Black And Latino Schools: Case Study

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Kamilla Mojica Bamishigbin, T.A. Unit III Final Draft Introduction: According to scholar and educational researcher Gary Orfield, “In schools that are 81% to 100% Black and Latino, more than three quarters of the students are also enrolled in schools where more than 70% of the students live in poverty. In fact, half of students in 91% to 100% Black and Latino schools are in schools that also have more than 90% low-income students. (Orfield, 2014)” He continues by stating that “of students attending schools that are overwhelmingly White and Asian (0% to 10% Black and Latino schools), only 4% have 80% or more students living in poverty. Seventy percent of students enrolled in schools with less than 20% Black and Latino enrollment are also…show more content…
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), for example, aimed to “close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice so that no child is left behind” (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). A provision of this act, known as Choices for Parents, allows low-income parents to choose another public school for their child if the school that they currently attend has been labeled as “in need for improvement” for two or more consecutive years” (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). This provision may sound promising in the sense that it provides an alternative option for students who may not be receiving an adequate education but it does have its shortcomings. While the parents were given the option to move their children from one school to another, they were only permitted to move to a school within their district. This provision is ineffective because the majority of the schools under the same district suffer from the same inadequacies. Moving schools within one’s district proves to be ineffective as a low-income student would still lack in the amount of opportunities that they…show more content…
While there are several “rags to riches” stories that serve to encourage the members of the lower class to work hard and achieve their dreams, much truth lies in the fact that the government does not provide enough opportunities for them to do so. I would recommend revising the school choice provision of the No Child Left Behind Act in order to enable the mobility of students to schools located outside of their district. By doing so, many of the children within the working class would have the option to attend a school where they could receive the same opportunities as those of their high-born
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