Education & Inequality Midterm

4 types of public schools in Chicago (Kozol)

1. Neighborhood schools - for any students who lives within their boundary 2. Selective schools - must apply to, seats filled through tier system, students across city 3. Magnet schools - admit students within boundary based on lottery first (and open seats --> tier system) 4. Charter schools - set their own enrollment policies

The 3 elements of education as an institution

1. Structure - form/purpose of education 2. Process - interactions; teaching, learning, communication, decision making, formal vs. informal activities 3. Experience - culture

Outcomes of Urban Prep

30% students leave before senior year (attrition rates) Higher graduation rates 91% students going to class every day Higher test scores (not significantly better) 100% college acceptance rate (reflects staff/counselors) *Still question of can education totally help a kid that still has so many external disadvantages at home (environment, $)

"The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling" - Halpern, Eliot, Bigler et al.

A journal written that confronts single-sex schooling and questions whether it is really beneficial. Some key points: -No evidence from brain research saying that boys and girls learn differently -May promote sexism and gender stereotypes -When groups are labeled this infers that the groups differ in important ways -SS education "reduces boys' and girls' opportunities to work together in a supervised, purposeful environment" -"Beyond fostering academic skills, public education has many goals, including preparing children for mixed-sex workplaces, families, and citizenry"

Culture

A shared way of living among a group (language, food, behavior, lifestyle, norms) Influences what is taught (what is culturally valuable)

Negative cases: exceptions, people fighting back, how people actually behave (DaVila)

Assimilation (adopt mainstream culture, norms to participate in new society) Stereotypes School choice Agency - when groups have a sense of empowerment, control

Deculturalization

Assimilation; actively discouraging native culture Examples: Dress code Pledge of allegiance Penalizing teachers Language (not having bilingual services available) Holidays History based on white/Europeans Visual representations around the classroom (books, posters) --> scholastic book: A Birthday Cake for George Washington Textbooks with small paragraphs on minorities

Title IX

Bans discrimination based on gender

Difference in educational attainment (Duncan and Murnane)

Children no longer exceeding schooling of their parents Attainment - "how much education you're getting"

College today (Duncan and Murnane)

Cost of tuition is far more than family income Some kids have to work instead to support the family Not knowledge about how to find resources from family or schools Can't qualify for merit scholarships --> not prepared for college/higher education

The immigrant paradox (Crosnoe, Turkey, & Lopez)

Despite social/economic disadvantages, immigrants perform better in schools than non-immigrant counterparts (especially first generation) Why? What does this say about our educational system? -Segregation, language/bilingual is an asset, being 1st generation --> a lot of family pressure to achieve

How do we know there is inequality? (Kozol)

Different outcomes Differences in wages/resources Difference in staff (quality/quantity of teachers) Persistent patterns (tied to schools groups) of inequality

Barriers that neighborhood schools face (Kozol)

Dilapidated Nutrition/health care Overcrowding Understaffing (teachers/support staff) Poor curriculum Books (wrong order, not enough) Teachers Parental support (bad experiences, educational, financial strains) Not setting up students to go to college Dropout rates Tracking (ability based) - racial, ethnic, socioeconomic pattern

Lower-income parents (Duncan and Murnane)

Don't use lots of words around children when infants Less supervision, they're working Can't take to organized activities (helicopter parents) Tell them to go play down the street If kids don't have educated parents, don't see the application of education in role models (for some maybe this is what motivates them to want better for themselves) Activities aren't free (even if it's free for kids, not for adults)

Restoring Opportunity: The Crisis of Inequality and the Challenge for American Education by Duncan and Murnane

Duncan and Murnane write about education pre 1970s and post 70s, focusing on the contrasting experiences of four boys: Anthony, Alexander, Garrett, and Harold. This book focuses on achievement gaps, the events that lead up to college for different students, concentrations of lower-income students, parent involvement, teacher techniques and skills, and the difference in educational attainment.

Problems within CPS (Kozol)

Economic segregation/funding decisions Parents (can sometimes make up the difference by raising $, donating time, finding corporate sponsors) Selective/magnet ("private within public") Limited budgets Tracks Political favors Gerrymandering Legality? Punishment

How education interacts with other institutions in society

Economy - paying for school, paying taxes Religion - some schools affiliate, some don't Health - vaccines, forms Family - assumptions made, parent-teacher conferences

Equality of outcome

Equal final products/outcomes of education Not basis of our system/what we're trying to do

Equality of starting place

Equalize early on

Problems we face to get to equality

Everything being standardized Equitable doesn't always mean the same (the same amount of $ doesn't go the same places)

Positives of our education system

Free education is offered Tracking can be beneficial (initial intent/promise vs. outcome - segregation) Teaching how to be a good community member/peer relationships

Linear model (Crosnoe, Turkey, & Lopez)

Groups come to country and become more integrated into culture/society -Idea is that children of immigrants will be more educated/better off than their parents -Public schools would be the main vehicle of assimilation -The more you assimilate, the more successful you'll become

Redlining (Kozol)

Housing discrimination

Open systems approach

How schools fit into the larger society Input (materials/students/teachers) --> output (graduates, new knowledge, obsolete information, emerging culture, new technology, wastes, completed products) --> (feedback loop, constant adaptation)

Single-sex education in public schools (not many public schools are SS) affects...

How schools treat groups differently How students experience schooling *Difference leads to inequality

CPS today

Huge school system (~400,000 students) Diversity Spending budget over $5 billion Over 40,000 positions of workers Schools close proximity very different Bad reputation/headlines/media Environment around schools influences/affects schooling

Immigration in CPS

Immigration status not kept track by CPS

No Child Left Behind (2006)

In order to improve accountability in public schools, students need to be tested Changed regulations regarding SS education

Structures/systems of social stratification

Inequality; class/socioeconomic status (SES) Positions (people don't want to confront), rights/responsibilities/expectations, persists over time, hierarchy

Big question of Urban Prep: where are we assessing success in comparison to? Where they were before or with students in surrounding neighborhoods?

Is Urban Prep just getting kids that were below grade level to keep up to normal pace, or is it accelerating students beyond average?

Benefits of SS education (some claims)

It's important to have SS schooling as an option for students who learn best/thrive in those environments Promotes focus Curriculum tailored to boys/girls (different learning styles across genders) Promotes sense of community To provide women with more educational opportunities *But...lack of scientific evidence (pseudoscience)

Why more students go to college today

Job market is more competitive (economic shift) 2/3 people leaving high school go on to higher education More accepting of alternative approaches Security Technology

Pre 1970s (Duncan and Murnane)

Kids getting more education than their parents Intergenerational mobility - kid in working class families goes to college (kid changes social status)

Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol

Kozol discusses the contrasted differences between urban neighborhood schools and affluent suburban districts. He writes about his experiences visiting different schools and focuses on his visits like his trip Rye High School. He talks about the role of money in education and the formation of "two separate systems" within the public school system. He also talks about a circular phenomenon that exists between wealth and education. Schools can be a way for parents to pass down their statuses (whether elite or poor) to their children. Kozol highlights the obstacles that low-income schools and families face going to Chicago public schools.

Concentration of economically disadvantaged kids (Duncan and Murnane)

Lack of financial support Receive more novice teachers Less involved/advocating parents (lack of education, time, and resources/not on the same level as the teachers) Fewer students doing well Concentration of behavioral issues (teachers with classroom management skills are strict over enthusiastic) Peer effects More immigrant children (teachers not getting support they need) Single-parent households More moving among lower-income families (lack of job security, safety, foreclosure) -Teachers have to spend time acclimating new students -Feel like less of a part of the community, hard to foster relationships/social capital

How does education promote gender socialization/roles

Lining up in the hallways (elementary school) Roles of principals (male) and nurses (female) Decorations in kindergarten classrooms (colors) Gym class Dress code Sex-ed, health classes

Davila: article on Puerto Rican students

Long wait lists for early education of Latino kids in Chicago Pushover system Younger siblings following their older siblings through school instead of going to better private schools

What is causing these differences? (Kozol)

Money Resources Environment Affluent schools spend more on students and pay teachers more than CPS schools on average

Money and inequality (Kozol)

Money is limited More $ isn't always better Don't want to take $ away from military or wealthy communities People want to keep their money in their districts Someone has to fill those (McDonald jobs)

Chicago schools with few disadvantaged students (Kozol)

New Trier High School (top rated in country)

CPS schools with disadvantaged students (Kozol)

North Lawndale, Bethune Elementary, Manley High School

How does Urban Prep do it?

Positive school culture Amazing opportunities - study abroad, visiting college campuses, "Little Obamas" at Obama's inaugural address Extended academic day/year schedule Formal dress code - schools mimic where they will end up (white collar jobs), dress to perform Fundraising - $ important

Urban Prep

Public single-sex (SS) charter school in Chicago for boys to prep for college "It's tough to be what you don't see" --> provides role models Many economically disadvantaged Come in performing poorly/below grade level 15-20% IEP (Individualized Education Program) Admission is a lottery system (but obviously there are some criteria)

How does deculturalization happen?

Purposeful text? No one wants to change the norm Ignorance Shame --> "we'll make it into something else" Never talk about the disparity in the textbook, even if the issues are addressed in history Majority white teachers (hierarchy, authority) --> but...don't want to segregate schools more (must fix classes)

NY schools with few disadvantaged students (Kozol)

Riverdale (NW Bronx) Rye High School (NY suburb)

Equality of opportunity

Same chance for greatness/education The ideal/goal of our education system

U.S. structure of education

Sequence/level - age Governance - superintendent, teacher, students Decentralized - local school systems

External factors in education

Social institutions Social history Structure Cultural norms/values

Why have institutions?

Social order, efficiency

Innersectionality

Social statuses (race, gender, SES) come together to form your educational experiences/how people treat you i.e. Urban Prep uses these "disadvantages" as active resistance

NYC school with disadvantaged students (Kozol)

South Bronx

Consequences of deculturalization

Stressful to not be able to have true identity (extra burden in school) School no longer comforting matrix Crushes dreams when students see what they cannot be

After 1970s (Duncan and Murnane)

Technological advances College kids getting paid more Family income for low-earning families has stagnated at best Widening income gap

Achievement gap (Duncan and Murnane)

Test scores (high-stakes testing), attainment As students get older, bigger gap

Ways in which the education system in the U.S. encourages inequality

The way schools criminalize you/security (ex: school to prison pipeline) Private schools What is taught in the classroom Success (budget influenced, affects experiences) Economic status --> SAT tutors --> better colleges Idea that schools are "sorters" (keep people on the trajectory they are already on) How teachers communicate with students School choice, vouchers for private school

Why is it hard to know if it's the single-sex aspect of Urban Prep that is helping the school thrive?

There are too many independent variables

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Tied to race and ethnicity

Immigrant communities (Crosnoe, Turkey, & Lopez)

Tight-nit culture for immigrants to come to in the U.S. --> inclined to find comfortable communities --> concentration of groups When kids move --> down generations (not 1st) --> can be detrimental to education *problematic

Structure of education as an institution

To influence society (health, economy, family, military, media)

American Dream (Duncan and Murnane)

Upward mobility "Rags to riches" Meritocracy = where you end up is based on merit Potential in the 1970s (technological advantage helped people with college degrees, hurt others) -Technology replaces mundane jobs, need more skills to get jobs

Nationally developing two public schools systems (Duncan and Murnane)

Urban, suburban

Difference today with immigrants (Crosnoe, Turkey, & Lopez)

Where immigrants are coming from, cultural acceptance, how the group is received by the U.S., recently more SE/racial/ethnic diversity, shift in labor market/economy (used to be able to get factory jobs with no education, now need to have skills)

Disadvantaged urban neighborhoods vs. affluent suburbs (Kozol)

White flight to suburbs Cities have to sustain things that suburbs don't have (parks, universities - no property tax) The higher the property taxes of suburbs, the more resources they have

Different kind of job market today (Duncan and Murnane)

You used to be able to come to the U.S. with nothing and work your way up, but things are different now

Internal factors in education

"Genetic" innate skill --> not sociological Culture of poverty (blames groups for being disadvantaged, reaffirms the idea that there are inherent differences)

Achievement ideology

"Starting from nothing and building up to something"; the idea that schools give this opportunity (cultural value)

3 types of inequality (there are more: public vs. private schools, rural vs. urban vs. suburban districts, within state vs. federal vs. global level) (Kozol)

1. Intra-district inequality (within a district) => ex: neighborhood vs. magnet/selective schools (like a private system within public system) 2. Inter-district inequality (across or between districts) => ex: CPS vs. New Trier NYC vs. Rye, NY greater contrast, worse differences 3. Tracking (within school inequality)