Feistritzer, C.E. Cheating our children: Why we need school reform. National Center for Educational Statistics.

OVERVIEW

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between current public school performance and the household income, race, and education levels of parents.

DESIGN

This study is a review and interpretation of educational statistics.

FINDINGS

Statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Educational Statistics include the following:

• One in five children now lives in poverty (23% of 6-year-olds).
• One in five children is being reared by their mother with no father.
• Female-headed households doubled since 1970; they have tripled since 1960.
• One third of female-headed households is poor.
• Households with children are declining (57% in 1970 to 49% now).
• Seventy percent of single parents work. Both parents work in more than half of two-parent families.
• Student achievement rises with family income levels and the level of parents’ education.
• Rising divorce and illegitimacy rates have caused a rise in the number of children in households experiencing poverty—from 14% or 9 million in 1970 to 20% or 13 million in 1983.
• A general perception of deteriorating public school standards has caused public school attendance to drop 12% between 1972 and 1983, while private and parochial schools have increased enrollment by 3.6% over the same period.
• In 1982, for the first time, fewer than 50% of all married couples lived with children. The percentages for all households follow: 1970, 55% had no children; 1982, 63% had no children.

CONCLUSIONS

• "Public schools stand the risk of being schools for the disadvantaged, low-income, poverty-level, minority students."
• Students from "intact, middle-class white families perform remarkably better than those from poor, single-parent, black, and Hispanic homes—and the disparity is widening."
• An earlier survey found that, of high school students, 80% of those who received "A"s live with two parents; only 11% of "A" students lived with one parent.
• Household income, race, and parents’ educational levels seem to affect students’ grades and test scores.
• An increasing number of households with no children have little interest in supporting and paying taxes for local school systems.

SUGGESTIONS

• We need "more mature, more aware, and more socially knowledgeable" teachers. Tired teachers should be weeded out, and there should be efforts to recruit women who have raised families or have retired early.
• Do "whatever it takes" to enlist the support of childless households and the entire community for the improvement of schools. There is need for positive public relations, using advertising expertise.
• Insist on tough administrators and principals who will "stick their necks out to hold the line," who are paid well, and who are held "strictly accountable" for school discipline and student performance.

IMPLICATIONS

1. We must be very careful not to let these findings feed racist assumptions. That could be just one more case of "blaming the victims" of our own negligence.
2. We cannot deal with school issues in a social vacuum because the problems of our schools are a reflection of social ills. Proper concern for schools should become a social concern.
3. Strong administrators and firm, creative teachers willing to do more than the minimum required can, with parental and community support, turn any school around. This has been shown in schools like South Boston High (which has been the subject of a documentary film).
4. Those working with kids should complement and cooperate with what is going on in the schools.

Dean Borgman cCYS