Systematic Review: Research Trends in Underserved Students

Abstract

The issue of underserved students is something very common in the field of education and almost all countries have issues regarding underserved students in their own educational systems. A systematic review was conducted to find out trends in underserved students particularly in their achievement gap. In this study, issues regarding trends in underserved students and the factors that cause the achievement gap for underserved students were analyzed where 20 articles were selected using PRISMA protocol and Mc Dermott filtration methods. The findings are focused on the elements that cause underserved students such as the demography, school system, language, first generation which were identified as factors that create an achievement gap between underserved students and others. The study also focuses on the issues related to underserved students based on the reports by researchers from 2009 until 2019. Factors such as the policy makers, college management, ICT access and Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) are some of the ways which will help to bridge the achievement gap.