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School leaders juggle the often-inconsistent goals of maintaining support of middle- and upper-income families for public education and, at the same time, implementing policies to strengthen equity for low-income students. Author Iris C. Rotberg describes how these tradeoffs play out in different communities, the role of concentrated poverty and segregation, and potential options for making equity gains while maintaining widespread support for public education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity initiatives and critical race theory (CRT) have recently emerged as an urgent agenda for K-12 schools. Jung-ah Choi argues that CRT is a useful framework but that teaching CRT principles to young children may have deleterious effects. In particular, it could undermine two bedrock notions: educational equality and meritocracy. It is not children but adults (specifically, educators) who need to focus on how racism has shaped school policies, curricula, instructional methods, and day-to-day interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While some believe there is little need to be concerned about girls in education, they continue to face such ongoing stereotyping, biases, and harassment that follow them into their careers. Shannon Andrus, Charlotte Jacobs, and Peter Kuriloff explore the current state of girls’ education and discuss importance of an intersectional lens that takes into account other identities, such as race, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. Using data from a large-scale qualitative study of girls and teachers, the authors recommend ways to address and overcome these obstacles, including the use of active gender consciousness in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If education leaders aspire to confront and undo the severe racial inequities that exist in so many of our schools and school systems, then they will have to create opportunities for teachers and staff to engage in productive discussions about questions that many of them will be reluctant to consider Given how complex and how deeply felt are Americans’ beliefs about race and equity, these topics cannot be addressed effectively through the sorts of occasional one-time workshops that all-too-often pass for professional development in K-12 education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Schools of Opportunity Project recognizes public high schools that employ research-based practices to close opportunity gaps. The commended schools illustrate how school quality can and should be measured by far more than just test scores. In doing so, they offer exemplars and a path forward for the nation’s schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Civil Rights Project was hired to identify barriers to equitable access in Buffalo (N.Y.) Public Schools’ criteria schools and propose solutions, which, if accepted by both parties, could resolve the civil rights violations and create more equitable access to those schools. The researchers found that students of color, low-income students, and English language learners faced barriers in four areas: information, preparation, admission criteria, and availability of choices. Researchers crafted recommendations about how to make Buffalo’s choice system fair. The school system accepted many proposed changes in its outreach and recruitment process but refused to end its reliance on test scores or expand the supply of high-achieving schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edited by Angelina Castagno (University of Minnesota Press, 2019) Recommended by Nina Weisling and Wendy Gardiner Ideologies are the air we breathe, invisible until named. Angelina Castagno's edited book, The Price of Nice: How Good Intentions Maintain Educational Inequality, gives name to socialized niceness, a common and particularly problematic ideology with real implications for classrooms, students, and communities. The chapters in The Price of Nice can be read sequentially or out of order, providing readers with a clear understanding of what niceness is and how it actively works against educational justice in K-16 settings. [Extracted from the article]

Four New Jersey school districts worked together to increase student achievement by applying a number of strategies focused on getting traditionally underrepresented students to take more AP courses. The districts are members of the New Jersey Network of Superintendents (NJNS), comprising 15 superintendents who work together to develop systemwide approaches to educational equity. Contrary to some parents’ expectations, placing more students into AP courses did not result in their being watered down nor in test score declines overall. All four districts reported success in increasing access without significantly affecting average scores. Nonetheless, challenges persist, including ensuring access to AP classes is and continues to be equitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite complaints about a “boy crisis” in schools, girls in many parts of the world continue to face unnecessary obstacles to getting an adequate education. Many experience sexual assault and harassment at school, lack bathroom facilities they need during their menstrual periods, and must contend with gender stereotyping that keeps them from expressing their true identities. Sally A. Nuamah suggests that feminist schools address these inequities and put all children on an equitable footing as they pursue an education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the educational leadership model of teacher and leader preparation program Teach for America (TFA). Topics discussed include the beliefs of TFA members and alumni regarding achievement gap and educational inequality, the leadership quality of excellence, and role models of TFA members including StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee, former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein, and superintendent of the Los Angeles, California Unified School District John Deasy.

The article discusses strategies teachers can implement to foster educational equalization among disadvantaged and low-income students, including increased parent participation, the use of rigorous curricular standards for at-risk students, and parent-teacher communication. Topics include the role poverty plays in the U.S. achievement gap, student engagement, health services in schools, and the teaching of the arts in low-income schools.

The article discusses U.S. public schools' school improvement plans (SIPs) they submit to state authorities, focusing on the question of whether SIPs aim to increase educational equity to the exclusion of the educational excellence of high-achieving students. The author looks at U.S. educational outcomes in comparison with international peers in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The article offers research into the SIPs of 15 effective northern Virginia high schools, and the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in particular, with its focus on mastery learning, student ethics, and school environment for high academic achievement.

The article discusses the educational policies of U.S. President Barack Obama in light of the 2012 presidential campaign, with a comparison to the educational policies of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The author looks at Obama's policies that encourage equal educational opportunity, as well as his stance on educational accountability through the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the Common Core State Standards. Topics include the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on educational funding in the U.S., Obama's decision to allow waivers to states to free them from requirements of the NCLB, as well as Obama's policies directed at tackling the costs of higher education with federal Pell Grants.

The article discusses strategies to close the achievement gap in the U.S. and increase educational equality, opportunity, and standards in U.S. education. The authors look at school improvement programs that resulted from the standards-based education reform of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law. Also discussed is the impact of poverty on the international rank of U.S. student proficiency and education ratings according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Topics include the importance of early childhood education, after school and other expanded learning programs, and positive family-school relationships.

This article presents information about a school funding initiative used successfully in the Netherlands and being used in the United States in several cities, including Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, California, and Houston, Texas. The authors explain that weighted student funding (WSF) involves public funds following students on a per pupil basis to the schools they attend, with different amounts for each student in accordance with his or her educational needs. The article also notes that the Netherlands has been using this funding approach for 25 years and its students rank high in records compiled by UNICEF.

The article discusses how U.S. federal education policies can be changed to aid at-risk children. The author notes how federal policies have focused on the improvement of schools but have ignored the effects of poverty on educational equality. She notes studies by researchers Susan Gray, David Weikart and Herb Garber on how economic environment affects education and how early intervention programs can improve the academic achievement of low-income students. She comments on the effect of community programs to aid families and recommends that federal policies focus on interventions based on student needs, coordinate education, health and social services and include educational accountability measures.

The article discusses how U.S. federal education policies can be established to help school districts. The author comments on how the U.S. government has urged local and state governments to improve academic achievement and educational equality. He suggests Title 1 of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have failed to improve the performance of disadvantaged students due to lack of coordination with local education programs. He notes how decentralization affects federal education initiatives and recommends that educational practices be made more transparent and education research receive more funding. He suggests educational governance be made a more visible part of political agendas.

The article discusses the need for changes in teacher beliefs to accommodate cultural, economic and linguistic diversity in the student body. The authors suggest that attempts to alter teacher behavior without addressing teacher beliefs have caused school improvement efforts to fail and suggest that educational leaders should examine their own beliefs regarding diversity and cultural awareness. They recommend the use of educational data reflecting racial and socioeconomic factors to reveal social inequities that can limit students and propose the creation of learning communities to offer teachers training in cultural knowledge. Teachers can then reassess their teaching methods and professional development resources can be offered to additional faculty members.

The only thing that more testing will tell us is what we already know: The schools that disadvantaged children attend are not being given the supports necessary to produce achievement gains. Students cannot be tested out of poverty, and while NCLB did take us a step forward by requiring schools to produce evidence that students were learning, it took us several steps backward when that evidence was reduced to how well a student performed on a standardized test. Why not give parents the right to opt out of tests when they realize states have not done the work of guaranteeing their children are being adequately prepared? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Urban League president and CEO Marc H. Morial weighs in on what he sees as the need for continued annual assessments of students, rejecting the course of opting out that has taken hold in some places across America. Assessment data provides students with the opportunity to receive personalized supports and necessary interventions to achieve academic success Morial said. All parents want their children to succeed in school and they have the right to know how well and in what ways their children are excelling or struggling. Education stakeholders, including parents, also have a right to know where education systems are making progress and where they need intervention. Statewide annual assessments are the only objective, consistent, and comparable measure of student success. Assessments are a part of life and while they are not comfortable, they are necessary. We wouldn’t ask a parent not to take their child to the doctor for their annual check-up, said Morial. Similarly, we should not encourage parents to skip their child’s annual academic check-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details the results of the public opinion poll conducted to determine the public's attitudes toward the public schools in the U.S. as of September 1990. Information on the national goals for education articulated by the administration of U.S. President George Bush; Discussion on the results of the poll survey; Trends in support for parental choice; Reasons for choosing a school; Parental control of public schools; Retention in grade and dropout rates; Equal educational opportunity.

The article discusses curriculum inequality and school reform in the U.S. There were those who believed that the intellectual, moral and even biological differences among various groups of adolescents are vast and immutable. This inherent group differences include differences in students' potential or school learning. The curriculum that was thought to be suitable for an advanced group was viewed as inappropriate for those of lesser capabilities. The traditional academic curriculum viewed public schooling as the preparation and certification of students for work. Tracking was seen as a way to incorporate student differences and the sorting function of schools into a form of democratic schooling. However, some directions for altering the practice of tracking exist. One way is to reorganize schools so that similar students are not grouped for instruction. This follows the consideration for heterogeneous classrooms. any curriculum experts argue that the scope and sequence approach does a disservice to students, regardless of whether they are slow or quick and regardless of whether they are in heterogeneous or tracked class. It is suggested that the curriculum that is well-suited to diverse groups of students is the curriculum to be preferred in all settings. Research on the sociology of the classroom has identified kinds of changes in the task and reward structures of classrooms, in student interaction, and in evaluation processes that can facilitate learning in heterogeneous classrooms.

In this article the authors discuss the study conducted by them related to sexism in schools and colleges of the U.S. It states that a study on fourth, sixth and eighth grade students revealed that boys were more involved in interactions than girls and girl students experienced different school environment than boys. It mentions that teachers gave more attention to boys which could be due to the fact that boys demand attention, but this affected girls as more attention means more educational gains. It highlights that college teachers who were trained to treat children equally achieved equality in verbal communication than those who were not trained.

In this article the author focuses on myths related to sex equality in the education system of the U.S. It states that student achievement and academic performance are foundation of one of the most prevalent myth which is that girls are better in verbal ability and boys are better in mathematics. It highlights that this might not be true as there are contradicting data available showing boys doing better in verbal ability and girls in mathematics. It reports that another myth is that school environment is cordial towards girls and not boys as schools are more concerned about behavior of boys and ignore girls learning deficits. It informs that it is myth that girls with disabilities get more attention than disabled boys as schools are more supportive towards such boys.