Comparing The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between The Rich And The Poor

In today’s society it has become even more crucial to obtain knowledge and graduate from high school. In the article “The True Cost of High School Dropouts” Henry M. Levin and Cecilia E. Rouse explain that the dropout rate imposes a heavy cost on the economy. Henry M. Levin is a professor of economics and education at Columbia University. Cecilia E. Rouse is a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University. She also was a member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 to 2011. This article was found on “The New York Times” and was published Jan. 25th, 2012. They begin with stating the facts and giving sources to build credibility. They then go into what is being done wrong and what needs to be done in order to improve.

Children who grow up in a poor area go to school where there are 50 kids in one class and individual attention is never given, and children of high class families will go to schools that have smaller class sizes and individual attention. Even when a poor child goes to a better schoolteachers will question if the work done is their own and also only expect hard work from the rich kids. “if you are a child of low income parents, the chances are good that you will receive limited and often careless attention from adults in your high school.” Theodore Sizer “Horace’s Compromise,” “If you are the child of upper-middle income parents, the chances are good that you will receive substantial and careful attention.” (203) These quotes from another author showcase that school in America is often times based on the social standing of the parents.

Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and

There is a high school dropout crisis far beyond the imagination of most Americans, concentrated in urban schools and relegating many thousands of minority children to a life of failure (McMurrey, 2014). The impact of dropouts has an effect in our country. A life of failure can contribute to these students growing up and having a possibility of unemployment due to the lack of education. There are higher chances of living in poverty, having health issues, and higher possibilities of going to prison. McMurrey (2014) states that our country is now planning how many prison beds they will need by looking at third grade reading scores. All of these factors contribute to a future crisis. If the country is looking at third grade reading levels, they assume that children will not

In October 2000, the overall picture of high school dropouts had changed little since the late 1980s (Kaufman et al. 2001): For every 100 young adults enrolled in high school in October 1999, 5 had left school without completing a program; of 34.6 million U.S. young adults aged 16-24, 3.8 million—almost 11 percent—had not completed high school and were not enrolled. Some studies have shown that students in schools with a concentration of multiple risk factors (e.g., large schools, large classes, high poverty, inner city location) have less than one chance in two of graduating from high school; furthermore, the economic costs of dropping out have increased as time goes on (Castellano et al. 2001). Adjusting for 50

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

is through socioeconomic status. According to Sean Reardon, a main outcome of the widening income gap for families has been a widening gap in achievement among children, which he refers to as the income achievement gap (Reardon, 2011). Therefore, the children of the poor remain at an educational disadvantage when their parents’ income becomes as much of a predictor of their educational achievements, as their parents’ educational obtainment. To emphasize the results of the income achievement gap, Reardon states, “As the children of the rich do better in school, and those who do better in school are more likely to become rich, we risk producing an even more unequal and economically polarized society” (Reardon, 2011, p. 111). For example, as standardized testing shifted towards standardized achievement testing to determine a student’s academic achievement, parental investment in their children’s cognitive development began to increase. Educational disparities occur when affluent families can very easily afford tutoring outside of the classroom for their children to perform highly, while children being raised in impoverished homes are at a disadvantage, and at a lower chance of doing well on these exams. This becomes problematic when SAT reading, math, and writing scores increase with income as exemplified by the disproportionately small amount of minority students in higher education (Brand lecture,

From 1972 to 2006 high school dropout rates decreased from 6.1 percent to 3.8 percent. A majority of this decline occurred between 1972 and 1990, when the rate dropped to 4 percent. However, from 1990 to 1995 there was a surprising increase in dropout rates (Laird & others, 2008). Since then there have been numerous debates and discussions on the issue of dropout rates and how to handle them appropriately. From the information above, it is very evident that the United States wasn’t directly involved with the matter. As a result, stated before, President Barack Obama made his claim towards this issue. This urged most states across the nation to raise the dropout age (Ho, 2017). In fact, a study co-authored by Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, found that in some states approximately 25 percent of potential dropouts stayed in school since the compulsory schooling age was moved to 18. With an additional year of schooling that 25 percent will increase their earnings by at least 7 percent when

There are many controversies that American public education system does more harm than good. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto and “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, explains how school education destructively impacts us. Gatto states his experience as a public school teacher and why he “just can't-do it anymore”. He was tired how the schooling was programmed. He argues how school system are affecting students to be more like “childlike” citizens. Also, Anyon demonstrates her research on how there are many different kinds of education depending what “class” you were. She informs us that there is an inequality in “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. She tells us that this difference in

“The socioeconomic achievement gap in education refers to the inequality in academic achievement between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures” (Ansell, 2017). Typically, when discussing the achievement gap, educators are comparing the academic progress of African-American students or Hispanic students to the progress of white students. More-often-than-not the white students will have more educational achievements than their non-white colleagues (Ansell, 2017). The most widely accepted theory as to why students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) do better academically is high parental involvement, access to economic resources and access to highly qualified teachers (Huang, 2015. Pg.6). Students of low socioeconomic status often live in poverty. This means that the student may not have sufficient school supplies or even someone at home to help him with his homework. There are numerous children in the United States’ school systems that are failing due to the achievement gap. These students are at a disadvantage because the school systems and teachers do not notice or even care about their home life and how it comes into play in their education. It is important for our nation to not only understand the achievement gap but take steps toward correcting it.

How far a student can go in life is already pre-determined by the generation before him. Success is no longer made up of solely intellectual ability, but rather if the streets the student walks through is gang-ridden or not, if their parents are absentees, and other conditions in which the child grows up in. Valerie Strauss expresses these concerns in her article, “What the Numbers Really Tell Us About America’s Public Schools” in which she discusses how income levels correlate with students’ success rate which is further accentuated through Kamiak and Mariner High School’s Standardized Test Results. “Motivation, a Major Factor in U.S. Student Test Performance” by Dian Schaffhauser continues this idea of external problems affecting low scores

Ever wonder what kind of education we obtained or what kind of education children are receiving? According to Jean Anyon, “...the ‘hidden curriculum’ of schoolwork is tacit preparation for relating to the process of production in a particular way. Differing curricular, pedagogical, and pupil evaluation practices emphasize different cognitive and behavioral skill in each social setting and thus contribute to the development in the children of certain potential relationships to physical and symbolic capital, to authority, and to the process of work” (151). Therefore, Anyon believes that schools are not focusing on giving children the proper education and instead they provide the education based on the community’s social-class. Based on “‘I Just Wanna Be Average’” by Mike Rose and my academic experience both stories give interesting points of views regarding the type of education that was given. In Rose’s story, Rose is a young man who lived in a working class community but attended a middle class high school. Rose received a working class education but soon a new teacher arrived and changed his academic experience. In my personal experience, I grew up in a middle class neighborhood and received a middle class and a few affluent professional schooling, but moved to a working class community and started to receive a working class education. Anyon’s claim would complicate based on Rose’s story and on the education I have received based on the areas where I have lived. Every

In this section the paper will introduce five stresses or topics supported by the scholarly articles, presenting the key findings of those articles and how they relate to the three categories of difference. The five topics, supported by the references are the effects of school inequality and

Income inequality plays a major role in the education disparity present in communities such as West Chelsea. The economic hardship several families experience affects the way a child grows up and the certain education they receive. As seen in Class Divide, more privileged children can attend schools such as The Avenues where they are given opportunities to grow and learn, while less privileged students are

The dropout problem is not only an individual problem, but it is costly to society as a whole. Warren & Halpen-Manners (2007) explained, “high school dropouts is of fundamental social, economic, and political importance and has major implications for educational policy and practice, patterns of economic and racial/ethnic inequality, and the quality of America’s workforce” (p. 335). Coupled with that, Neild et al (2008) further argued going through the portal into adult life without high school credentials carries severe economic and employment penalties. Also, Kennelly (2007) explained “When students drop out…. the toll of the quality of life and the prosperity and competitiveness of the communities where they live and collectively across