America has long been seen as the land of opportunity. The place where you can achieve anything. The country where your starting point does not have to dictate your end point. The environment, where if you work, you can reach for the stars. In many ways, this is true. In fact, I’ve seen it happen many times over. On the other hand, the numbers also tell another story.
Just a few days ago I came across a great presentation by the Education Trust, where they summarized the lessons learn in schools districts studied in New York. Here are some of the lessons:
Over past 30 years, earnings among the lowest income families have declined—while biggest increases have occurred at the top
U.S. has the fourth-highest income inequality among OECD nations
Median Wealth of White Families is (A) 20 X that of African Americans (B) 18 X that of Latinos
High school math achievement flat over time
High School gaps between groups are mostly wider today than in late eighties, early nineties
No matter how you cut the data, our students aren’t doing well compared to their peers in other countries
Only place we rank high? –> Inequality
Students in Poor Schools Receive ‘A’s for Work That Would Earn ‘Cs’ in Affluent Schools
African American, Latino & Native American high school graduates are less likely to have been enrolled in a full college prep track
More Classes in High-Poverty, High-Minority Schools Taught By Out-of-Field Teachers
CLICK HERE to read the document in its entirety
And special thanks to Rohit Agarwal for finding this great resource and sending it along to us.