Education4Everyone

Shedding light on the need for wider access to educational resources and the impact of teacher shortages on HCPS students.

A lack of educational resources and teacher shortages disproportionately affect low- income and minority students in Henrico County, Virginia. Data reveals that schools with a higher concentration of poverty and larger minority populations are more inequitable in terms of educational opportunities. Despite there being measurable differences in the educational opportunities provided to students in high-poverty versus low-poverty schools, the issue is commonly overlooked. 

Virginia has 212 public schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families. These schools are mostly found in the Greater Richmond and Hampton Roads regions. Richmond City has the most of any division with 29 high-poverty schools, with about 63% of students in the division enrolled in one of them. Other divisions with many high-poverty schools include Norfolk, Roanoke City, Prince William, Newport News, Danville, Hampton, and Henrico (Duncombe). 

HCPS schools are currently dealing with the growing perception in Eastern Henrico (where many minority and low-income families reside) that there is an uneven distribution of educational resources. Ratings released by the Virginia Department of Education show that out of the 17 schools that are currently struggling to earn accreditation in Henrico County, 16 of the schools are in Eastern Henrico (Moomaw). 

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROBLEM (OUR WEBSITE) 

'Education4Everyone' is the result of our desire to help HCPS students from more economically disadvantaged areas of our county. Through various book donation locations and an online presence, we hope to promote proper and fair access to educational resources at Henrico County Public Schools. 

Teachers play a fundamental role in the improvement of education because they serve as role models and supporters for students. However, recruiting and retaining exceptional educators has become an urgent issue. A study in 2013 revealed that teacher shortages in Henrico County negatively impact HCPS schools serving students of color and low-income students. Through E4E, we wanted to establish an online presence to address this. We requested teachers for brief videos or written blurbs about their teaching experience and posted these 'testimonials' on our social media account. This branch of our project was started in the hopes of attracting more interest to teaching as a profession and encouraging aspiring teachers to take the leap.

 Process: Contacting Schools 

Process: Contacting Teachers For Teaching "Testimonials" and Advice!

Below is a teacher resource provided by Ms. Connor, an English teacher at J.R. Tucker High School.