Nearly 85 percent of Americans go to college and get an education, which is a drastic change when compared to 1927’s rate of 25 percent. However, education is still a privilege to those who hold it. A good education, that is. Due to the No Child Left Behind Act, the Race to the Top grant, parent involvement and even gentrification there exists a huge disparity between urban schools and suburban schools.
Rigging the Game: NCLB and RttT
No Child Left Behind has been widely hated since its inception under the Bush administration in 2002 and has only gathered more and more push back from teachers, students and the public since. Although the Obama administration replaced the act with the Every Student Succeeds Act in December 2015, the effects of NCLB are still prevalent today.
Race to the Top funding is a competitive grant that rewards schools that are innovative and superior when compared to other schools in that district or state. The grant is weighted heavily on the performance of teachers, students and the school as a whole.
NCLB and other standardized tests score schools based on the students’ progress via tests taken throughout the year. Why is this such a bad thing? Most schools in urban settings aren’t able to keep up with schools in suburban areas, where student-parent engagement inside and outside of the classroom is extraordinarily higher than that of urban schools.
Race to the Top offers funding for schools that succeed in certain places that urban schools simply can’t. This causes a gap between schools in suburban areas and schools that exist closer to the city.
Gentrification: Making Everything More Expensive, Except Schools
Gentrification, if you are unaware (and if you live in a big city, you’re painfully aware), is the process of renovating urban areas, raising the prices of real estate and pushing out low-income families and small business in favor of high-income families and more cost-effective corporate businesses. However, it seems that with gentrification, the only thing that doesn’t get a complete makeover in the city is the school system – the public school system, at least.
During the 2012-2013 school year, the Petworth neighborhood in Washington, D.C. closed the doors to their last public school, MacFarland Middle School. For whatever reason, gentrification of cities stops before it gets to public schools, which are apparently the last in line.
It would make sense for the schools to grow slowly, getting better year-by-year, since the city has wealthier, more engaged people. That’s not what happens, though. Instead, parents are opting to have their children attend charter and private schools, or other established and wealthy schools outside of their immediate district.
Our Take
There are many factors that contribute to the disparity of suburban and urban schools, but when it comes down to it, the chief factor is money (per usual).
Whether it’s misguided performance-based funding from the government or socio-economic gentrification that leaves under-performing schools in the dust, suburban schools receive more funding than schools located in the city.
Moreover, public schools in the city are slowly being pushed out in favor of charter or private institutions to accommodate for the newer, richer population moving into the city. All of this only perpetuates the subpar performance seen in low-income schools.
There’s a problem with the schools, but trying to focus on the performance of students is an overly myopic view of the issue. Instead, we need to take a step back and understand the broader reasons behind how the students perform.
