High Stakes Test Scores And Graduation Rates

Epstein, K. K. (2006). A different view of urban schools: Civil rights, critical race theory,

In his essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,” Jonathan Kozol brings our attention to the apparent growing trend of racial segregation within America’s urban and inner-city schools (309-310). Kozol provides several supporting factors to his claim stemming from his research and observations of different school environments, its teachers and students, and personal conversations with those teachers and students.

Education is an integral part of society, School helps children learn social norms as well as teach them to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. In West Trenton Central High School was only 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. These school have lower test scores and high dropout rates. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often form low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial factors to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and

For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused

“Still Separate, Still Unequal”, written by Jonathan Kozol, describes the reality of urban public schools and the isolation and segregation the students there face today. Jonathan Kozol illustrates the grim reality of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face within todays public education system. In this essay, Kozol shows the reader, with alarming statistics and percentages, just how segregated Americas urban schools have become. He also brings light to the fact that suburban schools, with predominantly white students, are given far better funding and a much higher quality education, than the poverty stricken schools of the urban neighborhoods.

America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s

Ultimately the lack of reliable resources and preparation from underfunded schools leads African American students into being unprepared for college and jobs, once again reinforcing a vicious cycle of poverty within the community. Gillian B. White, a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, wrote a chilling article regarding the systematic racism that is deeply embedded in the American school system. In the article The Data: Race Influences School Funding, White states “At a given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students” (White). In this quote White explains the clear correlation of race and inadequate funding in the American school

Geography played a huge part in my experience with K-12 education. In the study titled, The Geography of Inequality: Why Separate Means Unequal in American Public Schools (2012), Logan, Minca, and Adar noted that inequalities of performance between schools that have a majority of minority groups and found connections between the performance of school when looking through the lens of race and ethnicity. Key findings included that African American, Hispanic, and Native American students were most likely to attend a school that averages between the 35th-40th percentile (Logan, Minca, Adar 2012). Three types of high poverty schools were outlined; location in city center, majority African American and mixed location, and majority Hispanic (Logan et al., 2012). The school district that I attended for my K-12 education experience was nearly 95% white, located in the suburbs, and had low poverty. My education experience directly counters the education experience that my student engage in on a daily basis. This has created an internal motivation to

“When we can predict how well students will do in school by looking at their zip code, we know we have a serious systemic problem” (Gloria Ladson-Billings 20). When we are able to forecast how a child will perform by where the child resides, then how can we say that every child is receiving quality education. The unsuccessful educational system infused into the United States is affecting the majority of minorities. In the United States students due to their race and social class, suffer from underfunded public schools, inexperienced teachers, and housing segregation, which in turn inhibit their opportunity to succeed through education. These difficulties plaque students from the very beginning of their public school experience and follow them throughout their academic life. There are a few solutions to these issues but they have to be implemented and enforced with a slow integration.

Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol explains the inequalities of school systems in different poor neighborhoods. Kozol was originally a teacher in a public school in Boston. This school didn’t have very many resources and was unable to keep teachers for very long. After pursuing other interests, Kozol took the time from 1988-1990 to meet with children and teachers in several different neighborhoods to better understand issues relating to the inequality and segregation in the school systems. Kozol writes from his own perspective as he visits six different cities and the poorest schools in those cities. These cities consist of East St. Louis in Illinois, the South Side of Chicago in Illinois, New York City, Camden in New Jersey, Washington

High Stakes Testing has been overly integrated in the education systems. High-stakes testing are used to determine grade retention, school curriculum, and whether or not students will receive a high school diploma (Myers, 2015). Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, high stakes testing has become the norm and mandating that students must pass a standardized test before moving up in grade. As a special education director, the focus is to ensure the student’s accommodations are being followed. Accommodations help increase students’ academic performance. “Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) call for students with disabilities to participate in the general education curriculum and in testing programs to the maximum extent possible for each student (Luke and Schwartz, 2010).” Throughout the years, high stakes testing is becoming more common than ever before. The reality is high stakes testing is one indicator in evaluating children with specific needs. This paper will discuss, the violation of the statutory language regarding assessment based on IDEA, the strategies and goals of a remediation, staff training, common Core and PARCC assessment, and funding for the remediation plan under IDEA.

The article “City Limits on Racial Equality: The Effects of City-Suburb Boundaries on Public School Desegregation” by David R. James(1989), discusses people’s perceptions while choosing schools on the basis of racial mix in students’ population of school. It is argued that public schools have to apply methods of desegregation to ensure proper racial mix in schools. White people from affluent families try to avoid schools that have large populations of black students. Some families that are able to afford living far from their work, also relocate to ensure that their children are not going to schools that have high percentages of black students.

Prior research on the causes and impact of school segregation has focused primarily on three areas: First, research documented the causes of segregation (Dorsey, 2015; Orfield, 2001). This body of research connects school districting, and the affordability of residential housing to the creation of segregated White and segregated Minority public schools districts. Second, research focused on the impact of segregation on student academic performance (Card, D. & Rothstein, J., 2005). This research has identified an achievement gap between segregated White and segregated Minority public school students. This research connects the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition of public schools with school performance indicators such as student performance on standardized assessments, graduation rates, dropout rates, and the percentage of students going to two and four year colleges after graduating. Third, research examined the efficacy of efforts to reduce racial isolation through choice-based programming (McDermott, K., Bruno, G., & Varghese, A., 2002). This research found that choice-based programming has had a marginal impact on the creation of integrated schools. Collectively, this research suggest that: (1) Housing patterns and school district residency requirements have created large numbers of public schools that are racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically segregated, (2) Efforts to eliminate segregation through choice-based programming have been marginally

Urban school districts are defined as education facilities that provide education to students who live in metropolitan areas. Urban school districts exist within areas with a large population of students living in the area. Urban school districts tends to lack funds needed to create a successful work environment for the students. “Poverty rates among children are higher in urban locations than in the surrounding suburban or rural areas, which translates into higher concentrations of poor students in urban public schools ().” This means that a high percentage of students attending an urban elementary school come from a family who are poor and typically receives benefited from the government such as Medicaid, Food Stamps and or housing assistance. In a study of 57 urban school districts in 35 states, the Council of the Great City Schools has found that test scores are

There is more to urban schooling than meets the eye. Often, urban schools and the families that rely upon them are portrayed as a stereotypical monolith. Biased new reporters, researchers, and educational leaders reinforce a narrative that draws on the deficit theory to avoid assigning any responsibility for the plight of people living in poverty and together work to create a culture of poverty. Introduced in the article by Gorski (2008), the culture of poverty that persists in the mindsets of Americans is “the idea that poor people share, more or less, monolithic and predictable beliefs, values, and behaviors.” This myth prevents society from challenging their understanding of class and how it affects all aspects of the lives of those who are of low socioeconomic status. Institutionalized classism and racism, perpetuated by public policy, continues to affect students in urban schooling, however many refuse to acknowledge this cause and effect relationship. Rather, they rely on tired stereotypes and the culture of poverty to justify the lack of access and equity allowed to those living in urban areas. While I already knew that these structural flaws existed in our society, ED 7438 has given me the research to back up my argument and the needed push to remain committed to incorporating a level of social justice in my classroom that will ensure I continue to push back on false notions about students living in urban areas around the country. In this reflection I will