Class and Educational Achievement

Much has been written about the gap in spending between low income and upper income school districts on measures like per-pupil funding. School districts in wealthy suburbs often outspend inner city school systems at ratios from 1.5:1 to 2:1 (Slavin, 1998, p. 7). Vast discrepancies are even apparent within school districts. In New York City per-pupil spending was $5,590 compared with $11,370 in wealthier Manhasset (Kozol, 1991, p. 120). Low income schools also have higher needs such as special education classes and security measures. Critics of equalized funding for schools contend that increased spending does not necessarily translate into higher educational achievement, and to some extent this is true. However, the gaps in school spending exacerbate already unacceptably wide differences in achievement based on social class.

Parental involvement is an important component of social inequity in schools. Much of school funding is based on property tax revenue. Parents, in their role as taxpayers, have a large say in how much their communities spend on schools: "it is hardly naive to hypothesize that the reason suburbanites tax themselves so readily for thei

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arents are given support. As a result of this intensive intervention, children in the Abecedarian Project score higher on all measures of learning and intelligence than children who have not gone through the program. This heightened level of achievement persists long after the child is no longer enrolled in the program: "By age 15, Abecedarian children were half as likely to have been assigned to special education or to have been retained" (Slavin, 1998, p. 9). North Carolina's Abecedarian Project demonstrates that school success is attainable regardless of a child's social status. Educators at North Carolina's Teachers Memorial in Kinston have likewise demonstrated that student performance is based, not on social status, but on the intensity of intervention by teachers and parents alike. Kinston is a rural, low income community. Students in the school come from families where 50 percent of the parents are unemployed and 70 percent of the households are headed by single parents (Merina, 1995, p. 11). About ten years ago, Teacher's Memorial decided to restructure and transform itself into a true community school. This effort was facilitated by the state's Consortium for the Advancement of Public Education, a North Carolin
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