1. Dr. Marquis C. Grant Grand Canyon University
Equity, Equality and Reform in Contemporary Public Education 2017 Collaborative Conference for Student Achievement North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Dr. Marquis C. Grant
Grand Canyon University

2. Introduction
The American pubic education system has predicated upon the idea of equality. The values embedded in our academic institutions, dating back centuries to a time when a majority of American society claimed to be of European descent.
Efforts to help minorities were based on ideas of what was perceived to be fair in order to create a balanced system.
Separate but equal proved to be a one of the biggest misnomers in the history of race relations.

3. The Problem
Our focus on EQUALITY instead of EQUITY may have contributed to the marginalization of the very children that we have sought to eradicate.
This presentation will focus on how equality without the benefit of equity has done nothing more than create further disadvantages for racially culturally ethnically linguistically diverse (RCELD)children in today’s public school system.

4. EQUALITY: RACE, CULTURE, LANGUAGE Brown vs
EQUALITY: RACE, CULTURE, LANGUAGE Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Image courtesy of slideshare

5. Same Mode of Instruction
EQUALITY: DISABILITY Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Section 504
“…ensures that the child with a disability has equal access to an education.”
Same Curriculum
Same Mode of Instruction
Same Assessment

6. EQUALITY: SOCIOECONOMICS No Child Left Behind
The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments…
…(3) closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and nonminority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers

7. Equality & Equity Defined
The word EQUALITY has been the biggest oxymoron in the history of American Public Education.

8. SAMENESS vs FAIRNESS
By focusing on giving our children the SAME opportunities, instead of FAIR opportunities, would this explain:
Persistent achievement gaps?
Low performing schools?
Disproportionality in special education?
Low graduation rates?
High drop-out rates?

9. Perspective of Equality

10. CURRENT CONTEXTS of EDUCATION Office of Special Education Programs
Disproportionality in special education means that a group’s representation in special education exceeds their numbers in the entire school population. For example, if Hispanic students make up 13% of a school’s general population but represent 50% of the school’s special education population, that is considered disproportionality.
Green States-meet requirements
Yellow States-need assistance
Red States-need interventions

11. Review of the Literature Disproportionality
Given the unfortunate and high overlap of race and poverty in our society, it has been suggested that disproportionate minority referral to special education is linked less to race than to educational deficits among poor students of color that are created by socioeconomic disadvantage (MacMillan & Reschly, 1998).
ongoing disproportionality strongly indicates systemic problems of inequity, prejudice, and marginalization within the education system (Sullivan, 2011).

12. CURRENT CONTEXTS of EDUCATION

13. CURRENT CONTEXTS of EDUCATION Wisconsin Council on Children and families (2016)

14. Review of the Literature
Higher frequencies of school suspensions and expulsions have been linked, through decades of research, to both socioeconomic status and race(Skiba, Horner, Chung, Rausch, May & Tobin, 2011).
Suspension rates for Black boys in K-12 was 35%; expulsion rates were 34% (Smith & Harper, 2015).

15. Review of the Literature Race, Culture & Ethnicity
Increased use of culturally responsive practices will increase the overall academic achievement of racially culturally ethnically linguistically diverse children (Gay, 2000).
Tenants of racism are have historically embedded in all aspects of life in the United States, including education, work force, and society to the point that it has become acceptable practice and not presumed to be a norm(Ladson-Billings, 1998).
Bode & Nieto (2015) suggested that “this means challenging racism and other biases as well as the inequitable structures, policies, and practices of schools and, ultimately, of society itself” (5).

16. CURRENT CONTEXTS of EDUCATION

17. Review of the Literature Socioeconomic Status
It has been widely reported that socio-economic status (SES) has the greatest impact on the academic achievement of children(Considine & Zappala, 2002), with poor children consistently performing in the lowest quartiles of achievement measures in reading and math.
Economically disadvantaged children were more likely to demonstrate significant deficits in reading and math by the time they reached the fifth grade. (Pettigrew, 2009).

18. TOWARDS AN EQUITABLE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Recommendations
Replace the largely Eurocentric curriculum in favor of culturally responsive pedagogy.
Eliminate standardized testing in favor of student portfolios.
Promote diversity in teacher education programs.
Create more prevention programs to replace intervention programs for students.

19. References
Bode, P. & Nieto, S. (2008). Affirming diversity: the sociopolitical context of multicultural education, 6th edition. United States: Person Publishing .
CEC Policy Insider. (June 2014). Retrieved from
Considine, G. and G. Zappala (2002). Factors influencing the educational performance of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In T. Eardley and B. Bradbury (eds) Competing visions: Refereed proceedings of the National Social Policy Conference 2001, SPRC Report 1/02, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney,
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Teachers College Press.

20. References
Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 7–24.
MacMillan, D. L., & Reschly, D. J. (1998). Overrepresentation of minority students: The case for greater specificity or reconsideration of the variables examined. The Journal of Special Education, 32, 15–24.
Office of Special Education Programs. (2011). 30th Annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Washington D.C.: U.S Department of Education.
Pettigrew, E.J. (2009). A study of the impact of socioeconomic status on student achievement in a rural East Tennessee school system. (Dissertation). East Tennessee State University. Retrieved from

21. References
Skiba, R.J., Horner, R.H., Chung, C.G., Rausch, M.K., May, S.L. & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), pp. 85–107. Retrieved from content/uploads/2016/04/Race-is-Not-Neutral-A-National-Investigation-of-African-American-and- Latino-Disproportionality-in-School-Discipline.pdf
Smith, E. J., & Harper, S. R. (2015). Disproportionate impact of K-12 school suspension and expulsion on Black students in southern states. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education. Retrieved f
Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. (2016). It’s just not right: Suspensions and expulsions by race and ethnicity: United States. Retrieved from expulsions-by-race-and-ethnicity-United-States/