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This article evaluated the impact of a group counseling intervention on African-American students' achievement rates during the spring administration of high-stakes testing at a rural high school in Georgia. Eighty percent of eligible students who participated in the intervention received passing scores on the four sections tested during the spring administration of the Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT), and all participating students received passing scores on the English Language Arts and Math sections of the GHSGT. Additionally, the achievement gap between African-American students and White students on the Enhanced Math narrowed during the 2007-2008 testing period, with 63.2% of African-American students achieving pass rates as compared to 70.5% of White students. The pass rate increased from the 38.7% pass rate among African-American students from the previous school year, indicating that the intervention was successful in improving pass rates on high-stakes testing. Implications for professional school counselors include utilizing the practice of group counseling and disaggregating data to promote achievement among underachieving student subsets.
Due in part to provisions of the No Child Left Behind legislation (U.S. Department of Education, 2001) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) accountability measures, inequities in school achievement and attainment have come to the forefront in the U.S. public education system. Achievement data collected through various sources suggest that students of color and students from economically disadvantaged families are underachieving at alarming rates when compared to their White and economically advantaged peer groups (Education Trust, 2005). A number of contextual forces have been proposed as possible contributors to achievement disparities. Howard and Solberg (2006) suggested that these social and developmental influences may include racism, poverty, family involvement, access to quality education and just educational practices (i.e., tracking), and personal and cultural identity development (i.e., stereotype threat). Regardless of origin, educators must balance accountability mandates and the demands of high-stakes testing with professional and ethical responsibilities to provide appropriate educational opportunities that best serve the needs of all students in public schools.
Anderson, Medrich, and Fowler (2007) purported that discourse on the achievement gap has historically focused on how well African-American students have performed nationally on standardized tests such as the SAT as compared to their White peer group. No Child Left Behind (U.S. Department of Education, 2001) has shifted the...