Class And Schools: Using Social, Economic, And Educational Reform To Close The Black-white Achievement Gap

by Rothstein, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780807745564
• ISBN10: 0807745561
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-05-01
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

Contemporary public policy assumes that the achievement gap between black and white students could be closed if only schools would do a better job. According to Richard Rothstein, "Closing the gaps between lower-class and middle-class children requires social and economic reform as well as school improvement. Unfortunately, the trend is to shift most of the burden to schools, as if they alone can eradicate poverty and inequality." In this book, Rothstein points the way toward social and economic reforms that would give all children a more equal chance to succeed in school. This book features: a summary of numerous studies linking school achievement to health care quality, nutrition, childrearing styles, housing stability, parental economic security, and more ; aA look at erroneous and misleading data that underlie commonplace claims that some schools "beat the demographic odds and therefore any school can close the achievement gap if only it adopted proper practices." ; and an analysis of how the over-emphasis of standardized tests in federal law obscures the true achievement gap and makes narrowing it more difficult.

Author Biography

Richard Rothstein is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and a visiting lecturer at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Prefaces
Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute	ix
Arthur E. Levine, Teachers College	x
Introduction	1	(12)
Social class, student achievement, and the black-white achievement gap	13	(48)
The legacy of the Coleman report	13	(1)
Some common misunderstandings about the gap	14	(3)
Genetic influences	17	(2)
Social class differences in childrearing	19	(14)
Cultural influences on achievement, and black underachievement	33	(4)
Health differences and school performance	37	(9)
Housing and student mobility	46	(1)
Social class differences between blacks and whites with similar incomes	47	(4)
Does culture or social class explain the black-white achievement gap?	51	(5)
Summer and after-school learning	56	(5)
Schools that `beat the demographic odds'	61	(24)
The success of some poor children doesn't mean that poverty doesn't matter	61	(2)
Dr. William Sanders and the Tennessee value-added assessment system	63	(8)
The Heritage Foundation's `no excuses' schools	71	(4)
The Education Trust's `high-flying' schools	75	(1)
`90/90/90' schools, and Boston's Mather School	76	(2)
Pentagon schools	78	(1)
Rafe Esquith, KIPP, and affirmative action programs like AVID	79	(6)
Standardized testing and cognitive skills	85	(10)
Standardized tests' imperfect description of the gap	85	(1)
Defining proficiency	86	(4)
Alignment of tests, standards, and instruction	90	(3)
The inaccuracy of tests that hold schools accountable for closing the gap	93	(2)
The social class gap in non-cognitive skills	95	(34)
The goals of education, including non-cognitive goals	95	(4)
The anti-social score gap	99	(4)
Affirmative action's evidence of leadership: Bowen-Bok and the `four percenters'	103	(4)
Persistence in school, self-confidence, and adult earnings	107	(6)
Complementing school curricula with civil rights enforcement	113	(2)
Testing integrity, personality, and employability	115	(2)
Civic and democratic participation	117	(6)
Perry Preschool, Head Start, and Project STAR	123	(4)
Comparing school and social reform to improve cognitive and non-cognitive skills	127	(2)
Reforms that could help narrow the gap	129	(20)
School integration, and Sen. Moynihan's call for making choices	129	(4)
Income inequality	133	(2)
Stable housing	135	(3)
School-community clinics	138	(1)
Early childhood education	139	(3)
After-school programs	142	(1)
Summer programs	143	(1)
The dangers of false expectations, and adequacy suits	144	(2)
Teacher morale	146	(3)
Conclusion	149	(2)
Appendix. What employers say about graduates	151	(2)
Endnotes	153	(24)
Bibliography	177	(24)
Acknowledgments	201	(3)
About EPI	204	(1)
About Teachers College	205	(2)
EPI publications	207