Students Still Have Unequal Access To Educational Opportunities

Amid efforts in education reform, students across the country still face large disparities in educational resources and opportunities, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Education.

Key findings from the 2009-2010 Civil Rights Data Collection reveal that of the 7,000 sampled school districts, 3,000 do not offer algebra II classes to high school students, and more than 7,300 high schools serving 2 million students do not offer calculus courses. Overall, girls are underrepresented in physics and boys are underrepresented in algebra II.

"These data show that far too many students are still not getting access to the kinds of classes, resources and opportunities they need to be successful," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement Thursday.

Just 2 percent of students with disabilities are enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement course. Students with limited English proficiency comprise 6 percent of high school students across the country, but also comprise 15 percent of the population that have taken algebra by the time they graduate from high school.

The data released today are from Part 1 of a two-part study -- Part 1 collected enrollment data, and Part 2 focused on end-of-year data. Results from Part 2 will be released in the fall.

A ProPublica analysis of the CRDC data found that in some states, students in impoverished areas have less access to advanced programs and special programs than their more affluent counterparts.

Florida is an exception. In a state where the poor and wealthy are segmented across districts, students have about equal access to high-level courses, and the state leads the country in the percentage of high school students enrolled in AP and advanced math courses. Pedro A. Noguera, an education professor at New York University, told ProPublica:

“The fact that some states have eliminated these disparities proves that if we make this a priority of policy it can be done."

A few caveats come with the data. The numbers show, for example, that Maryland boasts a high percentage of students in AP courses, but that enrollment is high-poverty schools is low.

Kansas lies on the other end of the spectrum, opposite Florida. The report shows that Kansas has some of the largest opportunity gaps in the country, where the most impoverished schools are fewer students taking advanced courses.

This report comes in light of calls for education reform for equal access to opportunity across the country, as well as changes to performance evaluation systems and programs.

ProPublica has created a tool that allows for easy searching and comparing across school districts, using the CRDC data. The entire database is also available on the CRDC website.

Comments

[MrTown3]

01:27 PM on 07/05/2011

and yet and still people think "merit" is the only measuring stick as it relates to college admission,etc?

[genrel1248]

01:35 PM on 07/01/2011

Maybe the reason poor districts dont get decent teachers is that the schools are run by gangs and hooligans and anyone with talent and options is not going to accept working in those conditions.

[JRNorwood]

09:50 AM on 07/01/2011

Unequal access to education doesn't just stop at AP courses but also at elective choices. In some schools students are required to take intervention courses and this prevents them from also taking electives and in some cases even a core subject like Social Studies or Science. This is a travesty that has been occurring in my own school district for several years and shows no sign of changing as long as teachers want what is best for teachers and not what is best for students.

[TINA ANDRES]

01:22 PM on 07/02/2011

Who do you think makes those choices, teachers? You've got to be kidding. I wish the general public would stop thinking that decisions in schools are made by teachers. Ultimately, the NCLB legislation drives just about every decision. When a school does not achieve their AYP, usually due to a small specific group at the school, the district demands that those kids lose electives and end up spending the majority of their day in Language Arts and Math classes with no electives. Teachers have no choice, at my site the teachers have been fighting this losing battle for years now. Just stop it with perpetuating the lie that teachers have chosen to eliminate electives for students, it ISN'T TRUE.

[JRNorwood]

03:57 PM on 07/02/2011

Maybe my comment wasn't clear because I never stated teachers made the choice to remove the electives. In fact, it is teachers who are clamoring that electives be returned. However, in my own school, if we as teachers had decided to make some fundamental changes to our teaching schedule such as block scheduling or adding an additional period, electives would be much easier to add in. FOrtunately, we have had administrators who have tried to add in some elective such as drama and choir but that is not enough. Students who are stuck in "double blocks" of either Language Arts or Math cannot get an elective in a six period day. With block scheduling, for example, there can be as many as 8 classes students could be enrolled in which would give electives to every student and not just those who have decent standardized test scores.

[eceresa]

02:08 AM on 07/01/2011

Really? This is surprising?

Poor students come to school behind, and remain so largely because of out-of-school factors. Is it really remotely surprising that, while state governments are slashing education budgets and adding mandates on to schools, high-level classes aren't being offered? Class sizes are being forced upward. In affluent districts, where the out-of-school factors tend to create successful students, you've probably got 30 or 35 kids at the high school for a calculus class. But in a poor district, you've probably got half that. That doesn't mean that the kids aren't capable, but there's no way, given the budgetary constraints forced on them by legislators, that those schools can afford to run a calculus class for fifteen students.

This is wrong. They should run that class. Students shouldn't miss out on the chance to be highly educated because they're poor. But it's not the school that's making the choice not to run it. It's the legislature, by underfunding schools.

As for Florida, they offer a bunch of their classes online. This is inherently a less effective model, perhaps reasonable for a highly motivated kid taking a class that wouldn't be offered any other way, but not something we should accept in any other circumstance. They're doing it only to save money, so they don't need to employ enough teachers to instruct students. But it does mean that they can claim those classes are "offered" at more schools, even if that claim is very misleading.

[umbrarchist]

12:25 AM on 07/01/2011

This equal educational opportunity business is based on the assumption that children can't learn without schools and teachers. Why haven't we created a National Recommended Reading List in the last 50 years? Would that be too expensive?

But now we have $400 netbooks with 250 gigabyte hard drives. How many books can fit in 100 gigabytes? We have an educational opportunity that has never before existed in history. I wonder how many people don't want to make proper use of it.

Isaac Asimov knew what to do in 1951.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/funtheyhad.html

[TINA ANDRES]

11:43 PM on 06/30/2011

Money is definitely an issue. Schools with limited numbers of advanced students have difficulty maintaining these classes. In some schools, there are less than 20 students in these classes while the rest of the school has 40 students per class. When this happens, you have one teacher with 20 gifted and hard working students and the rest of the teachers get 40 students of varying abilities and desire. Inevitably, the district demands that more students are placed in the advanced classes or risk losing the classes altogether. If you lose the class, you probably lose the students to another school and your overall scores decrease. If you pack the class with kids who don't belong or don't want to be there, you reduce the effectiveness of the teacher and all of the students suffer. I've seen this over and over and most low income districts let the pendulum sway each way back and forth but never resolve the issue.

[Hlynn]

11:41 PM on 06/30/2011

As long as funding is based on property taxes, we will always have unequal access to educational opportunities. From Brown v. Board of Education to Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities" to charter schools that use subtle and overt methods to select students, our educational system has never provided, and does not provide in any way, equal opportunity for all.

[ian0000]

12:15 AM on 07/01/2011

i'm really sick and tired of this implication from charter haters that charters use "subtle and overt methods to select students " one advantage of charters is to put kids of similar academic ability in school together . some charters cater to academically gifted kids , others cater to kids of less ability or motivation. my grandson went to a crappy regular public h.s. and didn't pass one class in 2 years. north philadelphia community high school is a charter were the one criterier for admission is that you have to have failed the majority of your classes to get in to this school. its light years ahead of regular inner city public schools and my grandson passed every subject this year. every big city have these charters that cater to underperforming or lazy students

[TINA ANDRES]

12:28 AM on 07/01/2011

Not all charters are created equally. I have been a public school teacher for over 20 years and now that I finally have kids of my own I have realized that the best place for them near my home is in a charter school. My kid's charter school is over 95% Hispanic and over 60% low income. They choose students based on a lottery and they do not get the cream of the crop. They do not "kick out" kids either. They have more success with the same students in our district than other schools however they have been released from the hinderance of requirements the rest of us have to deal with. There are good charters and bad charters but I would argue that if teachers and communities could make site based decisions, the regular public schools would have the same successes and charters would be not be needed. Not all of us are charter haters.

[Hlynn]

01:04 AM on 07/01/2011

I didn't imply anything. It is a fact that charter schools not only preferentially select students but also don't have to comply with the same onerous rules as public schools. Assuming that I "hate" charter schools because of those facts is silly.

You're a grandmother so you see it from the outside. I'm a teacher so I see it from the inside. As a special education teacher, almost none of my students would be welcomed or would be able to remain in a charter school with their rules of exclusivity.

I'm glad your grandson had a good experience. I don't begrudge him--or any student--a place where he or she can succeed, no matter what kind of school it is. I think ALL students should have that opportunity, regardless of academic ability.

Public schools must enroll any student, charter schools can choose, and so they cannot be fairly compared. Charter schools are fine for some. Our public school always has a waiting list for students to get in from other districts. There should be a continuum of school choices for all students, not only those that charter school operators deem worthy.

[MrTown3]

01:31 PM on 07/05/2011

As a product of an education that was based on unequal funding derived from property taxes (Ohio) which was found unconstitutional, I hear you...

[changing]

09:40 PM on 06/30/2011

Under Obama's and the Repubs privatization plans with charters and vouchers we are heading to separate and unequal schooling as the norm. Forget the dream-there is money to be made off this students.

[Zoe Fields]

07:50 PM on 06/30/2011

it is obvious that there are many reasons for why school districts are not offering the necessary classes for students to be prepared for college or lfor life in general after high school. budget cuts are the main issue. from budget cuts stem pink slips, class cuts, and classroom stuffing. however there is also still a need for quality teachers to teach these classes. states need to be more open about accepting online masters degrees.

http://education.cu-portland.edu

[J R M]

05:57 PM on 06/30/2011

I should point out that the title is wrong in the first place. Students have NEVER had equal access to educational opportunities. It is a goal. But not an achievable one. Even if you could magically bring all schools up to the same level (and that would be magic indeed), the family backgrounds, educational valuation, and experience would drive differential results.

That said, we should look for cost effective means of enriching the education opportunities for those students willing to pursue them. On-line / correspondence approaches are reasonable (I did not say optimal) means of doing this.

I think we need to start moving away from the age-based class lockstep approach and more to a subject - by - subject mastery approach.

[eceresa]

02:17 AM on 07/01/2011

Bringing all schools up to approximately the same level would be possible, though I doubt that politicians have the will to do it. People in affluent areas count more. It's not surprising that their kids' schools are better funded.

But that would in fact be equality of access. It wouldn't mean we'd see equal results. What happens outside of school has more effect on students' educational success than what happens inside school. But it would be equal access, which we don't have now.

[J R M]

11:12 AM on 07/01/2011

Schools if wealthier areas tend to be better funded, but on a national level we see that excellent schools in affluent areas frequently spend far less per student than impacted schools. My school district, which is in a relatively affluent area, spends less than $9K per student, twice as much as some, and less than half as much as others. But, on the average, the parents are doing what is needed for their kids here.

[TINA ANDRES]

03:52 PM on 06/30/2011

Sorry I meant to say my school DISTRICT of low income, ELL students. (No reply button to fix it).

[TINA ANDRES]

03:51 PM on 06/30/2011

My school low income high ELL population school district offers Algebra 1 almost exclusively at the eighth grade. This is one year prior to the time when average students usually take the course. Do we need to praise districts because low income, ELL or special education students are taking higher level courses? No, we do not. The result in my school district has been one of two things: an extreme watering down of the meaning of "Algebra" or an extremely high failure rate in which the majority of the kids end up taking the class again the following year. You just can't put kids into a class and declare yourself a success for it. Access doesn't equate to success. Until we deal with the real issues which create educational disparities between students (primarily socio-economic level and parent education), we will simply be spinning our wheels as we create more problems by placing students in courses they are not prepared to take.

[lovecindy1]

02:18 PM on 06/30/2011

OMG take a look at these videos by journalist Mark Dempsey about his efforts to contact schools and find out what reception he got. Amazing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha3fvIU52YY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8e_X0mt4Q0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XRWOvmGxAM

[spoonbill1963]

02:11 PM on 06/30/2011

Not another one of these stories again!

[am10]

01:38 PM on 06/30/2011

Please explain the severity of the learning disabilities students taking AP classes have. I've seen ridiculous modifications such as the student not being allowed to get below a B or not having to understand the entire concept in a physics or chemistry course. We really need to start getting realistic about special ed students in AP classes.

[cmr86]

02:07 PM on 06/30/2011

Did we read the same article? I have no idea what you're talking about.

[spoonbill1963]

02:12 PM on 06/30/2011

He may have not read the article but he makes a great point.

[am10]

10:02 PM on 06/30/2011

I did. It was at the beginning and not the central thesis of the article, but when people cry about lack of equality and bring up special ed or socioeconomic issues - it's kind of a pet peeve.

[Endersdragon]

05:01 PM on 06/30/2011

I qualified for an IEP 3, possibly 4 different ways (never got one) and I still got through AP courses just fine. They even gave me a C one term in one of them (because I earned it, I earned my As and Bs that year too). Many special education students can do just fine in AP courses :).

[am10]

10:03 PM on 06/30/2011

Sounds like you didn't get modifications, though. My point is that when you modify a course to the point that the student really isn't doing the work, it's a false accomplishment.

[PixieGirl0731]

10:12 PM on 06/30/2011

I must be a dinosaur because when I went to college they told me if they tested everyone they would be special ed in someway. But, that was when the soctaric method worked.