Equitable K-12 Education is a Major Problem in the United States, and YOU Should Care About It!

During my junior year of college, I had the opportunity to take an elective course based on my interests. I was drawn to a class titled, "Inequity in Education". I can confidently say that this class changed the way I view the world, and ultimately changed my life.

This class lit a fire in me to do something about the inequity of our education system. Despite studying business for all four years of college, I decided to enter into education after graduation to become a teacher. I taught second grade in Washington, DC at a Title 1 charter school from 2020 to 2022.

Even though I decided to leave teaching after two years, my passion for the US education system has never wavered. And I love to talk about it. There are so many things I could say about my experience and what it taught me, but for the purposes of this post I'd like to share some of the facts about education in our country that prove that everyone should care about it.

As I said, everyone should care about the quality of education in our country. Why? Let's take a look at some headlines.

And these are just articles from the past year. If I featured everything I could find, you'd be here for weeks.

Okay so yes, education is a hot topic and shows up in our news headlines for various reasons. But if you're elementary school days are long over, and now you're a member of the workforce, you might be wondering why you should be worried about this. Well, for starters, you got to where you are today because of the education you received growing up. So did I. And I was lucky to receive a really great education. But that's not the story for everyone...

Let's talk about "achievement gaps", which is when one group of students significantly outperforms another group of students (Source: NAEP). As an education system, we are struggling with significant achievement gaps - which means that not all students are receiving the same quality of education. When compounded with our already inequitable system, COVID-19 learning loss, and declining test scores, things are way worse for students who sit on the low end of that achievement gap. And those students are normally minorities who live under the poverty line. Students who already have a disadvantage at becoming successful.

There is no shortage of data and statistics that I could share with you. I'll include some links below that you can explore to better understand the achievement gap and how our nation is failing its most vulnerable population when it comes to access to free, quality education.

Some of these statistics are so staggering, they're all you'll be able to think about after you read them. This is what happened to me and is why I took the path that I did. While I'm not on that path anymore, I will never stop talking about this. Because someone has to.

Resources for continued learning:

You can explore more about NAEP testing and the nation's report card here.

This is a really great publication about K-12 inequities within metro areas.

Though it's dated, I recommend watching this documentary.

Books -

"The Smartest Kids in the World, and How They Got That Way" by Amanda Ripley
"The Knowledge Gap" by Natalie Wexler
"Something Must Be Down about Prince Edward County" by Kristen Green

Listen to "Nice White Parents" - a podcast from Serial Productions & The New York Times.