Aaron Cook

Works Cited Garner, Richard. Social class determines childs success. The Independent. n.p. 18 September 2008 In Social class determines a childs success, Garner describes an interview he has with Graham Holley, the chief executive of the Training and Development Agency. Holley describes the reasons of why students of lower social classes do not perform as well as students from higher social classes. He gives examples such as malnutrition, not being read to when they were little, and poor behavior as reasons for the childrens unsatisfactory grades. Holley also explains in the interview steps that are being taken to close this achievement gap between the social classes such as, tutoring programs and the way the government is getting involved. Garners argument is well supported with the interview with Holley as well as with factual information and statistics which strengthens this article as a credible source. Another strength of this article is that it was published in a magazine which adds to the credibility. Garners main argument is that something needs to be done about todays education system. Also that it is not a new issue; it has been around for a very long time. He recognizes that it will not be an easy, smooth, or cheap path solving this issue but he believes that it can be done. Even though the main argument for my inquiry is the unequal opportunities amongst social classes in education, the main idea from this source goes hand in hand with that. This article gives specific reasons for the poor performance of lower social class students and I will be able to relate these to the difference in opportunities present for these under privileged students.

Aaron Cook

If you turn the clock back on pupils in schools today 15 years and predict their outcomes from where they were born, you can do it. We need to change that. Its not something this government has done. Its not something the last government has done. Its something that has been there since the Second World War and probably even before that. (1) We have to ask why is that? It is not down to individual teachers competence. It is down to the way they are managed. (1) Students are turning up to school, cold hungry and not in the right frame of mind to learn. There also may be nowhere for them to do homework at home their parents maybe be working or a single parent could be pre-occupied with other things. (2)

Aaron Cook

Da, Silva C. D. S. The Opportunity Gap: Achievement and Inequality in Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review, 2007. Print. This book looks beyond the current questions of the achievement gap and solutions to this problem and focuses more on the unequal social and educational opportunities. The Opportunity Gap contains information on the inequalities amongst social classes in education. It is a collection of essays that relate education and social class and gives examples of the separate opportunities people have from different social classes. The authors of this book write about how education does not respond adequately to students of all social backgrounds and touch on important topics such as race, poverty, and gender. This book is a good source because it provides so much information for my inquiry and it is a published book which makes the source credible. The book also cites many other sources which is a strength because it gives me more information to pull for my inquiry. A weakness of this source is that it is so large that there was no way I can go through all of the information. The authors of The Opportunity Gap argue that there is a direct relationship between social class and a students success in school. The authors point out all of the injustice in education and present factual information and statistics on the relationship of poverty and education, as well as economic and social inequality. The authors and I have the same views on these topics and this book will support my inquiry very well. I can go to it for some of the unanswered questions I had before reading this as well as continue on some of the unanswered questions that the book leaves me with. One of the main topics in this book is the relation

Aaron Cook

between social class and teacher expectations. I had not thought of this relation before looking over this source and now I can see it being a key point to write about in my inquiry paper. How schools address poverty is an important test of an education system. Children from poor families are, generally speaking, the least successful by conventional measures and the hardest to teach by traditional methods. (13) The bottom line is that non-poor folks do not like to see their children going to school with poor children. (189) The educational authority that defines expertise must itself be contested. People in disadvantaged schools and poor communities do not lack knowledge. They do, however, often lack ways of putting their knowledge to use. (26)

Aaron Cook

Race, Class, and the Achievement Gap: The Promise of Student Potential. Teaching as Leadership. n.d. 21 March 2013 In Race, Class, and the Achievement Gap: The Promise of Student Potential, the author find correlations between the three topics of race, class, and the achievement gap and relates them all together. The author writes about what is to blame for the achievement gap and how race and class play into it. Not only does he state these correlations but he gives reasons for these correlations, ultimately answering that question why are lower class schools not as successful? The author supports his argument very well by citing other sources in each of his sections and this turns out to be a very reliable source. The author not only states the undeniable relationships but he also took risks in some the correlations he made; things that many people thought but did not have the guts to say. This weakens the source because these correlation might not be very reliable. This source will be very useful all throughout my inquiry. It contains very valuable information regarding race, social class, and the achievement gap. I agree with all of the key points from this source and will go perfectly with the direction I am taking with my inquiry. A major part of this source was the section on school funding. I think I can expand on that to a great extent since that is something that raises the most questions in my mind; for example, why are the failing schools budgets cut?

Aaron Cook

Lower-income children are far more likely to suffer from poor nutrition, housing problems, stress and depression, and are also more likely to have fewer resources for learning, all of which can have a negative impact on academic achievement. (18) The fact that race and class are such consistent predictors of diminished academic achievement in this country poses an obvious and difficult question: Why? Why is it that students of color and poorer students, on average, lag so far behind Whiter, wealthier students? If we can answer this question, we may gain insight into how to close the achievement gap for those students. (21) Among the many family structure factors that different commentators blame for the achievement gap are parents level of education, single-parent families, and grandparent involvement in raising children. This line of thinking holds that the growing number of students raised in non-traditional home settings is contributing to those students lesser achievement. However, other researchers claim that these family-structure factors do not seem to have very much influence on student performance. (24)

Aaron Cook

Cordes, Bryan. Miller, Gerald. Inequality of Education in the United States. Rockhurst University. n.d. 28 March 2013. In this source Miller and Cordes point out specific reasons for the inequality of education in America. They say that the main reason for educational inequalities is the unequal distribution of wealth. Other than stating reasons for the inequalities they also suggest solutions to the problem. The authors suggest that the only way to close the achievement gap between the upper class and the rest of America is to increase education equally across America regardless of race or social class. They recognize government funding as a key issue as well. The authors of this paper support their argument very well with sources from other organizations and government websites. The authors also use a lot of statistics in the paper to demonstrate the correlation between social class and educational opportunities. This strengthens the source by giving more credible information. There is one thing from this source that I do not agree with. That is when the authors state that the reason for inequality in education is the unequal distribution of wealth. In my opinion, that is not the case. This is the reason we have social classes but not the reason for unequal opportunities in education. Other than that this will be a helpful source while working toward my inquiry. The statistics will also be very helpful while writing my paper. A key solution to minimize the widening gap between the upper class and the rest of the American population is to increase education equally among Americans regardless of gender and race. (4)

Aaron Cook

While the average funding gap for the United States is $1,348, there are some states that are much better and some that are much worse. There are states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Jersey that have a positive funding gap, meaning they give more resources to their highest poverty districts, even after taking into account the additional cost of educating poor children. (7) The consequences of funding gaps in public school district are real and well documented. A school without sufficient funds is unable to teach their students. Important funds need to be allocated so that students have the proper materials and environment for them to succeed. (8)

Perry, Emma. The Social Class Gap for Educational Achievement: a Review of the Literature. RSA Projects. December 2010. 18 March 2013.

Aaron Cook

In The Social Class Gap for Educational Achievement: a Review of the Literature the author describes the achievement gap between social classes all around the world. Similar to the previous sources, this document describes the reasons for this gap and possible solutions to closing this gap. The author talks about different programs that are seeking to narrow this achievement gap. The main idea of this document is that a childs success can be projected very early in their educational career because of their ethnicity and social class. Like the previous sources, the author of The Social Class Gap for Educational Achievement: a Review of the Literature cites other sources throughout her argument giving the reader important statistics related to the main idea of the paper. This source will be very helpful while working on my inquiry paper. It gives me an idea of what peoples views are in Europe and not just in America. I can use this information by giving a more worldview on the topic rather than just a western world view. This source gives a lot of information on possible solutions to narrowing the achievement gap that I did not know or had thought about before reading this. What sort of initiatives and approaches, then, might prove more fruitful in addressing working-class educational achievement especially within a climate of cuts which threaten to exacerbate existing inequalities? (2) There is a need for innovative ideas in order to close the social class gap in education. (2)

Aaron Cook

And innovative thinking is required as to what a more socially just education system might look like. (3)