What is the Education inequity Barrier?

Educational inequity occurs when a people group lacks access to academic resources and support due to external factors that are not under their control, creating a disparity between high-poverty and affluent schools within the same district or neighboring districts. Oftentimes, schools in lower-income neighborhoods receive less funding, resulting in lack of access to effective teachers and high-quality curriculum or coursework. Although research is not conclusive about the correlation of funding disparities and student achievement, the lack of access to academic resources and support puts students in lower-income neighborhoods at a severe disadvantage.

Ultimately, the presence or lack of opportunities creates this barrier. Students in underserved neighborhoods have limited opportunities to thrive academically in contrast with their more affluent neighbors. Compare the demographics of the Maple and Garnet communities with more affluent neighborhood for example. The average income of families in those neighborhoods is $150k. Most families have college educated parents that are invested in their child’s education and there are multiple academic resources available to students, including private tutors, extracurricular schools (Korean, sports), technological resources (Apple products, etc.), and higher-funded PTAs. However, in the Maple and Garnet communities, immigrant parents are often working multiple jobs to support the family and there is limited monetary support to invest in educational enrichment, such as tutoring and college visits

 CAUSES

• Limited or lacking learning environment to thrive academically (lack of quiet space to focus, unreliable technology, lack of peer-to-peer learning, lack of adults who can support educationally)

• No academic support from an adult outside of school

• Lack of money and opportunity to invest in educational enrichment (tutoring, college visits, learning pods, music, sports)

• The stress of excessive homework

• Racism — students of color are more prone to detention and behavioral reprimanding

• Immigration — parents who are undocumented are not willing to “put themselves out there”; which often comes at the expense of being able to attend events that might help their children