Achievement Gap Among Wealthy and Lower Socioeconomic Communities
There exists an achievement gap among wealthy and lower socio economic communities. Students who come from schools within lower socioeconomic communities do not often receive the same education or services from wealthier districts. New Jersey has responded to this inequitable situation with the Abbot funding process. Recently two local communities, Long Branch and Neptune, have been threatened with the loss of their Abbott status; as a result of additional mandates from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, many such schools are being threatened with the loss of their funding if they fail to meet minimum academic achievement standards. To determine the impact of this potential loss, this paper will provide insights into local concerns in Long Branch to identify how this loss would affect the academic achievement gap. This discussion will be followed by a report on two areas where it is believed equity will be lost to the district.
In their Abbott vs. Burke decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court mandated additional assistance for the state's 30 poorest districts, including Long Branch and Neptune (Quinn, 2003). According to an Asbury Park Press survey of enrollment data for Monmouth County found that minorities comprise the majority of the school population...
Furthermore, fully 20% of the Hispanic students in Monmouth County attend the Long Branch school system (Quinn, 2003).
If the additional funding promised by the Abbott decision is halted or reduced, all of the low-income communities will undoubtedly experience further declines in the academic performance levels that are already precipitously low in many cases, with the thrust of this reduction in funding creating two fundamental problems: 1) adversely affect literary rates; and 2) further exacerbate the segregation of low-income and minority citizens into pockets of poverty.
As to the first issue, Strickland and Alvermann (2004) reviewed the issues concerning the achievement gap in the U.S. And found that literacy demands of the middle grades are exacerbated when the students come from low income and minority homes; in particular, these issues assumed critical levels when the students are members of low-income and minority families. These students are already likely to attend schools characterized by high mobility rates, inadequate resources and facilities, and large numbers of young students with challenging learning…
