Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right
Much research has tried to parse the school’s contribution to children’s learning apart from the family’s and the family’s contribution apart from the school’s as though they were discrete and separable. The 1966 Equality of Educational Opportunity report helped launch this agenda, finding in favor...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Russell Sage Foundation
2016-09-01
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| Series: | RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | http://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/full/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.5.02 |
| _version_ | 1818488334679277568 |
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| author | Karl Alexander |
| author_facet | Karl Alexander |
| author_sort | Karl Alexander |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Much research has tried to parse the school’s contribution to children’s learning apart from the family’s and the family’s contribution apart from the school’s as though they were discrete and separable. The 1966 Equality of Educational Opportunity report helped launch this agenda, finding in favor of family. In this essay I argue that the framing of the issue as “family versus school” is fundamentally flawed. Rather, family and school (and neighborhood) together shape children’s academic development. I argue that the strong effect associated with school socioeconomic composition in the original report, and stronger still in more recent studies, is in fact an expression of family influence: family determines where children live and the schools they attend. But it is a school influence as well. When properties of family, neighborhood, and school overlap, as they do under conditions of extreme neighborhood and school segregation, poor children’s profile has them triply disadvantaged. The same ecological perspective on children’s learning implies that by reducing the degree of overlap across these “overlapping spheres of influence,” school socioeconomic context can function instead to offset family disadvantage. Relevant literatures are reviewed and the concluding section considers the potential of socioeconomic integration at the school level as a policy lever for improving poor children’s educational prospects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T16:49:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e304882be9f64700a203fc084a6e8fe0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2377-8253 2377-8261 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T16:49:45Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | Russell Sage Foundation |
| record_format | Article |
| series | RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-e304882be9f64700a203fc084a6e8fe02022-12-22T01:40:57ZengRussell Sage FoundationRSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences2377-82532377-82612016-09-0125183310.7758/RSF.2016.2.5.02Is It Family or School? Getting the Question RightKarl Alexander0Johns Hopkins UniversityMuch research has tried to parse the school’s contribution to children’s learning apart from the family’s and the family’s contribution apart from the school’s as though they were discrete and separable. The 1966 Equality of Educational Opportunity report helped launch this agenda, finding in favor of family. In this essay I argue that the framing of the issue as “family versus school” is fundamentally flawed. Rather, family and school (and neighborhood) together shape children’s academic development. I argue that the strong effect associated with school socioeconomic composition in the original report, and stronger still in more recent studies, is in fact an expression of family influence: family determines where children live and the schools they attend. But it is a school influence as well. When properties of family, neighborhood, and school overlap, as they do under conditions of extreme neighborhood and school segregation, poor children’s profile has them triply disadvantaged. The same ecological perspective on children’s learning implies that by reducing the degree of overlap across these “overlapping spheres of influence,” school socioeconomic context can function instead to offset family disadvantage. Relevant literatures are reviewed and the concluding section considers the potential of socioeconomic integration at the school level as a policy lever for improving poor children’s educational prospects.http://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/full/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.5.02educational inequalityachievement gapschool socioeconomic integrationschool effectsfamily effects |
| spellingShingle | Karl Alexander Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences educational inequality achievement gap school socioeconomic integration school effects family effects |
| title | Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right |
| title_full | Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right |
| title_fullStr | Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right |
| title_short | Is It Family or School? Getting the Question Right |
| title_sort | is it family or school getting the question right |
| topic | educational inequality achievement gap school socioeconomic integration school effects family effects |
| url | http://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/full/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.5.02 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT karlalexander isitfamilyorschoolgettingthequestionright |