This paper examines the academic achievement gap between wealthy and lower socioeconomic school communities, with a particular focus on New Jersey's Abbott district funding program. Using Long Branch and Neptune as case studies, the paper analyzes how potential loss of Abbott status — compounded by No Child Left Behind mandates — threatens to widen existing disparities in literacy outcomes and accelerate socioeconomic segregation. Drawing on New Jersey statewide assessment data and research on middle-grade literacy, the paper identifies two core equity concerns: declining literacy rates among low-income and minority students, and the deepening concentration of poverty in underfunded communities.
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The paper demonstrates effective use of policy analysis framing: it identifies a legal decision (Abbott vs. Burke), traces its practical implications for a named community (Long Branch), and then uses empirical evidence — statewide test score data and demographic surveys — to project likely consequences of policy reversal. This cause-and-effect reasoning, supported by cited sources, is a foundational technique in education policy writing.
The paper opens with a statement of the problem and its local relevance, then introduces the legal framework (Abbott vs. Burke) and demographic context. It proceeds through two distinct equity concerns — literacy gaps and community segregation — each supported by cited research. The conclusion returns to the broader moral argument about educational equity as a civic right. The structure is linear and thesis-driven, appropriate for a short undergraduate policy essay.
There exists a persistent achievement gap between wealthy and lower socioeconomic school communities. Students who come from schools within lower socioeconomic communities do not often receive the same education or services as those in wealthier districts. New Jersey has responded to this inequitable situation through the Abbott district funding program. 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 face the loss of their funding if they fail to meet minimum academic achievement standards.
To determine the impact of this potential loss, this paper provides insights into local concerns in Long Branch and identifies how the removal of Abbott funding would affect the academic achievement gap. This discussion is followed by an examination of two areas in which equity is believed to be at risk for 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, minorities comprise the majority of the school population in Asbury Park, Red Bank, Neptune, Freehold, Long Branch, and Lakewood. Of these communities, only Red Bank's poverty rate does not exceed the state's rate (Quinn, 2003). 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 these low-income communities will undoubtedly experience further declines in already precipitously low academic performance levels. The thrust of this reduction in funding would create two fundamental problems: (1) adversely affecting literacy rates, and (2) further exacerbating the segregation of low-income and minority citizens into pockets of poverty.
Regarding the first issue, Strickland and Alvermann (2004) reviewed concerns surrounding the achievement gap in the United States and found that the literacy demands of the middle grades are exacerbated when students come from low-income and minority households. These issues reach critical levels particularly when students are members of low-income and minority families. Such 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 needs (Strickland & Alvermann, 2004).
Comparable trends are also apparent in New Jersey. According to Lattimer and Strickland (2004), results from the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) from 2000 to 2002 identified consistent differences in partially proficient, proficient, and advanced proficient levels between District Factor Groups (DFGs) and race/ethnicity. In addition, differences in academic achievement between special needs districts such as Long Branch and non-special needs districts showed similar trends to the 2002 GEPA (Lattimer & Strickland, 2004).
In fact, a 35-percentage-point difference existed in the total number of students scoring proficient and advanced proficient in Language Arts Literacy in 2002. The authors note that the District Factor Group is an indicator of the socioeconomic status of citizens in each district and has been useful for the comparative reporting of test results from New Jersey's statewide testing programs (Lattimer & Strickland, 2004).
Concerning the second issue — the further segregation of low-income and minority citizens into "pockets of poverty" — the school superintendent for Long Branch reported that although minorities tend to live in segregated communities, this was the result of a "social trend" rather than deliberate segregation. Notwithstanding these assertions, the high concentration of low-income minority members within their own communities has created "have" and "have-not" districts, with the Long Branch district representing one of the hardest-hit in the state (Quinn, 2003).
Quinn, R. (2003, January). Regionalization proposed as key to better integration. Asbury Park News.
Strickland, D. S., & Alvermann, D. E. (2004). Bridging the literacy achievement gap, grades 4–12. Teachers College Press.
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