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Educational Equity Initiatives |
Problem Overview
Academic failure in urban schools persists despite increasing attention to the problem from a variety of sources. This failure is most pronounced in urban high schools where dropout rates are consistently above 50 percent and college going rates are below 10 percent. Strategies aimed at addressing these issues are debated in and across research, policy, and practice circles, but have made little to no impact on the educational attainment of poor, non-white children in the last 20 years.
Mission
In an effort to fill gaps in urban education policy and practice, the Educational Equity Initiative, coordinated by Jeff Duncan-Andrade, A.A. Akom, and Shawn Ginwright, was formed as a collection of action-based research projects designed to support urban schools and community based organizations in building their capacity to transform educational practices. The project focuses its work in three metropolitan areas (San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles & New York) and pays particular attention to race and class inequalities in the lives of young people.
Project Goals
The goals of the Educational Equity Initiative are as follows:
- To examine the ways in which race and poverty impacts school and community efforts to achieve educational equity.
- To support schools and community based organizations in addressing the impact of race and poverty on academic performance and youth development.
- To work closely with schools and communities to assess the impact of their efforts to transform racial and socio-economic inequality in local school and communities.
EEI Research Narrative
The Educational Equity Initiative takes on the task of examining the impact of race and poverty on urban schools by drawing from a set of concrete strategies for school improvement including: youth organizing/critical research, academic support, teacher education, and organizing/activating key stakeholders within and outside of educational space. These strategies are used to work directly with
key stakeholders within urban communities (administrators, teachers, parents and students) to help schools develop more concrete strategies for addressing the needs of urban schools. To insure that intervention strategies are responsive to the unique needs of each school, the Educational Equity Initiative also aims to help schools develop comprehensive assessment tools. These assessments monitor traditional achievement measurements (attendance, retention, grade point average, graduation and college preparedness), and also aid schools by providing quantitative and qualitative feedback loops that assess conditions of teacher development, teacher quality, curriculum, school culture, and community relations. These comprehensive feedback models allow schools to meet the shifting demands of urban communities by providing regular assessments and identification of key areas where they need additional support.
Current Projects:
- Teachers as Agents of Equity
(Co-sponsored by UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access)
A multi-year study of urban teacher development and support for social justice pedagogy
- Youth, Communities and Social Justice Project
A national collective of scholars and community organizers working to design strategies for effective urban youth policy
- Academic Pathways
A multi-year action research project designed to develop innovative and effective approaches that enhance academic support, educational opportunities and outreach for urban youth
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Antwi Akom
Jeffrey
Duncan-Andrade
Sean
Ginwright
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