizing quasi-experimental designs, is needed to establish this fact.  

The self-reported data from the time logs, along with service provision feedback forms, revealed that school counselors, who were supported and allowed to implement a comprehensive urban counseling program, had a positive impact. Individual level data from IS2 revealed that students classified as low, medium, and high achievers demonstrated marked improvement, based on original baseline performance. In particular, many of the students that were identified in the low to medium performance groups and were targeted for individualized support, improved academically based on teacher reported feedback.  

The results of this study should be consumed with caution due to the findings of further analysis involving the control group schools. When intervention school percentile rankings were matched against the composite rankings of the three control group schools, one intervention school IS1 reported a median increase (19%) below the composite increase of the three control group schools (33%) in reading. Additionally, two of the intervention schools IS1 (47%) and IS3 (35%), reported a smaller increase than the composite increase of the control group schools (49%) in mathematics.   

Analysis of school counselor self-reported use of time, service provision, and feedback forms revealed that the intervention schools that reported increases in national median percentile rankings greater than the composite increase of the control group schools, experienced a smoother transition into the urban school counseling program than those schools that reported gains lower than the control group. In those schools that reported fewer gains than the control group composite gains, it was observed that self-reported data and evaluation feedback from teachers, staff, parents, and administration revealed less acceptance of the intervention.   

According to internal and external project feedback, a lack of long-term administrative support (in spite of previous verbal and written commitment by site and area district level administrators) systematically led to a failure in the communication of project objectives and strategies. This, in turn, led to partial program acceptance by stakeholders, which then led to less time on counselor related tasks identified by the needs assessment data. These findings are supported by previous research on comprehensive school counseling programs, which states that administrative and stakeholder support are essential for program effectiveness to occur (Sink & Stroh, 2003). Although this advice was taken into consideration by the project staff, the day-to-day implementation of the project in two of the three settings was met by passive and active resistance, which detracted from the overall impact of the effort. This is further evidenced by the fact that, four years after the first year of the intervention, a multi-million dollar district-wide budget deficit led to a near total elimination of elementary school counseling programs across the school system. This included programs that had demonstrated a positive impact on improving achievement.  

Conclusion  

The present analysis of the findings of a counseling project speaks to the impact of broader ecological issues that have historically impacted the politics, funding, and utilization of public education in an urban environment where schooling and the quest for social justice and equity have never been completely separated from one another (Orr, 1999). While student-focused and other urban school-based reforms are necessary and recommended for the future, these interventions should not be developed, implemented, or evaluated in a vacuum. It is important to focus on the larger ecological context that is filled with both opportunity (e.g., technology, material resources and scientific know how) and challenges (e.g., the present day impact of historical and structural oppression) when promoting African American achievement. 

It is recommended here that future attempts at closing the achievement gap continue to draw from the best of researched practices. It is further recommended that these efforts be combined with community and grassroots level organizational efforts to close what is more broadly defined as an opportunity gap existing historically and along ethnic and socio-economic boundaries beyond the school. Interventions should take into consideration the way in which structural hypocrisy exists in and around the school. Therefore, closing the achievement gap should be part of the larger ongoing struggle for equity and social justice. For example, it is important that school counselors, teachers and their schools form alliances with community-based efforts that focus on social justice and equity. Education is a central part of any form of freedom; therefore, schools and communities must work together towards their common goals. This approach will better ensure fidelity and accountability to practices that have proven to be effective thorough research.   

Authors’ Note:  The counseling project presented in this article was supported in part by a federally funded grant through the U. S. Department of Education, Elementary School Counseling Demonstration Program of 2000, F222114.  

About the Authors:  Dr. Alan Green is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Johns Hopkins University.  His research interests included urban school counseling and African American urban youth issues.  Dr. Jacqueline Conley is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Chicago State University. Her research interests include urban school counseling, women's issues, empathy, and the counselor trainee. Dr. Kim Barnett is a faculty associate and adviser at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Counseling and Human Services. Her research interests include urban school counseling, counseling at-risk populations, and counseling African American women coping with issues related to breast cancer. Dr. Eric Benjamin is an associate professor at Montgomery County Community College in Rockville, Maryland.  His research interests include program evaluation and academic achievement of traditionally underrepresented undergraduate students.  Address correspondence to the first author at the Department of Counseling and Human Services, Graduate Division of Education, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA; e-mail agreen@jhu.edu.

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