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Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and

Strand also investigates ethnicity and achievement in education, he compared the progress of Indian, African-Caribbean and white British pupils in their secondary education. Strand found that Indian children made more positive progress than the white British students but African-Caribbean pupils fell even further behind. Strand found the Indian’s success was due to both material and cultural factors such as high aspirations and dedication to homework, low levels of truancy and exclusion and good resources at home such as computers and private tutoring.

Students abilities strongly correlate with the family’s socioeconomic status i.e. it depends on a combination of variables, including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence. The statement mentions that children whose parents have the good educational qualification and income, can have the good impact on child's performance. Above average

The “average” child is possibly the most wounded child in our school systems. These students often come away feeling that they are not smart and that their abilities are set in stone. Many experience shame that results in

There is a common, underlying perception that students from particular cultural and linguistic backgrounds – what is generally referred to as ethnicity - have a predisposition towards educational success in Australian schools (Watkins, 2013). Students from Anglo backgrounds, for example, are often seen as having a cultural advantage whilst others, such as Middle Eastern students, are perceived as culturally prone to underachievement. These claims confine ethnicity to fixed and bound stereotypes, and see educational achievement as a result of the inherent qualities of these groups (Watkins, 2013). However, ethnicity

The underachievement of white working boys in the education sector remains a social problem here in the UK, Why? The reason being, as Sir Michael Wilshaw (Chief Inspector of Ofsted) outlined that these group of individuals make up two thirds of the British pupils which in affect makes them are the largest group therefore the attention should be directed at remedying the issue. PISA outlined that countries such as Finland, Hong Kong, Iceland…. Are all working better to support their disadvantaged pupils in comparison to students here in England receive.

In many countries, including Mexico and the United Kingdom, socioeconomic disadvantage have a substantial impact on students’ performances. According to the latest international math and science evaluation conducted by the OECD, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), both countries have had trouble reducing the influence of socioeconomic status on student’s accomplishments in recent years. Socioeconomic disadvantage and heterogeneity presuppose the need for a change; due to the reality that a truly successful educational system does not rely solely on a high academic performance. This change would imply a more equitable and inclusive educational system in both Mexico and the UK.

59. Data about Brown Middle School shows that 99% of the students enrolled are African American. African American and poor children continue to achieve below grade level and drop out in much greater numbers (Nieto, 2004, p. 48). One example is that Black students are underrepresented in programs for the gifted and talented, being only half as likely to be placed in these programs as are White students, even though they may be equally gifted (Nieto, 2004, p. 59). Studies have linked participation in advanced placement, gifted and talented programs, and advanced math and sciences classes with better outcomes later in life. Brown Middle School’s enrollment rate for the gifted and talented is 14 percent. These factors can be another factor in the low-test scores at Brown Middle School. Many studies also show that rigid tracking is prominent in poor communities with large numbers of African American, Latino and American Indian students (Nieto, 2004, p.

Poorer children, and children of color are placed in a tracking system that places them in classes with more students, less rigorous curricula, and less experienced teachers. (Zhang) They are often treated as the “other” with an “Us vs. Them” mindset that only excludes them further. Students and staff alike are antagonists towards these students, labeling and stereotyping them, crushing their social status. Their social identity often draws boundaries between them and others, affecting their social lives in school incredibly.

However social class is not the only factor influencing educational achievement; Girls achieve higher grades than boys in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) and GCSE’s (Mitsos and Browne, 1998), in 2010 to 2011 54.3 per cent of black pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE compared to 58 per cent of white pupils and 61.8 per cent of Asian pupils (Attew, 2012). Therefore educational achievement is also affected by gender and ethnicity.

It is believed that adolescences attention is extremely different to adult attention. However this is not the case and the article by Roper, Vecera and Vidya (2014) clearly highlighted that rewarding stimuli and cognitive process influences the attention between adolescence and adults not the age differences. The researchers outlined the variables of the experiments so the results can be replicated again therefore verify the main argument of this study. The researchers also used comparative study to gain a better understanding as to why age differences did not influence attention in adolescences and adults. Lastly the researchers did not use random selections but used individuals that meet their criteria to find clear correlations between rewarding stimuli and attention between adolescences and adults. By using these three techniques the author of this article was able to clearly show that rewarding stimuli and cognitive processes affected attention in adolescences and adults not the age difference.

In this case study, a third year first-grade teacher was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to talk to the principal about her concerns. One of her concerns was that two of the other first – grade teachers (who were very good friends with the principal) were always getting the high achieving students that came from wealthy backgrounds in their classroom. Her other concern was that these two teachers always had higher test scores because of the high achieving students that were placed in their classroom. This made her scores look bad because she always received the students that struggled to perform. The third year first- grade didn’t mind teaching the struggling learners but she did feel that ALL students would benefit from mixed classrooms. Therefore, she was faced with the following questions: Should I talk to the principal or not? Should I talk to the other first grade teachers? Should I talk to someone else? Or, should I just ignore the situation to keep things from getting worse?

That a student’s social class origin impacts on their learning outcomes is self-evident across much of the developed world, with entrenched disparities in academic achievement that are inversely correlated with family income (Snook, 2009:3, Argy, 2007:para 3, Reay, 2006:289, Nash, 2003:179-180).

The topic of gifted and talented education is one that has always sparked debates among parents and teachers, and recent movements towards totally integrating classrooms have added to this debate. For many years now, "average" children, gifted and

Those that support ability grouping in schools argue that it is not just gifted and talented students that benefit from this practice. Although students benefit slightly from ability grouping even when course content is not altered, they could gain much more when the curriculum is adjusted to suit their academic needs, according to Mary Ann Swiatek (1997). Swiatek argues, students with mathematical talented are ready to learn statistics/probability, geometry, and pre-algebra long before those topics are introduced in school. If the advanced material is presented, gifted students will learn it, thereby boosting their academic achievement. (Swiatek, 1997)