Inner City School Analysis : ' I Am A Promise ' Essay

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

Resources that schools receive are different depending on the area the school is in. Students in low-income neighborhoods do not have the same opportunities as the students in higher income neighborhood. These underprivileged schools are overcrowded and does not have the means necessary to better the student’s education.

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

“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.

Every student must have an equal opportunity to free, fair, equitable, and rigorous education. As educators we must strive to provide students with the best education we possibly can as teachers, community members, administration and policy makers. In order to provide equitable education all learners must be taken into consideration when designing curriculum, lessons, courses and school structure.

The 2001 census bureau report 22.2 percent of people without a high school diploma lived in poverty as opposed to 9.6 who had a diploma. 14.2 percent of high school dropouts were lived in long term poverty, while 3.8 percent of people with high school diplomas lived in long term poverty. In less affluent neighborhoods, there is usually no funding available to hire quality teachers and equipment needed to educate the youth. As we progress education has become one of the main keys to battling poverty. It is harder to earn a decent living without having some kind of

“The school districts with the highest minority enrollments receive an average of $877 less per student than school districts with the lowest number of minorities enrolled.” In turn, these children are able to go further with more resources readily available to them. However, children in less affluent school districts face serious educational shortcomings due to little investment in the beggared communities surrounding the school. It is more accurate to say that America has two systems of public education. The first system, based principally, but not entirely in the suburbs of America and in wealthier urban districts, is in many respects mediocre, specifically in comparison to international peers in advanced industrial nations. However, the second system, based principally in poorer urban and rural areas, is an absolute failure; in which an exceeding number of students dropout well before high school graduation. An astounding number of students receive high school diplomas that do not certify academic confidence in basic subjects. An outstanding number of students are unprepared for the world of employment. An incredible number of students are unprepared to matriculate to institutions of higher education or advanced training.

Poverty within neighborhoods throughout the United States has increased immensely throughout the past 50 years. In 2011, nearly 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty compared to the 353,000 Americans who lived in poverty in 1959. (Dosomething 1) Poverty is hardly just defined as a lack of financial resources, it is defined as a condition that results in an absence of the freedom to choose arising from a lack of the capability to function effectively in society. (Poverty and Education 1)  For a person to be impoverished or to be living in a state of poverty is to live where they do not have the economic means to provide a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their family.  A majority of public school students across the country are considered “low-income”, according to a new study by the Southern Education Foundation.  Areas of concentrated impoverishment are often characterised by crime, unemployment, and lack of resources.  Children represent 24 percent of the population, but they comprise 34 percent of all people in poverty.  The shift to a majority-poor student population implies that a growing range of students who attend public schools are less likely to possess support at home, are less often exposed to enriching activities outside of school, and are more likely to drop out and never attend higher education.  Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or leave school altogether because they are likely to have to work or care for family

Racial residential segregation contributes to racial differences in graduation and high school drop-out rates and preparation for a college level education (LaVeist & Isaac, 2013). One of the prime sources of residential segregation stems from a large portion of segregated elementary and high schools. In a typical Afro-American community, for instance Jersey City, a family’s residence or district determines which public school their children can attend. It has been noted that those schools where Blacks and Hispanics make up the majority of the student population are located in impoverished neighborhoods (LaVeist & Isaac, 2013). On average, such school districts have lower test scores, a limited number of qualified teachers, deteriorating buildings, a high number of teen pregnancy and students who drop out just to name a few. Latino and Black students are predominantly found in urban schools that have lower academic achievement ratings than those of

The Sunnyside neighborhood in the northwest side of Denver is populated by more than 10,000 residents, and according to the Denver Metro Area data, 51% of African Americans, 47% of Native Americans, and 37% of Latinos in the Sunnyside neighborhood are living in poverty every day. Poverty is one of the major factors that largely affects a person’s educational skills. A person’s social class is also a major factor in determining what limits or barriers are present throughout a child’s education. A child’s education can also be further impacted by the amount of funding a school receives in connection to the amount of achievement that can be accomplished by a school in a low funded area.

Underfunded minority-predominated inner-city schools provide less educational opportunity than their more affluent counterparts (“Poverty,” par. 5). Because of the unstable work and housing situations that prevail in low-income districts students often move at very short notice and do not return their textbooks. Schools are unable to allow students to take textbooks home for fear of losing them (Robinson 561). The inability to study textbooks at home causes many students to struggle when confronted with harder subjects such as math and the sciences. In addition, poorer schools tend to receive teachers inexperienced teachers from no-name universities that are teaching there in order to build experience before transferring to “better”, wealthier schools that can pay higher salaries

If academic success leads to a better future what can one say about the future of children of lower socio-economic status who may have less access to the tools for achieving success as their middle-to-upper-class peers? A primary factor contributing to low educational achievement is income. Low income has been correlated with a variety of indicators such as poverty, poor educational achievement, and poor health, all of which may impact future academic, social and psychological behaviors. Many low-income households experience instability due to such issues as single parenthood, job loss, homelessness, domestic abuse, and limited access to services, poor parenting skills, the absence of appropriate child care, high rates of pregnancy among

I have chosen to research data for one of the Dayton Public Schools’ buildings, Eastmont PreK-8 School. During the 2015-2016 school year, Eastmont had one principal, 42 teachers, and an average daily enrollment of 503 students, of which 100% were economically disadvantaged. During the 2015-2016 school year all students received free breakfast and lunch. The 503 students’ ethnicities were comprised of 349 white, 88 black, 37 Hispanic, 28 multiracial, and 1 other. Sixteen students were limited English proficiency and 127 students had disabilities. Eastmont housed students in grades preschool through eight, but currently houses students up to grade six.

The study on school mobility and its effects on elementary school children pertaining to their individual math achievement revealed concerning details. School mobility is a nation-wide problem that families of lower income have to face. Many poverty-stricken families face this problem due to many factors that force them to move their

The environment a child in poverty lives in is a huge factor in that may affect their academic success. Children from low income families tend to live in low-income neighborhoods that are often associated with high crime rates, high concentration, and few opportunities for academic socialization (Engle, Patrice, and Black 5). These neighborhoods have health risks,