Social Context in Education

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Social Context in Education

• By Cheryl Cox Dawn Longville

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Student Background

• Race/ethnicity
• Limited English proficiency
• Family Income
• Parental Education
• Family Structure

Determinants of different educational outcomes
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High Poverty Learning Environments

• Early education enrollments lower
• Black Hispanic twice as likely to live in
  poverty as whites
• Poverty rates much higher in the US
• Minorities more likely to attend high poverty
  schools than whites

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High Poverty Learning Environments

• More likely to report student misbehavior
  interfering with teaching
• Higher absenteeism, tardiness
• Lack of parental involvement
• Higher verbal abuse student disrespect of
  teachers

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High Poverty Learning Environments

• More likely to report physical conflicts and
  weapons possession
• Less likely to gifted and talented programs
• Teachers less likely to have degree in subject
• Less likely to be connected to the Internet
• Teacher salaries lower

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Single Parent Families

• More likely to experience early school problems
• Less likely to participate in literacy activities
• More than doubled since 1970

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Race/Ethnicity

• Difficulty speaking English associated with
  dropping out of school
• Black Hispanic twice as likely to live in
  poverty as whites
• Minorities more likely to attend high poverty
  schools than whites

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Race/Ethnicity Changes

• Percentage change ----Race/ethnicity 1993 to 2000
  2000 to 2020
• White
• Aged 513 2.9 -11.2
• Aged 1417 10.1 -10.3
• Black
• Aged 513 12.9 15.4
• Aged 1417 11.5 20.0
• Hispanic Aged 513 29.8 47.0
• Aged 1417 23.6 60.6
• Other
• Aged 513 32.5 67.2
• Aged 1417 45.1 73.3

SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Youth Indicators
1996, Indicator 2.
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Limited English Proficiency

• Percentage of children having difficulty speaking
  English increased in recent years.
• Difficulty speaking English associated with
  dropping out of school
• Hispanic more likely to have difficulties

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Education Levels

• Parents educational level strongly associated
  with student achievement
• Parents educational levels have increased
  dramatically since 1970

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Education Levels

• The percentage of fathers with less than a high
  school education declined from 43 percent in 1970
  to 19 percent in 1990.
• Over the same 20-year period, the percentage of
  fathers with a bachelors degree or higher
  increased from 13 to 23 percent.

SOURCE RAND, Student Achievement and the
Changing American Family, 1994.
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Education Levels

• The percentage of mothers with less than a high
  school diploma declined from 38 to 17 percent
  between 1970 and 1990, while the percentage with
  a bachelors degree or higher doubled.

SOURCE RAND, Student Achievement and the
Changing American Family, 1994.
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Social Context in Education

• By Cheryl Cox Dawn Longville