Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

9.3: Equity

  • Page ID
    82018
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Creating Equity in the Classroom

    by: Anthony D. Richardson

    INTRODUCTION

    There are many avenues we can take toward equity in the school. We will discuss Culture, School Size, Gender, Learning, and Funding. Five important topics needed for equity in the classroom. Before you can fair assessment of anything a person faces, they must try to understand the what, when, why and how. Equity is what every Teacher, Principal, School Super Attendant, and Parent should strive for.

    [1]

    CULTURE

    Year 2004 represented the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), the Supreme Court decision outlawing racial segregation in schools. Brown v. Board has been called the defining legal decision of the 20th century, framing as it did the United States’ struggle with issues of race and racial equality. In that decision, the justices clearly state that they were striking down segregation in public schools both to increase educational equity and to eliminate the racial stigma associated with segregation.

    Despite a wide range of efforts over the past 50 years, issues of racial and ethnic stigma and its relationship to identity and motivation remain central issues for those interested in creating racially equitable educational settings today. I argue that efforts to improve educational equity can only advance when a corresponding effort is made to reduce racial and ethnic stigma.

    In the 50 years since the first Brown decision, we have learned a great deal about both the value of diverse learning environments for student development and how to create effective diverse learning environments. Nevertheless, as we come to understand that the racial and ethnic stigma discussed in Brown continues to play a central role in modern educational outcomes and inequities, we can direct our reform efforts in productive ways.

    • First, teachers much acknowledge how deficit-based notions of diverse students continue to permeate traditional school thinking, practices, and placement, and critique their own thoughts and practices to ensure they do not reinforce prejudiced behavior.
    • Second, culturally relevant pedagogy recognizes the explicit connection between culture and learning, and sees students’ cultural capital as an asset and not a detriment to their school success.
    • 1. What does not create effective diverse learning environments?

      B. Culturally relevant pedagogy recognizes the explicit connection between culture and learning, and sees students’ cultural capital as an asset and not a detriment to their school success.

      C. Culturally relevant teaching is mindful of how traditional teaching practices reflect middle-class; European-American cultural values, and thus seeks to incorporate a wider range of dynamic and fluid teaching practices outcomes through the amelioration of stigma.

      D. Disregard cultural differences and teach a rigid and structured class that focuses on passing the SOL’s.
      2. How does school size does effect the a classroom?

      A. Estimates an appropriate balance point between student learning and school size.

      B. Study found favorable effects for larger schools in terms of student learning and teachers’ willingness to take responsibility for their students’ learning.

      C. Study found similar effects for larger schools in terms of student learning and teachers’ willingness to take responsibility for their students’ learning environment.

      D. It does not effect the classroom and learning environment at all.

      3. What is the differences between genders?

      A. Girls are competitive and boys are talkative and cooperate.

      B. Boys and girls create very distinct cultures; when they are in same-gender groups they act and play very differently.

      C. Girls are talkative and cooperative, boys are competitive and physical.

      D. The only difference is how they are raised in the home.

      4. Why is learning not equal from school to school?

      A. Access to the learning experiences that help people to thrive, though these depend on context, are not equally or equitably available to everyone becuause?

      B. Everyone does not have the same access.

      C. All the responsibility is on the schools.

      D. Every can go to the public library.

      5. What is the annual price tag of inadequately educating our young people?

      A. Inestimable price that we all pay every year.

      B. Whatever the amount of money we get from the lottery.

      C. The annual price tag of inadequately educating our young people is staggering, in the realm of $250 billion per year in health and welfare costs, criminal justice expenses, and lost tax revenues.

      D. The annual price tag of inadequately educating our young people is only $500 million per year.
      AnswerS1. ( D) 2. (B) 3. (C) 4. (A) 5. (C)

      REFRENCES

      Edmund, W., Gordon, M., Rebeell A. (2007) Toward a Comprehensive System of Education for All Children. Teachers College Record, 109 no.7, 1836-43

      Lee, V., Ready, D., Welner, K. (2004) Education Equity and School Structure: School Size, Overcrowding, and School-Within-School. Teachers College Record, 106 no.10, 1989-2014

      David, K. (2006) Boys and Girls Together: A Case for Creating Gender-Friendly Middle School Classrooms. The Clearing House, 79 no.6, 247-51

      Hertzog, N. (2005) Equity and Access: Creating General Education Classrooms Responsive to Potential Giftedness. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 29 no.2 213-57

      Shutkin, D. (2004) Thinking of the Other: Constructivist Discourse and Cultural Difference in the Field of Educational Technology. Journal of Educational Thought, 38 no.1 67-93

      Zirkel, S. (2005) Ongoing Issues of Racial and Ethnic Stigma in Education 50 Years after Brown v. Board. The Urban Review, 37 no.2 107-26

    CC licensed content, Shared previously

    9.3: Equity is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

    • Was this article helpful?