Race, school achievement, and educational inequality: Toward a student-based inquiry perspective

Wiggan, G. (2007). Race, school achievement, and educational inequality: Toward a student-based inquiry perspective. Review of Educational Research, 77(3), 310-333.


The best part of this article is its concise but thorough review of the four dominant theories by which educators and psychologists have attempted to explain the reasons why Black students do not generally seem to achieve in school as well as White students. Wiggan takes us through the theories historically, in a way that would be helpful for a course on the social foundations of education.

The article feels weaker when Wiggin then proposes his own theory, that differential educational quality is the cause of the "achievement gap." While I do agree somewhat, and prefer his theory to the other four (genetic deficiency, social class and cultural poverty, teacher expectancy, and student oppositional identity), it just doesn't go far enough. To me it is racism and a larger social structure that works to discourage equity that is the driving force behind the achievement gap. That won't be easy to fix, but we must try. The "student-based inquiry research" (vaguely described) that Wiggan tacks on may be one step, but it won't be enough.