A new study by the U.S. Equity and Excellence Commission has found the low-income and minority students are at an increasing disadvantage in the American educational system. The commission, which has 27 members, was established by Congress to make recommendations to the U.S. Department of Education.
The report states that “Our nation has been unable to ensure that each and every American child can attend a quality public school. No other developed nation has inequities nearly as deep or systemic; no other nation has, despite some efforts to the contrary, so thoroughly stacked the odds against so many of its children.”
The report found that achievement gap between children from high-income and low-income families is significantly wider for children who were born in 2001 than for children born 25 years earlier.
The report recommends better training for new teachers, more support services for children in low-income neighborhoods, preschool programs for all children within 10 years, increased efforts to involve parents in their children’s education, and a school finance system that eliminates inequities in funding.
