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Tom K

04/16/03 1:16 PM

#14966 RE: sarai #14963

> How come poor, urban districts such as Newark, Asbury and Jersey City, who receive an enormous amount of federal funds do not achieve certain minimal, basic standards when "pretty, white" middle to upper middle class districts achieve proficient or advanced proficient standards with about half as much money per student??...

I don't have any stats to support my opinions, but I'm sure I'm not too far off the mark:

1. Lower income parents don't value education as much and middle/upper income parents. That value perception translates into a lack of engagement - absenteeism is tolerated, parents don't attend school activities regularly (including parent-teacher conferences), they're not engaged in their child's academic progress, etc.

2. Schools/teachers are side-tracked with disiplinary matters, administrative matters, and mainstreaming of students who are significantly behind their peers academicly. Would be willing to guess there are more diciplinary issues and mainstreaming in lower income districts - even slightly higher levels are a huge drain on education quality for the rest of the students

3. Last but not least, the best teachers don't need the hassle of classroom violence and disengaged parents if they can get jobs in the middle and higher income districts.



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sarals

04/16/03 2:18 PM

#14982 RE: sarai #14963

How come poor, urban districts such as Newark, Asbury and Jersey City, who receive an enormous amount of federal funds do not achieve certain minimal, basic standards when "pretty, white" middle to upper middle class districts achieve proficient or advanced proficient standards with about half as much money per student??...

I know one of the wealthier areas here have reduced classroom sizes and hire extra teachers and have extra programs and supplies. What I found out is that the parents have big funds raisers and each contribute thousands of extra dollars to the school. So even though official funding may be equal or even better, schools in wealthier districts still benefit more from the means of their parents.