(Un)equal Opportunities? Class, Race and Education in America Elizabeth Steding – March 17, 2018

GoaLs/application Goals for today: In-Class applications: sharing information and online resources In-Class applications: reading non-fictional texts Interpreting charts and graphs listening (podcasts) cultural analysis/comparison (US/Germany) NOTE: I use the term „student“ rather than „pupil“

Opening Question

Make a list. You have 2 minutes. Opening Question What do you associate with schools in America? Make a list. You have 2 minutes.

How do schools in America (not) promote equality? Focus Question How do schools in America (not) promote equality?

Challenges to Equality Racial Segregation Housing Patterns School Funding Poverty All of these issues are connected

Historical Segregation Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) „separate but equal“ Brown v. Board of Education (1954) outlawed de jure racial segregation (but not de facto) Resources: Readers‘ Theater re-enactment of Brown Brown Teaching Materials from NEA (National Education Association) http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/brown-vs-board-teaching-resources.html

School de/Segregation Today What has happened in matters of school integration since Brown? Is America making progress? Why does it matter? Who is generally most affected by segregation? Take a few minutes to discuss

School Integration Overall, some progress was made after Brown vs. Board of Education, but since the 1980s, there have been discouraging downward trends. Many busing programs (that allowed inner-city minority students to attend white suburban schools) were discontinued. Why? Money Sense that they had achieved their goals Why busing didn‘t end school segregation (audio/text) https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/06/496411024/why-busing-didnt-end-school-segregation

Black students in White schools in the South Https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-return-of-school-segregation-in-eight-charts/ Oklahoma City vs. Dowell – see: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1990/89-1080

Who are the students?

Minority Schools https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/civil-rights-act-anniversary-racism-charts_n_5521104.html

School de/Segregation Today „apartheid schools“ – less than 1% white Nationwide: 15% of Black students and 14% of Latino students attended an apartheid school in 2012 In Chicago, 50% of Black students did https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/02/how-segregated-schools-built-segregated-cities/515373/ (apartheid school statistics)

School de/Segregation Today Resources Segregation Now (online investigative reporting) -includes a map showing segregation over time (by state) The Problem We All Live With (podcast – This American Life) Part 1 –Normandy, Missouri (forced integration) Part 2 – Hartford, Connecticut (active integration) This American Life is a radio program that covers all kinds of topics. It is an hour long and generally includes 2-4 segments. (Website has audio and transcripts) https://www.propublica.org/article/segregation-now-the-resegregation-of-americas-schools#james https://www.thisamericanlife.org/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one https://www.thisamericanlife.org/563/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-two

Housing Patterns Schools generally draw students from the local neighborhood Housing Policies / Public Housing / Redlining Housing Bias and Segregation (video) Teaching students about redlining (slide presentation link) Mapping Inequality (interactive maps, 1930-1940) Housing patterns don‘t just lead to segregation, but to funding differences.... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/us/housing-bias-and-the-roots-of-segregation.html https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=5/36.721/-96.943&opacity=0.8 http://wxxinews.org/post/connections-teaching-redlining-schools https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S_mCXpORNuNU-qFHMxBoEfsTTX16SXADpHBfDG2tcsM/edit#slide=id.g320760021c_0_0

School Funding Funding comes from the federal, state, and local governments (largely via property taxes) How is funding appropriated in Germany? (percentages?) How do you think it is appropriated in the US? (2014): Bund 7%, Länder 72%, Gemeinden 21%

School Funding in the US Federal: ca 10% State: ca 45% Local: ca 45% The result is a wide range of funding levels. (interactive map) https://nces.ed.gov/blogs/nces/post/financing-education-national-state-and-local-funding-and-spending-for-public-schools-in-2013 https://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem

Poverty Individual/Family poverty High-Poverty schools More than 75% of students eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch (reduced-price at 185% of poverty level, free lunch 130%) Family of 4: poverty $24,600 ($2050/mo) Reduced: $45,510 ($3793/mo) Free: $31,980 ($2665/mo) Disproportionally impacts minority students https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/04/10/2017-07043/child-nutrition-programs-income-eligibility-guidelines

Who attends high-poverty schools? https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_clb.asp Low-poverty schools: less than 25% eligible for free and reduced-priced lunch

High-Poverty Schools High-poverty schools face many challenges: At-risk students Less-experienced teachers Old/Dysfunctional buildings Fewer „enrichment“ classes (AP, music, art) Lower expectations

How Schools do foster opportunities and equality All is not lost, however! Some schools in high-poverty areas defy the odds Dispelling the Myth (short school portraits) ExtraOrdinary Districts (podcast) https://edtrust.org/dispelling_the_myth/#_blank

Integrated Schools and academic achievement https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/10/school-diversity-doesnt-hurt-white-kids-test-scores/411550/ For more information about the benefits of integrated schools for ALL students, see: https://tcf.org/content/facts/the-benefits-of-socioeconomically-and-racially-integrated-schools-and-classrooms/ NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress SES – Socio-Economic Status

How Schools do foster opportunities and equality More education generally equals higher wages, lower unemployment More education = more opportunities

More Education = Higher Wages Https://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm If interested in historical info, see Table A3 (1976-2016): https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/educational-attainment/cps-historical-time-series.html

How Schools do foster opportunities and equality More education generally equals higher wages Title I – extra federal funding for schools with 40% or more low income students Also: Free and Reduced Lunch program Poverty does not „doom“ students to low achievement

Questions? Thoughts? What information/ideas/statistics have caught your attention? Which issue do you think would be of most interest to your students?

Thank you! Feel free to contact me with further questions Elizabeth Steding stedel01@luther.edu Luther College www.luther.edu