ABSTRACT
Although poor performance and academic underachievement are experienced across ethnicities, for minority, school-aged children, they are a well-documented and pervasive problem. The achievement gap continues to increase, with only 13 percent of African American and 16 percent of Latino fourth graders demonstrating reading ability proficient for their grade level (National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES, 2006a). Similarly, only 13 percent of African American and 19 percent of Latino fourth graders demonstrate grade-level proficiency in mathematics (NCES, 2006b). This underachievement persists throughout middle and high school, with African American students continuing to experience school failure and dropout at disproportionate rates compared to their White peers (NCES, 2004).
