Achievement Gaps in Higher Education

An achievement gap is a consistent pattern of performance differences between any two groups of students. Historically ‘the achievement gap’ primarily referred to the performance difference between White and Black students, or between White students and underrepresented minorities (URMs) such as African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American (AHN) students. Used more broadly the term ‘achievement gap’ can also be used to describe performance differences between first-generation (FG) and continuing-generation (CG) students, or between transfer and non-transfer students. This book will collectively refer to all of these performance differences as ‘achievement gaps’.

Causes of Achievement Gaps

AHN, FG, and transfer students experience many challenges while in higher education. These challenges are described in detail in Part I of this book. Briefly, structural racism (Merolla & Jackson, 2019), bias (Staats et al., 2017), social isolation (Jacobson et al., 2017), and stereotypes (Meadows et al., 2015) have led to underrepresentation, reduced generational wealth and income (GWI) (Hertert & Teague, 2003), inadequate support (Mofatteh, 2020), reduced opportunities (Merolla & Jackson, 2019), an increased prevalence of social-psychological factors (Xie et al., 2015) (e.g., stereotype threat, the imposter phenomenon etc.), and an unlevel playing field (Alhindi, 2020; Goldhaber et al., 2015). Colorblindness (Markus et al., 2000), microaggressions (Harrison & Tanner, 2018), and a fixed mindset (Yeager & Dweck, 2020) in both students and faculty all contribute to and exacerbate the issues. FG and transfer students are also burdened with the additional problems of transfer shock, information overload, cultural mismatch, and increased family responsibilities (Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013; Laanan, 2001; Shelton, 2011). Ultimately these underlying problems contribute to academic achievement gaps by 1) reducing feelings of belongingness, 2) increasing stress and anxiety, and 3) reducing engagement and performance. These formidable challenges are inextricably linked, and they often reinforce one another; for example, it is easy to imagine how a student who experiences a high degree of bias might be less likely to feel that they belong in the classroom, which could lead to increased stress and anxiety, and concomitant declines in both engagement and performance.