Inequality in Education and the Opportunity Gap

The root of this epidemic is the divisive system of housing discrimination. This strategy of separation has been used to stop people of color from obtaining wealth. Redlining, a term that emerged in the 1950s, denied people of color services such as banking, insurance, healthcare and even jobs, essentially denying them access to upward mobility. Banks crafted “undesirable” zones that were drawn out with red lines, which created historically black areas meant to keep people of color in their neighborhoods, as well as to keep them poor. In the last few years, the practice of redlining has been brought to court several times with multiple banks, including Santander, Wells Fargo and Evans Bank. Last year, the city of Providence brought a lawsuit against Santander Bank claiming that Santander was actively expanding its business in predominantly white neighborhoods while shutting out areas with high concentrations of minority groups. Last November, the Providence Journal reported that the city of Providence was dropping the redlining lawsuit it filed in exchange for Santander Bank’s committing $1.3 million in grants to support low and moderate-income neighborhoods in the city. Santander’s acceptance of the accusation and their large grants to the community tell us a lot about the reluctance to address the problem of discrimination and redlining. Community organizations like the Providence Community Library, AS220 and the Rhode Island Local Initiatives Support Corp have received large grants from Santander for community outreach, but at the root of this settlement is still the reality: discrimination.

Even though redlining is no longer legal, many of these neighborhoods have already been singled out, and they continue to exist across the nation. School districts are mostly funded by state and, most importantly, local property taxes; very little funding comes from the federal government. For example, Pennsylvania has no basic formula for determining how its Basic Education Funding is distributed among districts. Yet, data shows that school districts with predominantly white students receive higher average per-student funding than less white districts. School districts that are largely composed of people of color in poverty-stricken areas will remain poor without proper resources for students. They must be held to the same standard as students in privileged schools.

The United States Department of Education regularly releases the Civil Rights Date Collection documents filled with disturbing facts about racial inequality in our American education system. The documents are divided in four major parts: Teacher and Counselor Equity, College and Career Readiness, School Discipline, Restraint & Seclusion Highlights and Early Childhood Education. The findings are demoralizing, with fact after fact indicating disparities affecting children of color, immigrant youth and disabled children. “Nearly one in four districts with two or more high schools reports a teacher salary gap of more than $5,000 between high schools with the highest and the lowest black and Latino student enrollments,” a clear indicator of the funding problems that are affecting youth. Teachers in these lesser-funded districts are more likely to have larger classes, underserved children and, on top of that, a smaller paycheck than other teachers. Moreover, the lack of funding for qualified teachers within districts that are predominantly of color hurts the quality of education for minority students in those communities. People of color also find themselves in school districts where teachers fall short of many requirements or at schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers than the schools of white students. As opposed to their white peers, black students are four times as likely and Latino students are twice as likely to be in a school district where more than 20 percent of the teachers have not met all state certification and licensing requirements.

The opportunity and resource gap begins in early childhood education with 40 percent of the nation’s public school districts not offering pre-school programs. This makes it difficult for low-income, minority youth to build the learning foundations necessary for K-12. The documents also explored how minority groups do not have the same resources or mentors to help them succeed throughout their high school careers. For example, guidance counselors are essential for a student’s future. However, research suggests that low-income minority students are less likely to receive decent counseling on opportunities available to them after high school and facts about pursuing higher education. Ultimately, these studies work to prove that black, Latino, Native American and Native Alaskan students are more likely to be in schools that lack the resources and funding to provide them with opportunities for success.

Unfortunately, the educational system’s definition of success only furthers this gap between privileged and underprivileged groups. Our social and educational policies are centered on an outcome-based accountability system. Standardized test scores are designed to motivate students to prove themselves and better their results. But because these tests are administered to all students, no matter their educational, geographical or ethnic background (hence the name “standardized”); students in lower-income areas can’t compete. The mandated use of universal state standards has not closed the socioeconomic gap and is forcing schools to show score improvements without any real growth from the students. Since 2006, there have been at least 100 known cases of teachers cheating on tests. As Christopher H. Teinken and Yong Zhao write in the impactful book, Closing the Opportunity Gap, “in a wrongheaded attempt to lower disparities in test scores, common standards and high stakes testing actually widen the opportunity gap between the privileged and disadvantaged.”

On top of the economic disparities created by our country’s history of legalized racial inequality, youth of color are more vulnerable to discrimination and prejudices within their educational environment. Black children make up only 18 percent of preschool enrollment, but 48 percent of black children are suspended more than once in preschool. Studies show that black students are disciplined more harshly than the white children because of the perception and criminalization of people of color by society. In high school, these percentages grow worse with suspensions and detentions of black children being more than double that of white children.

On the whole, minorities, who have legally been denied social mobility, who were brought together into neighborhoods because of segregation, who have been experiencing this cycle of poverty and struggling with educational standards for more than fifty years, are expected to properly fund their school districts and then compete with wealthier counterparts who have not faced their economic, social and political oppression. The disparities exist. Instead of calling it an “achievement gap” and judging all students as if they are on a level playing field, there has to be more focus on what is causing these educational disparities between races. Fixing these unequal school systems and closing the opportunity gap creates better citizens, improves our economy and fortifies our democracy. The higher the level of education, the greater and more thoughtful a person’s social, political and economical contribution to society.

Looking at the roots of this educational restriction on people of color says a lot about why this group is in the unfortunate position in which it finds itself today. Denying education has been a way of oppressing groups. Deliberate inequality among people of color is hard to erase and is going to continue to affect lives until it is properly addressed. Our long history of legalized racial inequality is gone, but we’re still not guaranteeing equal educational opportunities.