Effective Equality Beyond the Urban Core: Struggling Schools, Educational Opportunity, and the "In-Between" School District

• In Event: 30.023 - Examining Power Dynamics in Schools

Abstract

Current research has little to say about improving the outcomes of schooling for poor and minority students in district contexts that do not easily fit a rural-urban binary. Our research draws attention to the large number of struggling schools in what we term the “in-between” school districts—towns, suburbs, and smaller cities. We draw on data from two national datasets to examine the numbers and aggregate characteristics of the lowest performing schools in in-between districts in 12 representative states. Findings reveal that contrary to the commonly held belief that failing schools are only in large cities, many of the most struggling schools are in suburban areas, with community demographic and economic characteristics that differ markedly from major urban areas.

Authors

• Erin Anderson, University of Denver

• David H. Eddy-Spicer, University of Virginia

• Frank Perrone, The University of New Mexico