Racial Disparities In Education

In this paper, I will explore the aspects regarding racial inequality pertaining to education in the United States of America. It has come to my attention, based on my observations, that race is a definitive factor that plays a role in establishing socioeconomic status. In relation to socioeconomic status, variables correlating with race that I will be focusing on, is the educational and wealth aspects. An individual’s level of education is pivotal to establishing stable, consistent wealth and vice-versa; the access for quality education is inconsistent primarily among minority races/ethnicities. According to historical records ranging from the year 1980 to 2000, between Whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Native Americans, the educational attainment gap is widening (Kelly 2005). Education is seen to be a source of respect and key to gaining a higher income, which transfers over to greater wealth. Acknowledging the slow expansion of the educational attainment disparities, I argue that the society’s perceptions and actions addressing race perpetuates and produces social inequalities by limiting opportunities despite “equal” resources, privileges, and rights through social policies that have contributed towards the quality of America’s education system.

The achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the performance groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point averages, drop out rates, college enrollment and completion rates. The Black-White achievement gap is a critical issue in modern society’s education system. Although data surrounding the issue clearly indicates that the racial performance gap exists in areas of standardized tests, graduation rates, dropout rates, and enrollment in continuing education, the causative reasons for the gap are ambiguous—therefore presenting a significant challenge in

This Black-White performance gap is even more evident when comparing students whose parents have equal years of schooling. This article evaluates how schools can positively affect this disparity by examining two potential sources for this difference: teachers and students. It provides evidence for the proposition that teachers ' perceptions, expectations, and behaviors interact with students ' beliefs, behaviors, and work habits in ways that help to perpetuate the Black-White test score gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The “gap” as referred to in the title, is the distribution of the scores on achievement tests that differ between black and white students in the United States. The purpose of this study was to record the degree of the gap in achievement scores, decide how much of the racial gap is due to social-class, how the gap differed in the 30-year period, and how that which is credited to the social-class has changed over the years.

Racial inequality persists in the current U.S. education system, despite nationwide efforts to promote the acceptance of students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Minority students, most notably African American and Latino, receive lower qualities of education compared to the Caucasian majority and are, as a result, at an indisputable disadvantage after primary and secondary education. According to a 2014 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, “students of color in public schools are punished more and receive less access than white students to experienced teachers” (Abdul-Jabbar 31). Higher suspension rates and an increased frequency of corporal punishment use, allowed in 19 states as of 2014 according to Business Insider (Adwar), for minority students are two disciplinary examples of underlying racial discrimination with the current U.S. education system. Economic repercussions of racial inequality in education have been proven to include wealth gaps, higher unemployment rates, and financial instability for minorities in later life. Due to the prominence of racial segregation within schools, it remains a controversial point of debate in modern-day society, resulting in attempts such as affirmative action to establish racial equality in education. In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the United States Supreme Court declared affirmative action to be a justified policy in the

As I read about the achievement gap (Taylor), I felt a sense of despair. Families of color are positioned between a rock and a hard place. When children enter kindergarten, the racial gap is half of its ultimate size because many children of color do not participate in high-quality programs. How can people of color "catch up" to their counterparts when they are behind at the age of 5? There are also institutional factors that continue this achievement gap and perpetuate racism by consequence. After Brown v Board of Education (1954), white families enrolled their children in private and suburban schools. Since school busing has been discontinued, school assignments based on residential neighborhoods have created racially segregated schools.

Unequal educational opportunities for black students are a huge effect of racial segregation. Education has become a major problem dealing with racial segregation. Education is the foundation of literacy and success in America and African American students and schools are suffering. Schools in the U.S. are retracting back to segregation. As schools districts began to release schools from court order integration schools began to retract increasing test score disparities and national achievement gaps in large amounts not seen in four decades in the south. A national study conducted on the achievement gap between black and white students says “Nationally the achievement gap between whites and blacks during the integration period narrowed but as schools began to be released from court order integration schools became more segregated widening the achievement gap between black and white students” (Jones 1). Because of racial segregation the quality and access to education in African Americans is worsening over the years as school districts stop enforcing integration. But surprisingly, residential segregation has a big play in how well

For decades there has been research conducted on the racial disproportion of black student’s suspension in schools compared to white students (Skiba et al., 2000; Skiba et al., 2002; Wald and Losen, 2003; Welsh and Payne, 2010; Kinsler, 2011; Wright et al., 2014). Recently, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014) study revealed that black students were three times more likely to be suspend and 3.5 times more likely than their white peers to be expelled. In the studies conducted, racial gaps in suspension rates are persistently found and still remains a significant unknown when using different analytical strategies and methodologies (Wright et al. 2014). It is important to note that no studies have yet been able to account for the different variables that contributes to the racial disparity in school discipline. A deeper investigation of past and present research literature is useful in the determining variables that may contribute to the racial gap in school suspensions and its purposed channel in the school to prison pipeline. Some earlier researcher’s suggestions have been socioeconomic factors, the lower academic performance of black students, the difference in behavioral problems, or the lower academic expectations of black students from teachers to support the racial gap in suspension (Magnuson and Waldfogel, 2005; McCarthy and Hoge, 1987; Tenenbaum and Ruck, 2007). Even in studies that attempted to control for social economic status and differential

In chapter 8 “Educational Inequality”, it is discussed that before the Brown v. Board of Education decision, people of color were systematically prevented from attending white schools under a doctrine called “separate but equal” (Golash-Boza, 2014). Since this 1954 decision, there has been progress to form equality in the schools. For example, there are no longer any all-white universities and colleges are working harder to encourage a diverse college campus, but there is still set-backs from being completely equal. The book “Race & Racisms” states that there is the achievement gap in America’s school systems. The achievement gap is the disparate educational outcomes of whites, Asians, blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans (Golash-Boza, 2014). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2010 there was recorded that 29.3% of white people with their bachelor’s degree or higher and only 17.7% of black people with this achievement. Also stated in the surveys was that the average GPA of a white person was 3.09 and the average GPA of a black person was 2.69. There are multiple explanations on where the racism or inequality occurs in society that causes such a difference between the outcomes of black people versus white people, however it comes down to the same conclusion; there is inequality in the school

In California, the academic achievement of low-income minority students in urban public schools falls behind the academic achievement of white students in higher-income areas. For example, according to the 2013 STAR test results, 86% of white non-economically disadvantaged 9th graders at Antelope High School, in the Roseville Unified School District, attained advanced scores in reading compared to only 58% of low-income Black and 49% Hispanic ninth graders (California Department of Education, 2015).

History, as taught in American schools, generally displays a bias towards the people that benefitted from the events described. With this bias, the culture and accomplishments of other cultural groups are largely ignored. This is certainly the case when Africa and African Americans are discussed in the classroom. There is a tendency in the classroom to examine European accomplishments while disregarding the successes, culture, and the importance Africa, and many cultures throughout the world, played in the development of the modern world. This tendency is problematic, and it damages the education of many students who are deprived of a diverse education with a global perspective.

The problem of educational disparities among various ethno-racial groups that make up the United States has been a long studied topic. Theories have ranged widely in what they consider as the primary factors for these disparities. Biological and individualist perspectives have cited inherent genetic inferiorities as the cause of these disparities. Others have taken into account social forces but have maintained that the cause is due to the creation of a culture of subordination and poverty that does not allow social advancement. Still others have tended to focus on systemic inequalities and on the roles of prejudice and discrimination (Sidanius et al, 1998).

My main aim is to find out if racism is the main cause of the gap

Throughout America’s past, racial inequality has been a reoccurring theme in our society. Ever since the Europeans invaded America the white man has been superior compared to all ethnicities. No more than two hundred years ago, African Americans were slaves and only counted as three fifths of a person. Within the past hundred years African Americans have managed to obtain more equality in some situations, but in other cases racial inequality has become worse than it was when segregation took place. The gaps between the quality of education of white and black students receive appears to be growing instead of shrinking. The lack of quality education blacks receive has contributed to significant health differences between

Building wealth becomes increasingly unmanageable without steady employment, but the unemployment rate for people of color has been consistently twice that white people, regardless of the fluctuations in the economy. An education is a way to help you achieve that goal. However, the rate for unemployment for blacks with college degrees is twice as high to be unemployed than all other graduates, according to The American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism, a book published by Nancy DiTomaso, a professor of sociology, at Rutgers University who lectures inequality and organizational diversity. This is because applications with white-sounding names have a fifty percent chance higher than black sounding names to get callbacks, even when the resume does not change. Previous to the business opportunities, a person must obtain an education.