K Bechtel

There are several important factors to consider when assessing educational equity.  Those factors include the social context, the economic context, the political context, and the educational reform context.  Let’s consider each of these factors individually and their implications on the assessment of equity.

Social Context-How does the community perceive the role of the school?  There are two vastly different views on the purpose of a school.  Some may believe that schools are the few, if not only places where all are created equal.  With hard work and a good attitude, a school can help make your dreams a reality.  Equal opportunities exist for all.  More importantly, the school is the provider of knowledge and skills to make anyone a positive contributor to our society.  Remember, we are operating under the law of “No Child Left Behind”.  On the other hand, some may see schools as a control agent that reflects the social inequities that already exist in our communities.  The idea of a track system comes to mind, where we allow some students to take a college prep line-up of courses, others take a general track of courses, and then some make up the vocational track.  It is in this system that students are predestined to a particular group or class in our society.  Knowing which perception the community has on a school will help guide an assessment’s data collection and interpretations.

Economic Context-How are schools funded?  Kentucky is a state that has been in the forefront across the country in school reform.  One of the issues with this school reform is school funding.  The SEEK formula was designed to make school funding equitable across the state.  So why is that some schools are still under-resourced and others are fully resourced?  According to the author, the disparities found in income among races and gender parallels the differences found in the type of access and technology services provided to students in these same groups.  I found the same type of disparity in research conducted to see the difference in technology use and adoption among whites, African Americans, and Latinos (http://www.rockresearch.com/success_pubart_ntrs.php).  Therefore, researchers must take this relationship between school funding and student achievement into account when assessing programs or services.

Political Context-Why are some personal attributes advantageous for some and barriers for others?  Who makes the decisions in your community that promotes giving some people an opportunity while others are never regarded?  I think of the age old question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”  Do political, social, and economic inequities among diverse populations cause similar inequities in schools or do the inequities found in schools feed the gaps that already exist in our communities?  Researchers must look at the political influence in a community that would encourage or impede technology use in the school.  This political influence could encourage the use of technology, but at the same time, give certain populations of students an advantage over others, e.g., students with access at home to students with no home access.

Educational Reform Context-Where does information and communication technologies fit into the school reform effort?  These technologies can support the curriculum, teaching methods, collaboration, school organization and management, communications, and assessment.  These type of changes trickle down from national, state, district, and classroom levels.  Researchers must look at how these changes from school reform happen at each of these different levels.  A look at how these technologies are incorporated (or not) into the school reform plan should also be considered when assessing equity.