Poverty, race, and the contexts of achievement: Examining educational experiences of children in the U.S. south.
This article considers issues of educational inequality in the U.S. South from a social work/ social justice perspective. After a review of existing literature and discussion of cultural versus structural explanations for race and socioeconomic status gaps in academic achievement, findings are presented from a study examining child-, classroom-, and school-level factors that influence academic achievement among public school children in the South. Although a sizeable minority of southern children attend schools that are segregated along racial and socioeconomic lines, and although these schools are different in various aspects of educational environment, once family structure, parental characteristics, the use of ability grouping, and rural school location were taken into account, no influence of race on achievement remained. Implications for social work policy and practice are discussed.
Fram
Maryah Stella
MS
College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia 29208, USA. fram@gwm.sc.edu
Miller-Cribbs
Julie E
JE
Van Horn
Lee
L
D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty / Q000208:ethnology; D012424:Rural Population; D012574:Schools; D012935:Social Justice; D012947:Social Work; D015144:Southeastern United States; D013219:State Government; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology