Poor and minority children
are three times more likely to
be taught by the
inexperienced. Black students
are more than four times as
likely as white students to be
in a school where fewer than
80 percent of faculty meet
certification or licensure
requirements.
Statistics show that New
York State has the most
segregated schools in the
country. In New York City,
the great majority of public
school students come from
low-income homes. This
context is more than
4
incidental to any discussion
about improving the lessons
teachers deliver, and the
education students receive.
How do we address the
challenge? What ideas are on
the table? Many, including a
new federal initiative, and in
the following pages we hear
from experts and
stakeholders across the
spectrum.
they have unequal access
to effective teaching? How
much is linked to a have-andhave-not reality for children,
a pervasive opportunity gap
that goes far beyond schools?
Poverty matters, and
extreme segregation by race
and class leaves its mark
regardless of the
distribution of quality
teaching. That said, there’s
no excuse for inequity and
inadequacy of instruction. All
Poor and minority children
children who the public
lag behind their wealthier
peers in academic and other educates deserve an
well-being results. How much education that will help them
of the discrepancy is because achieve their goals and