The Achievement Gap Initiative


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This scholar is one of a number of scholars at Harvard and other leading universities whose research focuses on the nation's achievement gaps. These scholars represent a cross section of academic disciplines--Education, Economics, Public and Social Policy, Sociology and Law. They represent the broad base of research and knowledge necessary to understanding the complex issues contributing to Achievement Gaps.

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Travis Gosa, Assistant Professor

Cornell University

Scholar's website

Travis L. Gosa is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Johns Hopkins University.   His main fields of interest are education, race/ethnicity, and popular/youth culture. Travis is the outgoing Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the American Institutes For Research in Washington DC, where he has focused on Comprehensive School Reform. His most recent publication examines the social development of middle class black youth and raises important questions about the achievement gap among affluent black and white students. In his dissertation entitled "Oppositional Culture, Hip-Hop, & The Schooling of Black Youth," Travis uses John Ogbu's well-known and controversial theory of oppositional culture and "burden of acting white" hypothesis to investigate achievement-related messages in hip-hop music. Currently, he is a Research Intern at the Maryland State Department of Education Division of Student, Family, & School Services.

Papers on the AGI website:

June 05, 2007	Hip-Hop Folk Theories of Social Mobility Without Formal Education: “Drugs, Basketball, & Hip-Hop”
June 05, 2007	Hip-Hop’s Counter-Narrative & Pro-Schooling Messages
June 05, 2007	The Construction of Oppositional Culture in Hip-Hop Music: An In-depth Case Analysis of Kanye West and Tupac Shakur

Video presentations on the AGI website:

June 2007

Messages in the Music: How Rap Lyrics both Encourage and Discourage School Engagement.