User:HK khawaja/Achievement gaps in the United States

History of inequity [I WILL MOVE THIS TO THE ARTICLE "LITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES" UNDER THE ELEMENTARY SUBSECTION]
The 1960s was a time when most African-American, Latino, and Native American students were primarily educated in different and segregated schools that were also "funded at rates many times lower than those serving white" students. The U.S. public education has been "highly decentralized" compared to other nations, such as France. A decentralized public education system may result in coordination problems among staff and faculty, an expectation to carry out a "large group of staff specialists at enormous cost," and there is no standardization of education at a national scale. In various studies from the early 2000s and even a decade later, The U.S. was ranked number 20 out of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of earning average or below-average grades in reading, science, and mathematics. A news report stated that out of the total number of elementary school students that reached middle school grade in the United States, only 44 percent of them were proficient in reading and math by the year 2015. Compared to their white counterparts at the age of 5, black and Hispanic children score lower in expressive vocabulary, listening comprehension, and other acuity indicators.

''Brown v. Board of Education of 1954 ruled the concept of “separate but equal” unconstitutional, beginning the desegregation of schools. Even so, the effects of segregation are still visible today, as many K-12 schools are in areas that are predominately home to BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color). This historical injustice relates directly to why a majority of the elementary schools with struggling readers are in low-income and/or minority areas today. Currently, studies show that socioeconomically disadvantaged students, including those with free/reduced lunch, score low reading levels. In addition, English language learners (ELL) and children of immigrants have high dropout rates and low scores on standardized tests. School districts provide the same materials for every student in the same grade levels, but each student learns at a different reading level and often is not able to engage with the text. Without distinguishing curriculum and standards, English language learners and children from low-income families fall behind their peers. Teachers spend a majority of their class time reading and supporting struggling readers, but teachers have not been able to do this all the time. Other than the educational risks of not working towards an equitable education, the ever-changing "economic and demographic landscapes" also demanded that there be a need for a "more robust policy [and] strategies" which would address the gaps in elementary education. Moreover, there was also an issue regarding the funding gap between the rich and poor schools. A report published during the Obama administration found that the funding gap grew to over 44 percent within ten years spanning from the early 2000s to 2012. ''