In reading the work “Urban School Reform, Family Support and Student Achievement”, my eyes have truly been opened to the level of indifference that urban students and schools face. Growing up I would occasionally go to urban schools in my area for a basketball game or two knowing that it was a school that was struggling but I did not fully know and understand the extent of their struggling until reading statistics and insights that Greene and Anyon provide. One of the main things that stuck out to me in reading this article is that while the authors work to clearly convey what the issue at hand is through data and statistics, they also were able to demonstrate one solution to the problem that is already in place and impacting the lives within the urban population. Bringing to the light that there are people who are stepping up to help this population, there is still a long way to go to ensure that today’s students are being adequately educated. A population made up of different socioeconomic backgrounds has been around since the beginning of time and unfortunately in most cases, the population with the lowest socioeconomic background receives the short end of the stick and that continues to be the case in education.
Greene and Anyon begin their work with a powerful line “Teachers and other educational professionals find themselves in schools and districts being bombarded by reforms”. In our presentation, this quote was one that sparked thought and conversation because we must stop and think as to why this bigger picture is all in the hands of teachers and educators. There are so many moving parts that the authors take the time to speak to that occur outside the classroom. In showing what is being done to help these students and families outside of the classroom is inspiring and hopeful and true to the idea that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. When the time and effort is put in outside the classroom, the benefits are staggering within the classrooms. Greene and Anyon talk about how “there is both explicit and implicit evidence that increased financial resources for families raise the educational achievement of poor children—in literacy as well as in other content areas”. Children are able to succeed when their families are in an increased economic state. After receiving the money and being able to move up the ‘socioeconomic ladder’, these children were doing better academically as well as emotionally as the negative behaviors such as bully and anger outbursts decreased by an astounding 40%. Due to the help of nonprofit organizations such as New Hope, these children are able to increase their level of academic achievement because their families are provided with the resources that they need thanks to the organization. I think that it is important to note the positive relationship that arises from parents having adequate time and money to spend on their children. Statistically speaking, this type of relationship may lead to a higher level of academic achievement and this is an idea that Greene and Anyon found important to highlight as well.
Statistically speaking, I think that Greene and Anyon thoughtfully placed their statistics towards the beginning of their work. Reading and comprehending these impactful statistics right at the beginning of their work keeps them fresh and flowing in the reader’s mind throughout. In reading “According to an analysis of the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 84% of low-income fourth-grade students in 11 of the nation’s largest urban districts scored at or below the basic level in reading;” as one of the first sentences, it sticks because it is such a high percentage of students that are not adequately scoring and reaching standard achievement levels and causes us as the readert to ask questions. In setting the tone of the article with a statistic like this one is powerful because it reaffirms that there truly is a problem facing urban districts across the United States. In elaborating on the tremendous impact that one’s socioeconomic status has on their educational experiences, it is critical to understand the disadvantages that come along with this status. This type of status has continuously divided groups of people putting some above others in many ways more than one. However, when it comes to educating the youth, it is important to ask the question should one’s education boundaries be predetermined by their socioeconomic status in society?
Like everything, urban poverty, neighborhoods and schools were shaped by the historic past and are still reaping the consequences from decisions made before their time. Greene and Anyon go onto break down the journey that urban communities took through time and in doing this the reader is able to understand what has truly made these communities the way that they are today. In looking at the bigger picture educationally and economically based on the information provided in the reading, a clear line can be created to connect just how these school districts went under. Business incentives led to the downfall of inner cities as bank loans pushed corporations to the relocation route as opposed to the renovation route leaving these areas bare with no financial incomes or revenues to support the area and it’s educational districts and programs. This unfortunately created a turn of events that these urban areas have still not yet recovered from. The discrepancy in school spending varies tremendously and that was a statistic that truly put things into perspective for me. Greene and Anyon pull statistics from the New York State education system to show the extreme difference and as someone from New York, I was very shocked to say the least. This led to us as a group deciding to input data from the Ohio educational system to open the eyes of many Ohio natives as well as those who are looking to stay in Ohio after college to teach.
“Financial strength is the engine of systemic school reform” was stated in the conclusion and was one of the main ideas that we were working to convey to our classmates. As each section defined and broke that concept down in it’s own way, we thought it may be insightful to have each group internalize just how much damage has been done to students and their achievement levels as a result of financial weakness. If we as future educators in this society do not truly compartmentalize and address issues such as these, children will continue to be within the confinements of their home school districts.
Works Consulted:
Greene, K. & Jean Anyon (2010) Urban School Reform, Family Support, and Student Achievement, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 26:3, 223-236.
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