The Hidden Connection in City-wide Reform: How Charter Schools Can Bring Equity to Public Education

Many civic leaders believe that the New Orleans reform strategy holds promise for increasing educational outcomes in other cities. This is likely true. But this is also true: New Orleans continues to make an equally meaningful contribution to advancing educational equity while advancing educational outcomes.In order to ensure city or district-wide reform efforts are successful in other cities, advocates and practitioners should take lessons from New Orleans focus on systemic equity to improve academic outcomes.This is the untold story of New Orleans education reform. It is a story of how charter schools can increase equity in our public school systems. And it is a story that holds lessons for cities across the country, particularly those cities seeking recovery district-type reform

Education y Justicia: A Living History of the Latinx Experience in U.T Austin

Social policy in the United States has historically and systematically prevented Latinx students from attaining educational equity. The resistance to this inequality in Austin is located in institutional spaces, the creation of cultural spaces, and the reclamation of erased histories. This has lead to the need for the creation of cultural spaces and legislation that encourage the equity, power, and culture of the Latinx community. We are mapping these living histories of resistance to help form frameworks for rethinking educational social policy. In this case we used U.T. and the greater Austin area to explore the living histories of the struggle for educational justice in our city and propose frameworks for rethinking educational social policy.Mexican American Studie

Moving Towards Educational Equity?: How is New York State's School Funding Reform Impacting Educational Equity on Long Island?

This report identifies the 11 Long Island districts with the most student poverty and compares them with the 11 districts with middle student poverty, and the 11 districts with the least student poverty. In addition to poverty, this report looks at the demographic composition of these districts, and percentage of English language learners. Historically on Long Island, as elsewhere, there has been a large funding gap between school districts with high poverty and those with little poverty. The funding gap, as examined by The Education Trust and others, documents the difference in educational opportunity between school districts. In order to make this calculation it is necessary to both examine expenditures per pupil and student need (as measured by the proportion of student poverty). Policy makers and researchers across the spectrum agree that it generally costs more to provide equivalent educational opportunity to students from poor households as those from middle class or wealthier households. This report factors student poverty into the measurement of the funding gap. The report examines the effectiveness since 2007 of different state school aid categories at closing the funding gap--specifically looking at foundation aid, high tax aid and all state operating aid as a whole. In addition, this report looks at student outcomes according to 8th grade English Language Arts and Math exams, graduation rates, Regents diploma rates, and college enrollment rates in order to evaluate whether there has been progress at closing the achievement gaps since funding reforms were instituted

Anchoring Equitable Development: Anchor Institute-Led Models of Housing and Community Development to Strengthen Institutions and Communities

In April 2014, a convening of national housing equity experts was hosted in Jacksonville, Florida by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. The convening's purpose was to gain insight from national stakeholders on affordable housing and equitable development challenges and opportunities in Jacksonville. From this two-day engagement, a number of major challenges and opportunities facing Jacksonville's housing development were clearly identified. Two of these findings directly inform this research effort.First, to meet the needs of Jacksonville's marginalized communities, an intentional focus on equity must stay at the forefront of community housing and development strategies. Second, if equity-focused development efforts are better aligned with health and/or educational stakeholders, affordable housing and equitable development could blossom in Jacksonville.Stable and affordable housing is essential to educational success and positive health outcomes for families and for communities. While the linkage between housing and educational and health outcomes is clear, educational and health stakeholders have not traditionally been deeply engaged in meeting housing need. Emerging initiatives across the country are countering this disengagement, demonstrating the important role that anchor institutions can play in supporting local housing needs. Community anchor institutions, such as educational entities (particularly higher education) and health care organizations can be powerful institutional resources to support equitable housing and community development. Throughout the nation, successful anchor institute-led housing interventions have been transformational in addressing community housing needs and community revitalization. These efforts have been most effective when equity goals are integrated into the design and implementation of anchor institute-led housing efforts.The following report provides select case studies with a strong social equity focus and comparability to Jacksonville. We identify lessons learned and summarize models which can be equally transformative in Jacksonville from these case studies. We also draw upon recent research and scholarship, and our own interviews with experts and practitioners. The goal of providing these lessons learned and model practices is to help inform, and potentially engage, various anchor institutes in Jacksonville -- organizations with resources that could help meet community housing needs and support equitable community development. This could help strengthen social, educational, economic and health outcomes for all of Jacksonville, including its most vulnerable residents

Access to Elementary Education in India

This analytical review aims to explore trends in educational access and to delineate different groups which are vulnerable to exclusion from educational opportunities at the elementary stage. This review has drawn references from a series of analytical papers developed on different themes, including regional disparity in education, social equity and gender equity in education, the problem of drop out, education of the children of migrants, inequity in educational opportunities, health and nutrition, and governance of education, among others. The first and second sections of the paper present a brief review of the state of elementary education in India with particular focus on regional disparities and social inequities in provision. The third section delineates different zones of exclusion, highlighting the nature and magnitude of the problems of access, transition and equity. The fourth section captures the profiles of the varying groups of children and addresses the questions: ‘who is excluded from schooling?’ and ‘why are they excluded?’. In the final section, the paper makes an effort to identify gaps in our understanding which point to the need for further research and also identifies strategies that have had some success in addressing issues of access to elementary education in India

Race Matters: Unequal Opportunities in Education

Summarizes the consequences of racial disparities in education and the barriers to equal opportunity, including educational segregation and unequal resources, opportunities, and discipline. Calls for equity in funding, programming, and teacher quality

Interdistrict Choice and Teacher Beliefs: Implications for Educational Expectations, Equity, and Policymaking

Interdistrict choice, which allows families to choose between schools outside of their districts of residence, is currently serving more students than any other choice program in the United States. Yet, despite this popularity, there is a pressing need for more research on how interdistrict choice may affect educational equity within U.S. public schools. Drawing on the analytic framework of educational racial contract, this study examines the issue of teacher beliefs in the context of interdistrict choice at a large, urban high school in Arizona, where market-based school choice programs have been continually expanded for nearly three decades. Data were collected through a survey of 112 teachers, who rated their in- district and out-of-district students based on their perception of three developmental skill categories: 1) academic, 2) communication, and 3) behavior. Results speak to negative teacher beliefs about the educability of Students of Color and hold significant implications for teachers’ academic expectations, educational equity, and future policy decisions

Teacher Allocation and Equity in Malaysian Schools

Although inequalities in education are relatively well researched, little attention is given to the inequalities in the educational resources used in education. This is clearly a shortcoming in the course of providing equitable education to all. One of the educational resources frequently used in discussion is teachers. Other than being very mobile, teachers are often used as proxy for educational resources because of their role and importance in educating a child. However, not many researchers have evaluated them/this resource in terms of availability in a school. In this paper, allocation of trained teachers to schools is measured. Using Malaysian data from 1986-2006 and Gini coefficient, a well known measure of distribution, trends and patterns of equity are examined. By estimating the Gini coefficient, we aim to enhance our understanding of resource inequalities and their drivers. Inequity is examined at two levels of education, i.e. primary schools and secondary schools. Initial results reveal that the level of equity in primary schools is less desirable than in secondary schools. In this paper, possible reasons on this outcome are delved into.- education, teachers, equity, Gini coefficient

The Effect of Increasing Aboriginal Educational Attainment on the Labour Force, Output and the Fiscal Balance

Investing in disadvantaged young people is one of the rare public policies with no equity-efficiency tradeoff. Based on the methodology developed in Sharpe, Arsenault and Lapointe (2007), we estimate the effect of increasing the educational attainment level of Aboriginal Canadians on labour market outcome and output up to 2026. We build on these projection to estimate the potential effect of eliminating educational and social gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people on government spending and government revenues using population and economic projections to 2026.Aboriginal, Education, Canada, Forecast of economic growth, Equity and efficiency.