Socio-economic Disparities Impact on a Students Educational Performance

CHAPTER 3

Desegregation and integration contributes to providing equal opportunities in learning which hopefully will bridge the achievement gap . By integration , this would mean that public school administration have been very aggressive in creating programs that will accommodate diversity and provide equal opportunities for all . However , integration policies in schools and universities do not necessarily mean that everyone is receiving an equal opportunity in learning

One of the sources of inequality of opportunity seems to begin in the classroom . Research claims that a significant factor in the poor performance of

students is the inadequacy of the teacher to teach . This inadequacy will affect the performance of the students

Legislation has been created in the hopes of providing equal opportunities for all students , namely the Civil Rights Act of 1964 However , implementation of this law has been challenged from the moment of inception . As a matter of fact , school actions in response to this legislation have been met with controversy regarding discrimination

Although there maybe numerous factors that contribute to the poor performance of students , this chapter will limit it to the relation of the socio-economic disparity in public schools with the ability of the teachers to teach which ultimately affects the academic performance of the students . This chapter will also discuss the attempt in integration and equal opportunity by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the controversies associated with the law and its implementation

Ultimately , this chapter will conclude that the unequal opportunities which are caused by socio-economic disparity directly affect the students ' performance in school which limits their future economic opportunities thus creating a repetition of the problem in the next generation

Diversity is not a new concept , throughout history , different groups and cultures of individuals have looked at the world and made sense of it through representations of their own values and beliefs . The challenge of educating children from these different backgrounds is complex . Ever since the very critical case of the Brown v . Board of Education case in 1954 , integration of a diverse student population has been the move in public schools throughout the nation . This is due mainly to the fact that demographics in the United States are changing rapidly , so much so , that Wittmer claims that The statistical meaning of the word minority is quickly losing its significance , especially in America 's classrooms ' In a census made in Texas in 2005 , the US Census Bureau reported that the which 16 ,021 ,256 are white 2 ,442 ,300 are black 726 ,027 are Asian and 7 ,903 ,079 are Hispanic . The rest are distributed among the Indian Americans , Hawaiians and other races . This would equate to 73 percent of the population being white , 11 percent are African Americans and a 37 percent of the population is Hispanic . Texas is ranked 5th for having a majority minority population . There were 4 ,594 ,942 students that enrolled in the school year 2006-2007 in the state of Texas . Of this 662 ,700 were Black representing...