Academic Achievement, Nature and Use of

Equity

Academic achievement is the main means of social mobility for people outside the mainstream of the U.S., Western, and increasingly global socioeconomic system. Yet barriers to academic achievement remain, and these barriers perpetuate the chronic achievement gaps evident in the United States and other countries. These achievement gaps produce continuing social and economic inequity and stratification. Many authors writing in the career development field have made the point that much of career development theory, research, and practice has little use or meaning for those outside the mainstream of the U.S. socioeconomic system. That is, because many people outside the mainstream have limited opportunity—including limited opportunity-to-learn—they have no choice; and choice is frequently an explicit or implicit assumption in career research, theory, and practice.

Thus, defining academic achievement is an educational, career development, professional, ethical, social, economic, and political issue. Any definition of academic achievement that does not take into account many students' lack of opportunity-to-learn serves to perpetuate inequity. For example, in the late 1980s, several U.S. states rewarded and punished schools based on students' average scores on basic skills tests. Students in more wealthy schools had higher scores than students in poorer schools where there was less access to a quality curriculum and quality instruction. In the mid-1990s, this perpetuation of inequity was recognized, and states moved to a system based on students' degrees of improvement on basic skills tests. This current system, however, is not without fault, and no definition of academic achievement is perfect.

Development

Academic achievement is naturally developmental and hierarchical. One developmental educational milestone opens opportunities for the next academic achievement endeavor. Thus, any definition of achievement must take into account the developmental nature of academic achievement. Paying attention to developmental [Page 1392]phenomena helps counselors and educators focus on students' and clients' past and future learning experiences in a dynamic way. A developmental perspective helps professionals see academic achievement choices, opportunities, and barriers through an equity and cultural-experiential lens.

Meaning

The meaningfulness of academic achievement definitions, measures, or indicators is related to the equity dimension and the developmental dimension. Some developmental accomplishments have more meaning and bearing on subsequent achievement than others. If achievement outcomes have some functional meaning in terms of educational, social, and economic advancement, they are meaningful. Governments and educational institutions, however, have historically bestowed high levels of meaning on particular academic achievement outcomes that have dubious functional meaning (e.g., scores on tests with limited validity, invalid college admissions criteria).

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