“Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” Horace Mann
Horace Mann believed that if we educated children equally, brought them together in a common learning environment, it would raise the lower class in the social scale. The thought seems basic enough. We should educate all children equally so they have a fair chance to become successful. Unfortunately, when looking at the statistics, we are not any closer than we were when schools were segregated, to equalizing education for all. (Hanushek, 2016) We have made some progress. High school graduation rates have increase, as are the number of students entering college, but our national education system is far from equal or fair for all children. There are students attending schools with the latest resources and technology, while others are expected to perform just as well when they are not receiving the same supplies. Not educating all our children equally, is causing consequences that will have major impact on our economy. We have the highest poverty rate of a first world country. (Equity and Excellence Commission, 2014) The achievement gap between those who are getting the highest quality education compare to those who are not, is wide and continues to grow. It shows a large discrepancy between how minority and white students are performing. The topic of achievement gaps is a highly researched and discussed topic among leaders, but we have yet come up with a solution to solve this problem. Although, closing the achievement is a daunting task, countries like Finland, have proven that it can be done. There are currently policies that have great intentions, but are not being followed through well. Programs have been implemented on a small scale in cities and towns, are proving to be effective and making some impacts around the country, but we need to, collectively as a nation, make drastic changes to the education system so that it is equal and fair for all children.
Nature and scope of the social problem
The issue of education inequality has many facets. There is not one influence that can be seen as the main culprit. First, there are the issues that stem from inside the school system. Teachers are the most influential aspect in schools. They are the people who make direct contact with students on a day-to-day basis. In schools that serve low performing students, the trend is higher rates of inexperienced and untrained teachers. This leads to high turnover rates which causes instability and chaos in the school. When effective and efficient teachers are lacking in a school, student achievement drops. Students fall through the crack and they are promoted to the next grade level when they are not ready. This is hardly preparing our children for jobs of the future. “If schools produce graduates who are destined to reproduce the concurrent social arrangements, the chances of upward mobility for disadvantaged young people are low.” (Cookson, Jr., 2015) Resources are another issue that is inequitable. Although, school funding has increased, the resources are not being allocated fairly. How much we spend per student is a huge variance. In California, for example, the ratio between the highest-spending districts compared to the lowest-spending districts is more than 3-1. (Equity and Excellence Commission, 2013) Schools located in an area where the property values are high, reap benefits that schools surrounded by low socioeconomic property will never see. “The present system of locally funded schools (except for Department of Defense schools) fails to educate these children at grade level, thus sustaining intergenerational poverty.” (Portes, 2008)
Secondly, there are factors outside of schools, that contribute to the gap of educational achievement. 22% of school age children in our nation live under the poverty line! (Beatty, 2013) These children are behind before even stepping on school grounds. They come to school hunger, cold, tired, and sick. It is unfair to expect them to perform on par with their counterparts who are getting all their basic needs met. As well, children living in lower socioeconomic areas witness more violence in their home and neighborhood. They come to school carrying burdens that they are not responsible for. There are not enough resources in the neighborhood to help support the children. Parents of these students lack knowledge on how to advocate for their children in school to help get them the best possible education. Parents of poor performing students do not read to their children and are not capable of helping with homework. They, themselves, may not have much education beyond high school or speak English well enough to communicate with teachers and administrators. Many children of low socioeconomic status come from single parent homes, in which, that parent needs to work multiple jobs to keep food on the table. They are not available to make parent-teacher conferences or be available to pick children up from after school tutoring or mentoring programs.
The consequences of an inequitable education system are first, achievement gaps. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “Achievement gaps occur when one group of students (such as, students grouped by race/ethnicity, gender) outperforms another group and the difference in average scores of the two groups is statistically significant (that is, larger than the margin of error).” The 2011 NAEP Mathematics Assessments, reports that black students score over 30 points less than white students and Hispanics more than 20 points less. The gap between black and white students have only minimally changed since the desegregation of schools over 50 years ago, as well as, the gap between Hispanic and white students. Students from high-income families are out performing students of low-income families in an alarming rate. The gap has grown 30 to 40 percent higher than it was 25 years ago. (NCES, 2017) This is costing our nation severely from an economic stand point. It would add $50 trillion to our economy if Hispanic and black students performed, as successfully as white students in the next 80 years. We cannot afford to continue the way we are educating our children. “By 2020, 65% of jobs will require at least some college education or training beyond high school.” (Cookson, Jr., 2015) The number of people in poverty will only increase at this rate.
The Every Student Succeeds Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2015. Along with its predecessor, No Child Left Behind, these policies’ intentions are to address the education inequity issue. The goals of both acts are to increase accountability of schools to raise achievement of disadvantaged students. The Common Core State Standard Initiative, which has been adopted by most states, outline learning goals by grade level in Mathematics and English/Language Arts (ELA) is another current program. The intentions are to have a clear and concise framework for educators.
How are social workers involved with dealing with the problem?
Social workers are affecting change directly and indirectly. First, they are part of the discussion of education policy. Social workers and social scientist research current policies and procedures to evaluate if they are making education more equitable for all children. They see that the achievement gap is not only caused by school factors, but how a student’s environment has great effect on their ability to perform in school. On a more direct level, school social workers are typically assigned to disadvantaged students. They may be working one-on-one with the student to line them up with tutors or interpreters for them to be more successful. As well, they could be working with the families to direct them to services for medical and housing needs, job training or search, child care and more. School social workers can educate teachers on the outside school factors that contribute to lack of achievement. They help explain the cultural aspect of students from diverse backgrounds and guide them on how to work with this population of students.
What are some of the current operational or proposed solutions for the problem?
It has been shown that brain development and cultivation is crucial in the first 3-5 years of life. Children who are prepared to enter kindergarten are more likely to be successful all through their school career. Children who come from low income families are already behind the curve because they are not getting that support early on. Head Start was put into place in 1965 as a summer program intended to help students from low income families prepare for entering school. It has grown and now with Early Head Start works at trying to meet social, medical, and mental needs of low income families. Unfortunately, the results are not equal across the board of how effective these programs currently are. Public prekindergarten programs offered to minorities and the poor are inadequate in preparing them for entering school. (Porter, 2015) Another proposed solution is “Promise Neighborhoods”. An example is the Harlem Children’s Zone, which is a 97-block community adopts the “wraparound” approach in which they offer charter schools combined with social, medical, and community support services. This is no cost to the families they serve, but there are high costs to running them. The effectiveness of wraparound schools is still being studied, but the forecast looks positive for these models of schools. Another iteration of wraparound programs are community schools. In these models, the services are provided within the school. These schools provide a high-quality education, linked with extracurricular activities, health services and support for college. (Beatty, 2013)
What are your recommendations?
It will take a united effort to equalize education and close the achievement gap in our nation. It must be something that takes high priority in our government, especially if we consider the economic implications on the future of our country if we do not. We cannot afford to ignore this issue. “For all of our initiatives and good intentions, our nation has been unable to ensure that each and every American child can attend a quality public school.” (Equity in Excellence Commission, 2013, p. ). My recommendation starts with meeting the needs of the whole child. Before academics can begin, children must have their basic needs met. No one can learn or be truly effective if they are hungry, tired, or hurting. We should provide wraparound services in neighborhoods of high poverty levels. There could be programs like a community health center, after school tutoring and childcare, extracurricular activities, and mentoring. When the basic needs of children are met, we can start equalizing the achievement gap.
I believe that since teachers are the ones that have the most daily effect on students, that is where we need to start inside the school. We need to make teaching a competitive profession. Countries with the strongest education system, recruit the top ranked graduates to be in the classroom. Not everyone can teach. Once we have the most effective and efficient teacher in a classroom, we need to pay them a competitive wage. Raising salaries for teachers, including the starting pay and where they top off, may have a high cost at first, but the savings would come in the end. There would be less turnover in this profession. We would spend less on services for remediation, drop-out prevention and other programs that are needed for poor performing students. A highly qualified and effective teacher is capable of encouraging students to reach their highest potential. Teachers hold the key. Many people can think of a teacher that was highly influential, whether positive or negative, in their lives. As well, schools need to be funded fairly. Monies per child should be equal nationwide. We need to hold states and schools accountable for how they are distributing the money. Property taxes should go into a pool for the district or county to distribute, instead of those around higher property value receiving the benefits. Resources for every child should be equitable. School buildings need to be affectively pleasing. Children spend 7-8 hours a day in these buildings. It should be a place that encourages learning and exploration.
We cannot allow the trend of educational achievement gaps to continue. In order for education to be the “great equalizer”, we need to teach each and every child equally. your essay in here…