Читать книгу Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership - Sharon I. Radd - Страница 14

Inequity is also structural, meaning that the way our system of schooling, and our entire society for that matter, are built and organized predictably lead to the types of disparate outcomes that exist today. It is not a coincidence that neighborhoods and schools are arranged in such a way that children tend to go to school with others who share their race or socioeconomic class. In Meadowbrook, although the secondary schools enroll all grade-level students from the community, the elementary schools are neighborhood-based. As noted, Meadowbrook's housing patterns reflect income and wealth patterns. Nationally, 78 percent of families with middle and upper incomes and wealth tend to live in homes that they are purchasing that help them build wealth and enjoy income tax deductions, while at least 52 percent of families with lower incomes live in rental properties where they face rising rents and the subsequent costs of moving households repeatedly over time. Further, these trends reflect racial divisions as well, with 72 percent of White families living in and purchasing their homes, while 58 percent of African American families and 49 percent of all families of color live in rental properties (U.S. Census Bureau News, 2020). Meadowbrook matches these national demographics and, as a result, the elementary schools' enrollments are economically and racially segregated, as schools are throughout the United States.

This segregation is structural and serves to continue inequity: When students attend schools that are highly resourced, they have access to an array of both tangible and intangible benefits that are rarely available to students in under-resourced areas. From athletic facilities to advanced placement classes to social and professional networks that provide an invitation into schools and employment to "get ahead," these types of structural factors serve to leave current arrangements undisturbed. In Meadowbrook, one can look to the school fundraisers to see one small way this structural inequality creates other forms of inequality. In all the schools, the parent-teacher organizations (PTO) organize fundraisers every year where students sell products to raise money for the schools. In the wealthy quadrant of town, the PTO runs one fundraiser per year, which brings in $65,000 that is used to purchase extra equipment and enrichment activities for students, in addition to providing funds to staff an after-school, high-tech enrichment program. At the elementary school that enrolls most of the students who live in rental housing with federal assistance, the PTO runs two sales each year and five other fundraisers at the school, including a carnival and a bake sale. Because families at this school, and their family and social networks, have far lower disposable incomes than the families at the other school, and despite the fact that people with lower incomes tend to donate a larger percentage of their income than people with higher incomes, all of these efforts result in only $15,000 in extra cash for the school. The school uses these funds to purchase playground supplies and to fund an extra part-time teaching assistant to run the volunteer program with a local business that has adopted the school, sending mentors and reading buddies to work with "students in need."