Can the Increase in Higher Education Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Solve Health Disparities?

On average, black students in public schools receive fewer resources giving them a late start. A mostly black university in New Orleans has increased overall achievement by developing students’ shared responsibility for one another’s success.

Despite segregation being deemed unconstitutional, nationally, many schools remain segregated along racial and class lines. Integrate Schools, a national grassroots movement, is focused on integrating schools.

Part 2 of the "Equity or Bust: Are Ontario's Public Schools a Model for Pennsylvania" Series: Ontario has become widely lauded for its education system, celebrated for both high performance and relatively smaller achievement gaps between wealthy and poor students, particularly compared to the system in Pennsylvania. Keys to Ontario's success include celebrating diversity and catering education modules to the varied backgrounds of their students, as well as increased parent-teacher involvement.

While many of America's classrooms are increasingly diversifying, the demographic makeup of their educators is not, and turnover of minority teachers remains high. A program in New York City called NYC Men Teach is working to foster better representation of minorities at the front of the classroom, providing resources like financial incentives, professional mentoring and training, as well as increased visibility to the growing need for male teachers of color.

In 2019, close to half, or 45 percent of white students scored proficient or above in reading comprehension, compared to 18 percent of Black fourth graders, and 23 percent of Latinx fourth graders. However, research shows that exposing students of color to books that reflect their culture increases reading comprehension and motivation. In the wake of those disparities, American teachers are beginning to reckon with the lack of diverse authors they teach. Some teachers are launching social justice classes, requiring more diverse books, and challenging norms.

The Cherry Creek School district is using apprenticeships to create a more racially diverse pipeline of K-12 educators in Colorado. High school juniors and seniors are paid to participate in the apprenticeship, and are able to earn college credit as well. This is one of the ways the district is working on having its workforce reflect its student bodies more accurately. Currently 85% of teachers are white, and half of its student body is kids of color. Now in its second year, the program has grown from an initial cohort of 12 youth apprentices to 26,

Glenn Cantave is bridging two worlds- AR technology and school curriculum, in order to educate students about Black and Brown people's history. With a team of coders he created an app called “Movers and Shakers.” The app has a catalog of “heroes you never learn about in school.” Student users navigate the app to learn about the heroes; women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. The app is being tested in one school district. “This sounds horrible, but we need to see what white people actually did to Black people because textbooks only tell you this much — and it’s not enough."

There is a race problem within Christian schools. More than half of non-Catholic Christian schools reported that 80 percent of their students are white. At a time of heightened racial tensions in America, some evangelicals are trying to change that. Hiring more staff of color, changing requirements that excluded black and brown students, and having difficult conversations, are some steps some schools are taking. “The world expects more from Christians,” Gross said, “And they should.”

A progressive funding model has been a boon to schools in Berlin’s poorer neighborhoods, which receive a baseline of staff and resources. But schools in poorer neighborhoods face a myriad of struggles that additional resources haven’t been able to quell, due to the deep socioeconomic disparities between the home neighborhoods of wealthy and poor students. However, one elementary school seems to have succeeded in desegregating students by offering a choice of academic tracks.

Part 2 of 3 in Series "The Social Wall: Universal Lessons in Berlin's Attempt to Integrate Schools" - A progressive funding model has been a boon to schools in Berlin’s poorer neighborhoods, which receive a baseline of staff and resources. But schools in poorer neighborhoods face a myriad of struggles that additional resources haven’t been able to quell, due to the deep socioeconomic disparities between the home neighborhoods of wealthy and poor students. This "social wall" lies exactly along the lines of the once physical Berlin wall and now divide the haves and have-nots.