2.
Social Injustice is a common problem facing our
education system today. Many students are being
cut short within their education due to several
issues within our society. These issue range from
teacher qualifications, economic status, lack of
resources, standardized testing, achievement
gaps, discrimination, and the list is endless. The
biggest social injustice our schools system faces
however is the issue of economical
discrimination. Schools in areas of higher poverty
are lacking the resources necessary for success
and it stems from the very beginning.
3. How
does economic status effect our
Education system?
Well lets look at the very beginning. Children
who grow up facing higher levels of poverty are
less likely to succeed. How? From the beginning
parents cannot afford the same educational
advancements as parents not facing poverty.
Children facing higher poverty are not engaged in
community activities.
They are less likely to attend preschool or head start
programs.
They are more likely to grow up in area’s of higher
crime.
4.
“Schools in low-SES communities
suffer from high levels of
unemployment, migration of the
best qualified teachers, and low
educational achievement
“(Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, &
Russ, 2009).
“A teacher’s years of experience
and quality of training is correlated
with children’s academic
achievement (Gimbert, Bol, &
Wallace, 2007). Yet, children in
lowincome schools are less likely to
have well-qualified teachers. In
fact, of high school math teachers
in lowincome school districts 27%
majored in mathematics in college
as compared to 43% of teachers
who did so in more affluent school
districts” (Ingersoll, 1999).
5. “Children with higher SES backgrounds
were more likely to be proficient on tasks
of addition, subtraction, ordinal
sequencing, and math word problems
than children with lower SES
backgrounds” (Coley, 2002).
6.
7. 100
80
60
40
20
0
low income 5th grade
low income 10th grade
non low income 5th grade
non low income 10th grade
Reading
Math
Science
8. Are
you convinced that economic status
matters to student success?
Well just in case you aren’t lets take a look at
reading scores for children in Baltimore inner city
schools, verses other central Maryland counties.
9.
10. Ok
you are, at least you say you, but let’s
take a look at the difference in student
success for children who are on free or
reduced lunch programs, verses students who
are not!
11.
12. Preschool
enrollment in the U.S is among the
lowest in the world. Preschool is essentially
education in it’s purest form. This provides
educators an opportunity to prepare children
for school. So why is enrollment so low? Is it
lack of understanding or head start
education? Money that prevents families
from enrollment? Or is it the fact that in the
United states, preschool education is
optional?
13.
14.
15. We
need to begin by enforcing early
education in children!
Children learn the most within the first 5
years of their life, yet school is not
mandatory until age 5. Why?
16. Policy
makers need to begin reforming
schools within school. How?
Giving control back to teachers and then holding
schools and teachers accountable for student
success.
Until Schools, school districts and teachers have
control over their students education and we cannot
hold teachers accountable for student performance.
17. Funding
must be fair in order for education
to be fair.
Funding needs to be evenly distributed among all
schools.
Student enrollment = amount of funding
Test scores and performance should not = funding
Community involvement =student success
18.
Why?
Families who face higher poverty are less likely
to be involved in student success because:
More working families
More one parent household
More struggles within the home
Higher rates of crime, drugs or domestic
violence
More people to a household
19.
20.
Schools need to begin to get parents involved with their
children’s education.
Parent teacher communication
School family communication
Community school communication
Teacher student communication
Unless everyone is involved in a child’s education a child
cannot be success.
21.
22.
Although no one can successful dispute that economic status does
not affect a child’s success in school it doesn’t mean that
children who face higher levels of poverty cannot be successful.
Children who face higher levels of poverty are more likely to
come from homes that are facing environmental factors such
as, financial difficulties, one parent
households, hunger, domestic violence, physical/emotional
abuse, violence, drugs, and less parent involvement. With the
correct educational reform we can still see these kids succeeding
in school and in life. Schools need to work with families to ensure
parent involvement with their children. Communities need to
become more involved, and policy makers need to ensure funding
is fair to all schools, and not just watch poor schools become
poorer. . Schools in areas of higher poverty are lacking the
resources necessary for success and it stems from the very
beginning so we need to go back to education in the purest form
and make changes from there, however education should be fair
for all students, and not just for lower poverty students.
23.
http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsh
eet-cyf.aspx
Marshall, C. & Oliva, M. (2010). Leadership for social
justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd
ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
(Fratiglioni, Winblad, & von Strauss, 2007; Karp et
al., 2004; Fratiglioni & Rocca, 2001; Evans et al., 1997)
(Purcell-Gates, McIntyre, & Freppon, 1995).
(Steptoe & Marmot, 2004; Colhoun, Hemingway, &
Poulter, 1998; Kaplan and Keil, 1993)
(Weissman et al., 1984; Goodman, 1999; Spencer et
al., 2002)