Objective: Explore education inequalities in our community through various lenses and synthesized personal learnings to construct comparative analysis and communities and addressing education inequalities.

Slogan: Education Inequality and Community Development

Members: Ankush Agrawal, Alex Amari, Jasmine Lin, Malika Miglani, Michelle Wang

 

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Third Post: Quality

 

For our final cohort activity, we staged a virtual movie night on the topic of educational quality. This past weekend, we each watched the film Race to Nowhere (2009) while convening on Skype to discuss our impressions, share experiences, and ask questions.

 

Race to Nowhere is a documentary film that follows the stories of several young people dispersed across the United States in educational systems that are pushing them to the brink. The film features interviews with parents, educators, and students who are concerned with the physical and mental health of young people driven to the limits in pursuit of elite college admissions and academic achievement. We wondered how this ‘race to nowhere,’ that each of us experienced in our own way during school, contributes to the state of educational quality in the United States.

 

Q1: How do you guys think the ‘race to nowhere’ is affecting learning outcomes for students?

 

Jasmine: If the question we’re asking is one about quality, I think it’s important to ask what quality means. It’s pretty clear in the documentary that when it comes to what constitutes a “good” school or “good” education, a lot of the focus, and a lot of the pressure that comes from it, is on what kinds of learning and educational practices will get you to a “good” college and a “good” career, aka one that’s prestigious or makes you a lot of money. And of course a lot of schools are gonna vary on this metric, like private and public schools, the schools with more resources and better teachers and stuff, like we talked about in our earlier blog posts. But if we really want to get to the heart of the quality question, I think we should be asking is if this is really what quality education looks like — is it really just good grades and test scores? One of the things that I’ve been thinking a lot about has been like at Ashoka, one of the big principles is every child mastering empathy in grade school, and the importance of having an education where kids can learn emotional development and equip them with the social-emotional skills — and I’d throw in civic responsibility and ethical fiber — to be successful people, not just workers. That’s what I think quality should be about, not just the ability to score well on a test.

 

Alex: I’m inclined to agree with a lot of what you said, Jasmine. I’ve also become a believer of the empathy framework after working for Ashoka, and would add that I think acquisition of social and emotional skills at large is an important component of a quality educational experience. While somebody might argue that the race to nowhere is in some sense ‘character building,’ I think we would be remiss if we didn’t consider the negative impact this stress can have on effective identity formation during high school in particular.

 

Ankush: This is a point I am excited to bring up and a point I think they really hit home with the movie. As mentioned in the movie, the “race to nowhere” forces lower-income schools to focus on test scores and numbered results instead of educating each student. I do agree the quality of education cannot be measured by such narrow metrics.

 

Michelle: I completely agree. It seems like more and more, kids are just learning information for the sake of taking a test. Advanced classes are have become test prep courses for AP or IB exams and whoever can memorize and spew out the most information gets the highest grade. It is no longer about the depth or quality of information you know, but the quantity of facts you can regurgitate in a specific amount of time.

 

Q2: How do you guys think the ‘race to nowhere’ situation could be improved?

 

Ankush: The first thing that comes to mind is increasing mental health awareness in high schools for each student AND their parents. It’s very clear to me that this problem stems mainly from within the household instead of the school. It seemed as if the movie was targeting “tiger parents” who tend to put intense pressure on their students to attend a “top tier” college.

One topic the movie hit on that really interested me was the focus of education at lower-socioeconomic schools vs that of higher socioeconomic status. At better public schools, the teachers are able to stress and focus their attention on teaching students about finding their passion and learning to be educated. There seems to be a mentality to learn the material first and the opportunities will stem from that. However, it’s almost the completely opposite in disadvantaged public schools. Teachers fail to motivate their students without mentioning how high grades and higher SAT scores are there ticket to a better life and higher education. They plant the mindset into students that they can only become something if they earn those high grades. I’m not denying what these teachers are saying, but it seems that by stressing the importance of such test scores and classroom grades, students are lacking the intrinsic drive to perform academically. To bring it back to our theme, a higher quality education involves a strong sense of motivation and deeper commitment to being educated instead of short-term outcomes. I understand that this may seem idealist, but it might be worth stressing learning over test scores in these lower-income public schools to improve the quality of education.

 

Alex: I think many of the movie’s suggestions were well-founded. Although this may not be reasonable for a lot of low-income school districts, I think a new kind of counseling role for students, specifically targeted towards stress, could be extremely helpful for high school students in particular. I agree with Ankush’s point about the radical problems in student mental health, particularly in public schools.

 

Jasmine: Yeah I definitely think y’all are right about mental health, but I actually think the problem might be even bigger. I’m gonna be “that person” and say that we really just have to reorganize our educational system a different way. Honestly the mainstream public education system was designed back in industrialization, and that’s what our schools are equipped to prepare us for — skills like how to follow directions, follow a bell/schedule, how to respond to numerical feedback — this is all stuff that would be preparing us for factory work on an assembly line, and that’s what’s stressing us out, is that we keep trying to succeed at these metrics more and more and it’s not actually measuring our hard work or success, it’s not fulfilling and meaningful, and it’s not actually preparing us to be positive contributors to our communities. At some level we just gotta scrap it, take a step back, and redesign what’s really important for students to be learning and how we measure that success.

 

Mallika: While this is a pretty macro goal I think we need to re-evaluate what our definition of success is. School is a system that every child has to go through however, not every child has characteristics that would allow them to succeed in such a system. Every person has different strengths and schools tend to celebrate and advance students that fit within the very narrow definition of what success is. Having a more nuanced way of looking at child development and growth (similar to what the German system used to be like) may be a way of placing students in systems that work for their learning style and goals.

 

Q3: If you could go back and give advice to yourself at the beginning of high school, what would it be? How would that advice improve the quality of your high school experience?

 

Michelle: Throughout high school, I continually strove to stay as busy as possible, participating in as many clubs as I could handle.  I also took as many AP courses as could fit into my schedule without completely overwhelming myself. I was definitely heavily influenced by the pressures of getting admitted to a prestigious college and by my peers who were equally concerned with college admittance. Often, I found that it wasn’t even my parents who were placing stress on college acceptance, but just me worrying about my future. If I could give my high school self advice, I would tell myself to relax more, enjoy my time there. It doesn’t matter how many clubs you’re in or how many advanced classes you take. Choose to focus your time on things that matter to you, things that you enjoy, rather than what you think will look good on a resume or application. With more focus, I would have been able to explore specific interests instead of dabbling in a bit of everything. I also would have had more free time to rest and just not worry about school.

 

Alex: Dear Alex, everything is going to be okay. No matter how much you worry about getting into the right college, it’s not actually going to change anything. Unless your worrying is producing substantive changes in your behavior that is going to make you a happier, healthier, smarter, person (and also a more competitive applicant), then please please please don’t worry about it. P.S. Yes you will one day start dating.

 

Mallika: You will have to take classes that you hate in college so don’t take classes that you hate but think you should take in high school. Find the people who really matter and don’t get caught up in random social structures that you think exist. Be kind to your family, read for fun more, and don’t procrastinate.

 

Ankush: It is totally okay to be ambitious and have something to work towards to, but don’t let that prevent you from taking a class that is really out there. There’s no point in trying to specialize in high school when you will be presented with an even more diverse set of opportunities and classes in college. If there is anything that interests you in high school, do not be afraid to approach the teacher and ask them if you think it would be a good idea for you to take the class. And if you feel like you would be too stressed to add that, ask if you could maybe take a few tutorials after school to test out the waters.

 

Jasmine: My advice to myself: Chill out, go outside more, focus on learning as much as you can about the world and about where you come from because you will need it later. Practice your Chinese. Talk to more people. Go to the doctor. It’ll all turn out okay in the end. In all honesty none of this advice would probably change the quality of my education very much because the opportunities available to me would still be the same; it would probably put me more at ease with the lot I’ve been given.

 

Q4: Do you think the problem of the ‘race to nowhere’ is a problem that needs addressing on a policy level? Is it even a problem at all?

 

Alex: This seems like a really hard question to answer. On one hand, I think the problem is more deeply rooted in households and college admissions offices as opposed to the schools in which students are experiencing these issues. I wonder what kind of substantive policy changes would be a) feasible and b) effective in de-stressing students, regulating their free time etc., because I imagine ultra competitive households will find different ways to push kids to the brink. It reminds me of work I did last summer for Character Lab, when we were developing a ‘Character Growth Card’ for schools. We had to be very careful in our wording on the card, because if it seemed like a report card, we knew that wealthy private school students would inevitably wind up with tutors who would help them pass the ‘Character Test.’ All that being said, I imagine there are simple scheduling changes in public and private schools, such as starting later in the day and moving athletic schedules around, to alleviate some student stress. I imagine that one day people will look back and wonder how we could have possibly forced teenagers to wake up at 6:00am every morning when our understanding of biology and circadian rhythms clearly shows that this is counter to their nature. Surely this is a problem, but I don’t know what large-scale policy changes could be warranted.

 

Michelle: I agree that there’s not much to be done on the policy level. I think that what the education system needs is a culture shift from its emphasis on high test scores and a cut-throat environment to a focus on curiosity and critical thinking. Too many kids are afraid of failing or not being the best at everything they do and don’t understand the value of learning from one’s mistakes. Their parents expect them to excel no matter what and that often leads burned out kids who crack from the pressure of being perfect. Parents need to worry less about how their child’s stats stack up to someone else’s and focus their energy on making sure they’re actually becoming intelligent, articulate individuals.

 

Mallika: Idealistically I agree with you Michelle. I just think it is hard to shift emphasis from test scores when it is one of the metrics the government has to asses its teachers and schools. Given that, I think there needs to be creative policy that determines a better way of assessing children that moves away from the by-rote method that is in place now. Perhaps cognitive development tests looked at over time would be a better indication of growth rather than arbitrary multiple choice tests.

 

Q5: How reflective was the movie of your own experiences in high school and applying for college?

 

Alex: I have to say, I don’t think it was that great of a reflection on my high school career. I certainly worked hard, but I never felt like I was pushing myself to the limit, or that I was under inordinate amounts of stress as a function of my schoolwork. I was far more concerned with social issues/relationships than I was with college applications until the end of my junior year. There was definitely a few months during which I was infected with the college craze that made life quite miserable, but I can’t relate to the level of stress that literally made some of the students in the movie sick.

 

Jasmine: Yeah, I was kind of surprised that a lot of the kids were getting really sick in the documentary too. Although it’s probably not that big of a leap from what I remember of high school. I was doing International Baccalaureate and everyone in it was obsessed with getting good grades and getting into college. We made it a cultural value to be constantly sleep deprived. We thought it was hilarious how much work we had and how none of us had social lives. A bunch of kids were abusing prescription drugs and stuff. It was really infuriating I think that that expectation was so ingrained in us that we should go to good schools and get good jobs that none of us really thought about if we were really learning what we should have been, and if we were really learning the skills that IB espoused of a “quality” education.

 

Mallika: I relate to some extent with what was portrayed in the film since I came from an extremely competitive high school and I also did the IB. However, for me personally I don’t believe it was to the same degree. I think a lot of pressure comes from within families and friendship groups to achieve but if you are surrounded by people who do not prescribe to that thinking then your own perspective is different. I will say that I think that the notion of college is introduced at a much earlier age now. A cousin I have who is 9 years old is already planning her way into getting into Stanford. College entered my psyche at a much later stage and with far less fervor.

 

Ankush: Like Alex, I can’t sympathize with ever feeling like I was overworked or stressed out from school. I’m sure in high school I would have claimed I was stressed out, but looking back, I do not think I really was. At my school, it seemed relatively easy to throw around “stress” for just seeming busy. That being said, I can sympathize with the unhealthy pressure of having to prove myself by getting into a “Top 20” university and needing to fill up my resumé with club officer positions to feel like a “model” student.

 

Michelle: I was definitely stressed at times during high school, but it was never to the extent portrayed in the film. My high school wasn’t super competitive and even people at the top weren’t obsessed with grades. The environment was a lot more relaxed and not cut-throat at all, although college was on our minds a lot. I think I was the cause of most of the stress I experienced, as a semi-perfectionist and constant worrier. I wanted to do more and filled up my schedule because I enjoyed being busy and on the go all the time.

 

 

 

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Second Post:

For our second theme, education access, Right to Learn agreed for each member to research on education a different topic in education access and share our findings with each other. Each topic also focuses slightly on the geographic location of the person researching, either Washington, DC, or Houston. Our broad variety of topics allowed us to get an appreciation for the broad and complex issue of education access.

 

Our topics were: Access to afterschool programs (in Washington, DC), access to private versus public school (in Washington, DC), community college and accessibility due to textbook costs (in Houston), effects of zoning restrictions on accessibility (in Houston), and accessibility with regards to charter schools (in Houston).

 

Access to Afterschool Programs

 

I sought to investigate a somewhat different angle regarding educational access: the prevalence and availability of afterschool programs, particularly for economically disadvantaged students. I became interested in this topic during a six month stint working as an assistant research scientist for the New Jersey Department of Education in 2012. Studies show consistently that afterschool programs for students from elementary school to high school are advantageous for students in a number of ways. For one, a study done by the US Department of Education showed that high school students participating in afterschool programs exhibited more ambitious educational aspirations and more seriousness towards school after enrolling and participating in the programs. These programs are often excellent opportunities for students to practice ‘non-academic’ aspects of education, like art, music, or dance. Athletic programs provide students with further opportunities for socialization and growth, as well as a structured activity to stay in shape and release energy after long school days. Afterschool programs often offer a safe and constructive environment for students at the end of the day, and an alternative to riskier behaviors like consuming drugs or alcohol. The US Department of Health performed a study in 1995 of 10th graders across the nation and found that those enrolled in afterschool programs were 75% less likely to use tobacco, drugs, or alcohol than their peers who were not [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Adolescent Time Use, Risky Behavior, and Outcomes: An Analysis of National Data.” Washington, D.C.: Author, 1995].

 

The benefits of afterschool programs for positive student outcomes are extremely compelling. Unfortunately, such programs often require a great deal of resources and staff time to put together and maintain. Alex wanted to determine the extent to which students of DC public schools had access to adequate afterschool programs to foster interests and spend time outside of the classroom. His investigation began with afterschool programs developed and offered by the DC Public School district. As of 2016, afterschool programs are offered in 53 DC public elementary and middle schools.

 

“DC Public Schools (DCPS) afterschool programs allow students to participate in academic and extracurricular enrichment activities and to develop new hobbies and skills. DCPS teachers, paraprofessionals, and community-based organizations provide a variety of unique programming options to students.”

 

While these programs generally seem to be of high quality, there is an annual co-payment of nearly $900 per student. There does not seem to be any financial aid provided to cover this co-pay to economically disadvantaged students in the DC area. Clearly, this represents a significant bar for access for families that can’t afford the copay. Furthermore, this program only extends to elementary and middle schools, which neglects high school students in the area. Since high school students are at the highest risk of dropping out of school, or spending free time consuming drugs or alcohol, access to afterschool programs seems like a must for this demographic.

 

I next read studies performed by the Afterschool Alliance, a national non-profit dedicated to the development and support of afterschool programs. I found a number of interesting statistics regarding DC afterschool programs:

 

1. In District of Columbia, 26% (19,718) of K-12 youth are responsible for taking care of themselves after school.

 

2. Of all District of Columbia children not currently enrolled in afterschool, 66% (32,436) would be likely to participate IF an afterschool program were available in their community.

 

3. 97% of parents in District of Columbia are satisfied with the afterschool program their child attends.

 

4. 35% (26,619) of District of Columbia’s K-12 children participate in afterschool programs

 

[http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/policyStateFacts.cfm?state_abbr=DC]

 

In the course of my research I gained a greater appreciation for afterschool programs for students of all ages. I realize that for much of my own primary and secondary school career, I took for granted the wide array of sports and arts programs that were offered to me. The studies that I read demonstrate that there are significant barriers to access to afterschool programs in DC. As is all too often the case in US educational systems, it is the most at-risk students who often bear the brunt of these barriers, which include financial constraints and lack of availability of adequate programs. We must hope that through effective policy, financial subsidies and increased information availability, the frequency of participation in DC afterschool programs will increase from 35%.

 

Public vs. Private Education

 

Across the United States, while students are zoned to particular public schools that serve each neighborhood, families generally still have options for where their children can attend school; one of the most significant of options is private schools. Private and parochial schools are not funded by public funds, and their curricula and operates are not administered by federal government, but may be subject to some state regulations to ensure requirements for some course content is fulfilled. As a result, private schools generally have greater flexibility in their curricula and, funded in large part by student tuition, may have access to better and more educational resources, higher quality teachers, and specialized coursework.

 

One common criticism of private schools, however, is the prohibitive cost in tuition. Many of these schools may charge tuition close to the cost of private university, upward $40,000 to $50,000 a year to attend. Multiplied by a number of up to 13 years (K through 12) of schooling, such a cost is a significant barrier to access of this type of education for many students and families. As described above, private schools funded by this tuition tend to have greater access to many of the resources we described in our first blog post, as well as better trained and more dedicated educators and the opportunity for alternative and experimental learning. However, the question of who is able to access these types of educational experiences becomes a relevant question as the class (and, in many cases, race) of the students and families comes to play a role in determining if a student has access. How does this affect educational equality if private school students tend to come from much wealthier backgrounds than their public school peers?

 

Additionally, while students in theory can apply to scholarships and grants to private schools, they are also limited in access to information about applying to private school and about how to apply for scholarships, which tend to circulate in the same wealthier social groups.

 

In Washington, DC, the difference in access to private versus public school is particularly drastic; according to data consolidated by the American Community Survey and reported by the Washington Post, DC has the lowest number of students enrolled in its public school system, and students from private schools come from families that receive, on average, over three times the income as public school students. According to a study by the Urban Institute, the percentage of households in a neighborhood that enroll their children in private school is very much related geographically to where wealth is concentrated in particular neighborhoods.

 

However, DC also provides an interesting opportunity to investigate efforts to close the gap in access to quality education; according to the same study, the number of students enrolled in private school has declined over 65% in the past decade. Controlled for tuition costs, the likely factor contributing to this decline may be improved quality of public traditional and public charter schools in the DC area; DC’s public school system provides robust traditional public schooling system under the DC Public Schools system, as well as charter schooling under the DC Public Charter School Board. As parents begin seeing these schools as a viable option for their children (and possibly chill out with their heebie jeebies about minority-majority schools), the cost-benefit analysis of the decision to pay extra for private school may tip in favor toward public education.

 

The Rise of Textbook Prices

 

The textbook is the foundation for learning inside any classroom. Throughout a K-12 education in a private or public school, most students are accustomed to learning from a textbook or referencing a textbook throughout their grade school career. For the group of students that enter higher education, this remains the same – at least we assume so.

 

“Textbook prices have soared in the past decade, rising 82 percent between 2003 and 2013 — almost three times the rate of inflation.” – The Washington Post

As the cost of higher education continues to increase, college students and their families are swimming in heavy debt and loans that will place more than enough stress on themselves. Throw in the unnecessary rising costs of textbooks and students are finding themselves having to choose between their very own lunch or a textbook. This is ridiculous. No student should have to compromise their health and living standards for an overpriced textbook, especially with the wealth of knowledge that exists on the internet. Because of this, we wanted to look at community colleges which typically attract students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

 

According to The National Association of College Stores, the average student in the United States spends $702 on textbooks per year. This textbook is more expensive than the the average 3 hour class at most community colleges. This high cost of textbooks leaves students distract students from performing well in the classroom and obtaining their degree. Students have to work longer hours to pay off these expenses, instead of focusing on studying for their next exam. Many students turn away from higher education after realizing the hidden costs of textbooks that prevent them from completing their degree. Many of these textbooks are supplemented by online tutorials required by the teacher, except that these online softwares are also quite expensive for the student. Other students share textbooks with their friends or purchase extremely outdated versions of their textbooks instead of having the most up-to-date knowledge. These textbook prices deny students from a lower socio-economic status from successfully being a student due to absurd textbook prices. And you know what the worst part about this is? This is completely unnecessary.

 

Open Educational Resources(OER) have taken the internet by storm in the last decade. Ed-Tech non-profits have been laying the foundation in the internet for students to receive the same quality of resources for free on the internet. I’m not talking about random videos dispersed throughout Youtube, but rather full online courses and textbooks that are available. By promoting and using these free resources in the classroom, administrators can expect better performance in the classroom, increase in starting salaries after college, and significant decrease in the dropout rate. Many community colleges are slowing adopting the use of these resources, but there are many that still need to make the switch. Many nonprofits are starting to promote this cause, including Rice University’s very own OpenStax! OpenStax make an impact by working hard to develop OER and textbooks and market them to schools all across the United States.

 

It’s a shame that someone’s socioeconomic background has such a drastic effect on what type of access a student has. No student should have to throw their hard-earned money towards an overpriced book that regurgitates information all over the internet because their professors are afraid of changing their own lesson plans or prefer hard copy books. With the efforts and leadership of nonprofits like OpenStax, we can help bridging the gap between high textbook costs and every American’s Right to Learn.

 

School Zoning in Houston

 

While zoning serves as a logical and necessary practice for school districts in determining which students attend which schools, it can often create unintended divides between neighborhoods and more specifically, income levels. Because school districts are funded by property taxes, school districts in the wealthier neighborhood receive much greater amounts of funding than those in lower income areas. Something as simple as the school district your neighborhood falls into can determine the quality of education your child receives and the resources their school is able to afford. Furthermore, within each school district, there are high performing schools and low performing schools. Schools within the same school district vary wildly depending on the communities surrounding them and the backgrounds of the students attending these schools. For example, schools in neighborhoods with lower-income residents tended to fare worse on statewide exams and tests of college readiness. They also tended to have higher dropout rates and much lower percentages of students pursuing post-secondary education.

 

Several schools in HISD such as Sharpstown High School, Furr High School, Wheatley High School, and Jefferson Davis High School, have over 80% of students on free or reduced lunch. After looking at the individual report cards of these four schools, published by the Texas Education Agency, their average STAAR test scores were significantly below those of the HISD and even further below those of the state. In addition, one of the high schools, Wheatley, failed to meet basic accountability standards set by the TEA. Meanwhile schools in more affluent neighborhoods such as Bellaire High School and Kerr High School  had test scores greatly exceeding the district and state averages. In these schools, less than half of the students were economically disadvantaged compared to the district average of 79.9% of students.

 

As shown, zoning restrictions can greatly affect a child’s access to quality education. Whether it’s through the amount of funding a school district gets or what specific school the child is designated to attend, each has significant effects on the resources and environment the school can provide. Zoning makes the neighborhood a family lives in an extremely important factor in the child’s education, and again, we see the inequalities of income at work. Despite the efficient system that zoning provides in determining school placement, it also creates clear divides between the upper and lower class neighborhoods and the education they receive, furthering the perpetuation of class inequalities.

 

Considering Charter Schools in Houston

 

Charter schools are those that receive public money to finance their operations while having to adhere to less strict state regulation. In Houston, charter schools have drawn huge numbers of parents wanting to enroll their children. This is largely due to the fact that charter schools in Houston such as KIPP experience much higher standardized test scores, high school retention rates, and college readiness. The issue with charter schools is one of funding. As charter schools become more and more popular (this year there are over 30,000 children on waitlists for Houston’s best charter schools), they drain both funding and interest from public HISD schools.

 

After speaking to teachers, non-profit workers, and principles in the HISD district, I have found that HISD schools serve as a temporary position while teachers looks for better options. Retention rates of teachers at the worst HISD schools are extremely low with high turnover rates. As a result, students at these schools experience uneven teaching cycles and a lack of security with their teachers. What occurs is that the best teachers get swooped up by private and charter schools while the rest are left in the public school system wondering when they can leave. This is true of students as well, the brightest students get into charter schools leaving their less accomplished cohort behind. Without the influence of these high achievers, the students at the worst public schools get left behind. In addition to this, while inner city charter schools receive a lot of funding, low performing schools outside the loop are left in the dust.
The disparity between charter and public schools could be exacerbated by a self-fulfilling separation mechanism. The parents who are most invested in their children’s education and so are more likely to spend time and money on education are actively shuttling their children away from the HISD district. Contrastingly, those parents who do not have the time or ability to go through the process of enrolling their children in charter schools are generally those who cannot help their children outside of the classroom to make up for any deficiencies public schools may have. In this way, the more educated become even more so and the less educated are trapped in substandard schools. While charter schools have had a tremendous impact on education in Houston and have pushed HISD to start magnet schools and their own charter schools, it is important to consider the children who are negatively impacted by the charter schools system. Policy research is required to come up with a solution to failing public school standards while still maintaining the positive aspects of charter schools.

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First Post: