Education

What is Educational Inequality?

Educational inequality is the unequal distribution of academic resources. Some of these resources include:

School funding
Experienced & qualified teachers
Textbooks & supplies
Technology

Educational inequality is often seen in communities in which the population has been historically oppressed.

https://educators4sc.org/topic-guides/teaching-about-educational-inequality/

Education: The Root of Inequality

Many scholars agree that inequality starts with a faulty education.

"What great teachers gave me was not just the skills to take advantage of new opportunities, but the ability to imagine what those opportunities could be. For a kid from the South Side of Chicago, that's huge." - Deval Patrick (Former Governor of Massachusetts)

Contributing Factors to the Education Gap:

Poverty Rates
Diminished Teacher & School Poverty
Unsettled Neighborhoods
Ineffective Parenting
Personal Trauma
Peer Group Influence

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/02/the-costs-of-inequality-educations-the-one-key-that-rules-them-all/

Sociological Theories of Education

Structural Functionalism: Education is viewed as a means of socialization, social integrations, social placement, and social & cultural innovation.

Latent Functions of Education: Child care, establishment of peer relationships, conformity to social norms

Conflict Theory: Education promotes and maintains social inequality through the amount of funding a school has and their method of distributing the funding.

People with a higher socioeconomic status typically have better schooling, more resources, and less obstacles regarding their education.

Symbolic Interactionism: Social interaction within a school environment affects the development of gender roles. The expectations of teachers regarding a student's intellectual abilities also affects how much a student learns.

Helps us to understand the relation between what happens in school how it is relevant to the larger society

https://pressbooks.howardcc.edu/soci101/chapter/16-2-sociological-perspectives-on-education/

Two Dilemmas

Finances

Schools are historically funded through property taxes

Property taxes as a main source of income for public schools put lower income communities and communities of color at a disadvantage
Students in high-poverty communities have less access to core academic services that increase student outcomes

Elections

Elections are important on local, state, and federal levels

Local elections for school board members are important to discuss school curriculum, which has been historically biased
State officials influence policy, which is an important factor in discussing school finances and functions
The Federal government allocates funds to school districts

Resulting Intersectional Inequities

Racial Inequity

In schools where students are predominantly people of color, curriculums fall short due to lack of funding. Curriculums also historically downplay the experiences of people of color in the United States

Wealth Inequity

Quality education is known to break the cycle of poverty in low income communities. In places where Quality education is lacking, students are less likely to finish their education and move into higher education.

Achievement Gaps

By the end of high school, black and hispanic students have reading and math skills typical of their white peers in the eighth grade. When students can not achieve at the same level as their white peers, they can not escape the cycle of inequality.

In Dayton

Background: These schools are only two miles away from each other, but have very different numbers when it comes to each high schools statistics.

Oakwood Statistics

Overall Testing Rank: #250 out of 3233 schools (Top 10%)
Math Test Scores (% Proficient): 84%
Reading/Language Arts test scores (% proficient): 90-94%
Graduation Rate: 90-94%
Diversity Score: 0.21

From: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/oakwood-high-school-profile/45419

Belmont Statistics

Overall Testing Rank: #2993 out of 3233 schools (Bottom 50%)
Math Test Scores (% proficient): 22%
Reading/Language Arts Test Scores (% proficient): 24%
Graduation Rate: 45-49%
Diversity Score: 0.60

From: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/belmont-high-school-profile/45420

Ohio States Levels

Math Test Scores (% Proficient): 63%
Reading/Language Arts test scores (% proficient): 64%
Graduation Rate: 82%
Diversity Score: 0.48

From: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/oakwood-high-school-profile/45419

Oakwood High School

From: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/oakwood-high-school-profile/45419

American Indian: N/A

Asian: 4%

Hispanic: 3%

Black 1%

White: 89%

Hawaiian: N/A

Two or more races: 3%

Belmont High School

From: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/belmont-high-school-profile/45420

American Indian: N/A

Asian: N/A

Hispanic: 6%

Black: 44%

White: 46%

Hawaiian: N/A

Two or more races: 4%

Resources in the Dayton area

Crayons to Classrooms

Mission: provides schools and students with supplies at no cost.

Website: https://dc2c.org/

Montgomery County Educational Service Center

Mission: visionary leaders providing exemplary service; integrity, innovation, communication, collaboration, diversity, and wellness.

Website: https://www.mcesc.org

Kids in New Directions (KIND)

Mission: its a free inner-city youth program to provide help with academic classes, for kids to be creative, serve the community, and add life skills.

Website: https://www.kinddayton.org/

The Dakota Center

Mission/Vision: to be a leading institution and collaborator within Inner-West Dayton, while providing premier services and programming for youth and seniors.

Website: https://dakotacenter.org/

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