The primary
goal of the present study is to examine the impact of the changing
macroecological characteristics of cities on school performance, and to draw from the research base and from
innovative developments on what can be done to make a significant difference in
reducing the achievement gap among urban students from minority backgrounds.
Greater numbers of children from increasingly diverse sociocultural and
economic backgrounds have been included in our nation's schools, and the kinds
of educational programs
offered in the classroom have been greatly diversified. These accomplishments, while
significant, have fallen short of the educational
vision of a universal school system that provides all children with equal
access to schooling success. To date, efforts during the past three decades to
desegregate schools have produced very little change to enhance social and
academic integration. Furthermore, the focus on the "setting" of
schooling has become a barrier to the nation's quest to improve schooling for the very students who are the intended
beneficiaries of school desegregation. In particular, the difficulties of life
in the inner city often overshadow the urban community's rich resources for
children and families. By finding ways to magnify the positives in urban life,
we can improve the capacity for
education in the urban community and enhance the schooling success of those
children and youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who live in some
of the most adverse inner-city environments. There is increasing evidence that
the achievement gap in this nation's urban schools may be better understood in
terms of the decentralization of cities, the resulting changes in the social
ecology of neighborhoods, and the structure of the urban labor market. The
contention is that the changing makeup of the cities accounts for much of the
failure of urban schools. The United States leads the industrialized world in
numbers of children living in poverty. In addition, residential segregation by
race and social class has also worsened despite efforts to desegregate the
nation's cities following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
African-American and other minority students tend to be in schools where
overall achievement is low. And even in schools that have achieved racial
integration, students from language and ethnic minority backgrounds are often
resegregated by a variety of pullout remedial or compensatory education programs. These programs tend to
underestimate what students can do, neglect fundamental content, provide
inferior instruction, delay the introduction of more challenging work, and fail
to provide students with a motivating
context for learning. These circumstances place children at risk of
educational failure and place schools at the center of interconnected social
problems. Countering these trends and reducing the achievement gap requires an
inclusive approach to responding to student diversity and the provision of
powerful instruction that can increase the capacity for achieving the educational success of
all students.
goal of the present study is to examine the impact of the changing
macroecological characteristics of cities on school performance, and to draw from the research base and from
innovative developments on what can be done to make a significant difference in
reducing the achievement gap among urban students from minority backgrounds.
Greater numbers of children from increasingly diverse sociocultural and
economic backgrounds have been included in our nation's schools, and the kinds
of educational programs
offered in the classroom have been greatly diversified. These accomplishments, while
significant, have fallen short of the educational
vision of a universal school system that provides all children with equal
access to schooling success. To date, efforts during the past three decades to
desegregate schools have produced very little change to enhance social and
academic integration. Furthermore, the focus on the "setting" of
schooling has become a barrier to the nation's quest to improve schooling for the very students who are the intended
beneficiaries of school desegregation. In particular, the difficulties of life
in the inner city often overshadow the urban community's rich resources for
children and families. By finding ways to magnify the positives in urban life,
we can improve the capacity for
education in the urban community and enhance the schooling success of those
children and youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who live in some
of the most adverse inner-city environments. There is increasing evidence that
the achievement gap in this nation's urban schools may be better understood in
terms of the decentralization of cities, the resulting changes in the social
ecology of neighborhoods, and the structure of the urban labor market. The
contention is that the changing makeup of the cities accounts for much of the
failure of urban schools. The United States leads the industrialized world in
numbers of children living in poverty. In addition, residential segregation by
race and social class has also worsened despite efforts to desegregate the
nation's cities following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
African-American and other minority students tend to be in schools where
overall achievement is low. And even in schools that have achieved racial
integration, students from language and ethnic minority backgrounds are often
resegregated by a variety of pullout remedial or compensatory education programs. These programs tend to
underestimate what students can do, neglect fundamental content, provide
inferior instruction, delay the introduction of more challenging work, and fail
to provide students with a motivating
context for learning. These circumstances place children at risk of
educational failure and place schools at the center of interconnected social
problems. Countering these trends and reducing the achievement gap requires an
inclusive approach to responding to student diversity and the provision of
powerful instruction that can increase the capacity for achieving the educational success of
all students.
Much is
known from research and the practical application of innovative practices in
overcoming adversities and strengthening the resources and protective
mechanisms that foster the healthy development and educational resilience of children and youth at risk of educational
failure. If we can find the means of viewing and understanding the
"positives" in the lives of urban children and youth, we can rekindle
the hope for progress by addressing the deep-rooted problem of the achievement
gap. It is difficult if not impossible to achieve significant school improvement without forging
working connections with the multiple forces that influence the development of
children or the social ecology of neighborhoods. Recent discussion among
educators has centered on the search for resilience-promoting strategies or
protective mechanisms that help reduce the burden of adversity and advance
opportunities for learning. Two major guidelines, emerging from the past three
decades of research and innovative development efforts, have received increasing
recognition for potentially reducing the risk factors associated with the urban
life and the achievement gap in urban schools: (a) forging greater school
connections with families and the community; and (b) reducing educational
segregation within schools and implementing responsive and powerful
instructional practices to ensure learning success of every student. There is
growing public demand for a coordinated and inclusive approach to service
delivery, and increasing recognition that the learning problems of children and
families cannot be tackled by schools alone. Broader social policies must be
established to initiate interagency, collaborative programs that link schools
and other service agencies. To this end, a variety of innovative strategies and
programs that are effective in forging coordinated, comprehensive education and
related human services delivery are being created across the country. Although
they vary in their approaches and in the specifics of their program designs,
the problems facing children and families stem from a variety of cultural,
economic, political, and health problems and that their solutions are complex
and require pooled resource from public and private sector agencies. Clearly,
we must find ways to reform current practices to ensure that educational
experience in elementary and secondary schools are appropriate, meaningful, and
the main source for positive development and education. The central improvement
question is not whether to provide an inclusive system of education and related
services delivery, but how to implement such a system in ways that are feasible
and effective in ensuring the schooling success of all children, including and
especially those with special needs. There is a substantial knowledge base that
should be utilized in attempting to improve the current disjointed and
unresponsive approach to serving children and youth with special needs who are
not adequately served under the current system. Public school should be
inclusive and integrated, and separation by race, gender, language background,
and/or ability should be minimized.
known from research and the practical application of innovative practices in
overcoming adversities and strengthening the resources and protective
mechanisms that foster the healthy development and educational resilience of children and youth at risk of educational
failure. If we can find the means of viewing and understanding the
"positives" in the lives of urban children and youth, we can rekindle
the hope for progress by addressing the deep-rooted problem of the achievement
gap. It is difficult if not impossible to achieve significant school improvement without forging
working connections with the multiple forces that influence the development of
children or the social ecology of neighborhoods. Recent discussion among
educators has centered on the search for resilience-promoting strategies or
protective mechanisms that help reduce the burden of adversity and advance
opportunities for learning. Two major guidelines, emerging from the past three
decades of research and innovative development efforts, have received increasing
recognition for potentially reducing the risk factors associated with the urban
life and the achievement gap in urban schools: (a) forging greater school
connections with families and the community; and (b) reducing educational
segregation within schools and implementing responsive and powerful
instructional practices to ensure learning success of every student. There is
growing public demand for a coordinated and inclusive approach to service
delivery, and increasing recognition that the learning problems of children and
families cannot be tackled by schools alone. Broader social policies must be
established to initiate interagency, collaborative programs that link schools
and other service agencies. To this end, a variety of innovative strategies and
programs that are effective in forging coordinated, comprehensive education and
related human services delivery are being created across the country. Although
they vary in their approaches and in the specifics of their program designs,
the problems facing children and families stem from a variety of cultural,
economic, political, and health problems and that their solutions are complex
and require pooled resource from public and private sector agencies. Clearly,
we must find ways to reform current practices to ensure that educational
experience in elementary and secondary schools are appropriate, meaningful, and
the main source for positive development and education. The central improvement
question is not whether to provide an inclusive system of education and related
services delivery, but how to implement such a system in ways that are feasible
and effective in ensuring the schooling success of all children, including and
especially those with special needs. There is a substantial knowledge base that
should be utilized in attempting to improve the current disjointed and
unresponsive approach to serving children and youth with special needs who are
not adequately served under the current system. Public school should be
inclusive and integrated, and separation by race, gender, language background,
and/or ability should be minimized.
Conclusions
To ensure
adequate accountability for achieving
equity in the educational outcomes
of children and youth from ethnic and minority backgrounds who are at risk of
educational failure, federal and state education agencies and local schools
must be linked with other educational, social, and health service-providing
institutions. A common standard of educational outcomes must be upheld for each
student, including those in urban schools with high concentrations of students
from minority backgrounds. A two-part initiative is needed to address the
concern of the achievement gap in urban schools - one that forges greater
school connections with families and the community to foster resilience
development, eliminates educational segregation within schools, and implements
responsive and instructionally powerful practices to ensure the learning success of each student. This
initiative joins demonstrably effective practices and establishes a coordinated
and inclusive educational service
delivery system for children and families. It also calls for broad
authority at federal, state, and local levels to grant waivers of rules and
regulations to schools that wish to provide more integrated forms of
education. A
major next-step task in achieving a better, more systematic approach to service
delivery within and beyond school walls is an aggressive plan to engage the
public in dialogue on the kinds of broad-based school reforms that are needed
to significantly reduce educational segregation and the achievement gap.
adequate accountability for achieving
equity in the educational outcomes
of children and youth from ethnic and minority backgrounds who are at risk of
educational failure, federal and state education agencies and local schools
must be linked with other educational, social, and health service-providing
institutions. A common standard of educational outcomes must be upheld for each
student, including those in urban schools with high concentrations of students
from minority backgrounds. A two-part initiative is needed to address the
concern of the achievement gap in urban schools - one that forges greater
school connections with families and the community to foster resilience
development, eliminates educational segregation within schools, and implements
responsive and instructionally powerful practices to ensure the learning success of each student. This
initiative joins demonstrably effective practices and establishes a coordinated
and inclusive educational service
delivery system for children and families. It also calls for broad
authority at federal, state, and local levels to grant waivers of rules and
regulations to schools that wish to provide more integrated forms of
education. A
major next-step task in achieving a better, more systematic approach to service
delivery within and beyond school walls is an aggressive plan to engage the
public in dialogue on the kinds of broad-based school reforms that are needed
to significantly reduce educational segregation and the achievement gap.
Megan Wilson is a teacher, life strategist,
successful entrepreneur, inspirational keynote speaker and founder of https://Ebookscheaper.com. Megan champions a radical
rethink of our school systems; she calls on educators to teach both intuition
and logic to cultivate creativity and create bold thinkers.
Source: https://ebookscheaper.com/2020/09/15/overcoming-adversities-for-children-and-youth-at-risk-of-educational-failure/
successful entrepreneur, inspirational keynote speaker and founder of https://Ebookscheaper.com. Megan champions a radical
rethink of our school systems; she calls on educators to teach both intuition
and logic to cultivate creativity and create bold thinkers.
