Globally, education is recognized as the global contributing factor to economic prosperity, societal advancement, communal togetherness, and a necessary instrument for both personal and career triumphs. Unfortunately, the constant educational gap dividing high-income and low-income families across the world has been widening constantly, leading to an increase in cycles of inequality on the global educational landscape. Indeed, the gap has wide-ranging implications as it disproportionately affects students from low-income families, which is a fundamental challenge to the principles of equality in society. The complexities of the issue need to be addressed to gain knowledge of its root causes, whereby historical contexts, individual factors, and systematic imbalance need to be examined (Walker et al., 2019). This research paper aims to comprehensively explore the dimensions of the educational gap, address factors contributing to its existence, and identify evidence-based strategies that can be put in place to create an equitable educational landscape.
Knowing the historical context of the education gap contributed by discrimination regulation, unequal funding plans, and segregation enlightens understanding of the present-day educational disparities. During the 1950’s, race was a significant determinant of educational success compared to family income. Racial segregation and discriminatory practices persisted, especially to the marginalized racial and ethnic groups, leading to unequal schools. Historically, unequal funding structures have been in existence whereby school funding schemes are correlated to local property taxes (Gupta,2019). Economically stable and wealthy communities receive more financial support compared to economically disadvantaged communities.
The practices extend the cycle of inequality as from past till present, low-income families struggle to provide essential educational resources. Additionally, from a historical background and recently, low-income families have had limited access to early childhood education, of which early childhood education is crucial as it lays a strong academic foundation. Having knowledge of the historical contexts of education is crucial to understanding that the educational gap is not a recent issue but has been there in the past (Gupta, 2019). The past policies and practices will play a key role in implementing fundamental interventions that promote equality regardless of student’s socio-economic background.
High-income and low-income families experience different living conditions, which directly influence their educational outcomes. Some of the key roles that determine a child’s educational trajectory include early childhood education, housing, and healthcare conditions. For instance, several research studies have demonstrated that early childhood education provides a solid academic foundation as children develop improved cognitive skills, language development, and socio-emotional competence. Early exposure to education promotes cognitive development and academic success among children, setting up excellent academic trajectories (Sawhill & Welch, 2023). Based on various studies and surveys, children from high-income families present a high percentage of accessing early education programs compared to low-income families.
According to the data published by the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (2021), studies demonstrate that a disproportionately larger percentage of children from middle and high-class families gained center-based early childhood education programs in the year 2019 compared to those from low-income households. Financial challenges facing low-income families promote inadequate access to early education programs and limited resources, which leads to poor academic success among low-income families. Due to economic and financial instabilities across the educational landscape, early childhood education is only advantageous to high-income families, which is extending the education gap, calling for meaningful steps to intervene for a more equitable educational foundation for all children.
Moreover, based on socio-economic factors, established families have stable housing conditions whereby children have conducive learning environments. Good housing environments provide reliable and supportive environments for children’s education. On the other hand, low-income families face serious challenges, such as unstable housing and frequent changes in residence, which massively disrupt children’s academic progress. According to Bradley (2022), students from high-income families tend to perform better on standardized tests than low-income counterparts, the reason being led by common factors such as adequate resources, enrichment opportunities, and quality education. In addition, high-income families have access to adequate basic needs such as food and healthcare, which eventually favors their academic progress as they are physically fit and mentally stable. Hence, they will be more engaged in class activities compared to low-income children who may face health issues due to financial constraints. However, from a different perception still, high-income families may face health complications, deterring their academic success.
According to studies, children from low-income families who are either sponsored by governmental or private organizations portray excellent outcomes based on their academic performance, indicating that financial disparity is a major contributing factor to this gap (Bradly, 2022). Therefore, stable housing is crucial for educational stability; hence, government and community leaders should oversee the issue by providing affordable housing programs and community development programs. Also, high-income families have a well-laid foundation of academic achievement, which positively impacts their children, enhancing their motivation and persistence in education. Low-income families also have educational expectations, but due to persistent challenges such as inadequate school resources limit their goals to instill an academic performance mindset into their children.
Among the many factors contributing to the educational gap, parental involvement is a key determinant of a child’s academic success. Research studies suggest that when parents are more engaged with their children’s academic progress, social skills, and homework completion, they improve their class performance. High-income families invest their time and resources in their children’s education, which may be through hiring tutors, providing a conducive learning environment, and engaging their children in extracurricular activities (Chen et al., 2022). Additionally, parents from high-income families establish a collaborative environment with teachers and the school by attending school conferences and often engaging in regular communication with teachers.
On the other hand, low-income parents face challenges, including long and fixed working hours and limited resources, which impede them from being active in their children’s academic progress and engaging in school events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional ways of parental involvement were disrupted due to various factors such as economic challenges and health concerns. High-income parents were well equipped with resources to ensure continuous educational support for their children despite the challenges (Chen et al., 2022). On the contrary, parents from low-income families faced economic challenges and limited resources, impeding their role to actively engage in their children’s educations. From the COVID-19 study results, the intersectionality of income and race attributed to ineffective parental involvement contributed to the increased educational gap in the 21st Century (Chen et al., 2022). While parental involvement can help narrow disparities in educational outcomes between children of affluent and disadvantaged families, excessively micromanaging a child’s studies or activities risks hindering their capacity to develop independence and self-guided learning skills that serve them well as they mature into adulthood.
While disparities in school financing continue to exacerbate longstanding inequities in educational outcomes between affluent and impoverished households, addressing this imbalance promises to narrow divisions in opportunity that have too long disadvantaged some of our community’s most vulnerable youth. Globally, school disparities are majorly caused by unequal resource distribution across schools. Indeed, high-income schools, especially private institutions, are well funded and have experienced and enough teachers, updated learning materials, modern technology, and advanced extracurricular activities. The availability of these resources stimulates excellent academic performance and progress among children (Jackson & Addison, 2018). Well-established schools employ well-experienced professional teachers, and to retain them, they offer stable earnings. Contradictory, Low-income schools, especially public institutions, need more resources to provide learners with enough updated learning materials, and they need to be financially stable to sustain skilled teachers. In addition, low-income schools utilize different curriculum materials compared to high-income schools (Jackson & Addison, 2018). Teachers’ skill directly influences the educational experience. Hence, skilled teachers promote excellent performance, impacting students positively.
Also, school funding disparities can be discussed from a school infrastructural context. Well-funded schools have secure and well-maintained classrooms and modern facilities, providing students with a conducive learning environment. Learning environment and materials play a crucial role in determining student engagement and performance; hence, low-income schools are mostly affected. Low-income schools have poorly maintained classrooms and lack enough resources to ensure up-to-date learning curricula due to unequal distributions of resources and nations’ economic challenges (Oakes et al., 2021). Unfortunately, the study from North Carolina made clear that with insufficient educational resources, many high-poverty schools in the state struggled to give students genuine chances to shine through their academic efforts. The current funding approach across most of the nations globally should embrace practicing equality in their school funding schemes to eliminate the gap and ensure that all students have access to an equitable and high-quality education.
The educational gap existing between low-income and high-income families has alarming consequences, which can be far-reaching across generations if not addressed. According to studies, lower educational achievement is forecasted to promote generational poverty, putting the nation’s economic stability at risk as individuals with lower levels of education will rely on social welfare programs (Jackson & Addison, 2018). The widening educational achievement gap is a threat to the nation’s future economic growth as it will lead to a less skilled and less productive workforce. Providing equal educational opportunities and enrichment to every student and enforcing public policies that promote parental involvement will narrow the socio-economic gap. The persistent educational gap is contributing to increased rates of dropout due to financial and health challenges, as parents cannot fully pay their school fees (Jackson & Addison, 2018). Increased drop rate has been associated with higher rates of crime. Finally, a workforce with limited unprofessional skills will greatly demean the nation’s innovation, competitiveness, and technological advancements. The educational gap has profound consequences that need to be addressed to promote equality in society and social mobility.
To bridge the educational gap between high-income and low-income families, key factors must be examined to gain a broad understanding of the issue. Firstly, governmental and private bodies need to revisit their school funding schemes and come up with strategies that will ensure fair and equitable distribution of resources to schools and ensure that low-income schools receive additional funding to sustain their severe situations. Adequate funding programs will ensure enough school resources, conducive learning environments, and skilled teaching staff (Kamm, 2018). Also, the government together with educational bodies should work on providing affordable early childhood education programs, particularly for children from low-income families which will lay down a foundation for future academic progress for every child (Walker et al., 2019). Minority and low-income students are mostly taught by inexperienced teachers and inadequately prepared teachers due to funding inequalities and poor hiring processes. Since teachers are also key determinants for every child’s academic success economically disadvantaged areas should have access to skilled educators (Kamm,2018). Educational institutions should enforce programs that will foster active parental involvement as it will positively influence student outcomes as collaborative environment will be established. Finally, policies, regulations, and public campaigns should be enforced to create awareness and mitigate discrimination and intersectionality across the globe. Enforcing these strategies as discussed will ensure a more equitable education system exists that will be beneficial to every student hence ensuring the overall nation’s economic prosperity.
Recently governmental and private bodies have come up with strategies to combat the widening educational gap hence discussing their successful stories can provide reliable insights for promoting effective practices. Harlem Children’s Zone a program developed over ten years ago to combat childhood poverty has promoted significant improvements across the educational landscape in New York City (Reardon, 2018). Through providing various services the program has been able to successfully address social, health, and educational needs for low-income students and bridging the achievement gap between the two classes. The program portrays that governmental support, enforcing equitable policies, and promoting a collaborative approach with other stakeholders create comprehensive and reliable solutions.
In the pursuit to promote educational equity, the exploration of the education gap between high-income and low-income families portrays broad key factors resulting in differential educational outcomes and opportunities for students from distinct economic classes. Understanding the factors contributing to the widening of the gap illuminates fundamental pathways towards mitigating the gap. From various case studies, it is evident that successful steps to compromise the educational gap demand a collaborative approach from various stakeholders such as the community, educational bodies, and the government among others. The Harlem Children’s Zone program gives hope, as it highlights that change is possible through implementing reliable policies and practicing a collaborative approach. Hence to promote educational equity globally, it our duty to create awareness of policies that will promote inclusivity and equal allocation of resources.
References
Bradley, K. (2022). The Socio-economic Achievement Gap in the US Public Schools. Ballard Brief, 2022(3), 10.
Chen, C. Y. C., Byrne, E., & Vélez, T. (2022). Impact of the 2020 pandemic of COVID-19 on Families with School-aged Children in the United States: Roles of Income Level and Race. Journal of Family Issues, 43(3), 719-740.
Gupta, S. (2019). The learning gap between rich and poor students hasn’t changed in decades. Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/learning-gap-rich-poor-students-remains-high.
Jackson, C., & Addison, K. L. (2018). Understanding the Relationships between Poverty, School Factors and Student Achievement. Montgomery County Public Schools.
Kamm, C. (2018). Equity and opportunity: Closing the achievement gap. Kamm Solutions.
Oakes, J., Cookson, P., George, J., Levin, S., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2021). Adequate and Equitable Education in High-Poverty Schools: Barriers and Opportunities in North Carolina. Research Brief. Learning Policy Institute.
Reardon, S. F. (2018). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. In inequality in the 21st Century (pp. 177-189). Routledge.
Sawhill, I. V., & Welch, M. (2023). Early childhood education, What do we know and what should we do?.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Early Childhood Program Participation: 2019 (NCES 2020-075REV), Table 1.
Walker, J., Pearce, C., Boe, K., & Lawson, M. (2019). The Power of Education to Fight Inequality: How increasing educational equality and quality is crucial to fighting economic and gender inequality. Oxfam.
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