SCHOOLS AND INEQUALITY A Study of Social Status, School Services, by James W. Guthrie This study was conducted using Copyright 1969 The Urban Coalition James W. Guthrie Henry M. Levin Robert T. Stout FOREWORD This study represents the meshing of many interests and objectives. Ever since we became sufficiently sophisticated to perceive them, we as researchers have been interested in understanding the inequities which characterize educational services in the United States. Our cultural ideal of an open society where men gather rewards in accord with their ability depends heavily upon the reality of equal opportunity. Yet, for persons receiving inadequate schooling, the phrase "Land of Opportunity" is little more than hollow rhetoric. One objective in conducting this study was to make that phrase more real. We were joined in seeking this goal by The Urban Coalition. In addition to its overall concern for solving the problems of our cities, that organization was specifically interested in a Michigan court case of national significance for education. The Board of Education of the School District of the City of Detroit had filed a complaint alleging that Michigan's governmental arrangements for education violated both the State constitution and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. The litigation necessitated a high degree of information and analysis regarding the character of school services in the State. Given this concurrence of interests, we accepted The Urban Coalition's offer of assistance to conduct a study of schools and inequality. Yet a third overlap was our desire to study the state with the most adequate supply of data about its educational system. The year prior to our study, Michigan had completed one of the most thorough examinations of a state-wide educational system ever undertaken. In addition, a substantial number of the State's schools and students had been tapped for the Equality of Educational Opportunity Survey conducted in 1965 by the U. S. Office of Education. Consequently, it appeared as if a study in Michigan, more than any other state, would suffice to meet the many prerequisites for an assessment of schools and their consequences. Our efforts in conducting the study were aided by literally hun dreds of individuals. We are particularly grateful to James A. Kelly, Executive Associate with The Urban Coalition, for his overall perspective and many specific contributions in facilitating this study. In attempting to conceptualize the study and arrive at suitable research procedures we were assisted by a number of notable educators and scholars. Dean H. Thomas James and Associate Dean Arthur P. Coladarci of the Stanford University School of Education, Dean Alan K. Campbell and Professor Jesse Burkhead of the Maxwell Graduate School, Syracuse University, J. Alan Thomas, Professor, and Arthur E. Wise, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, University of Chicago, and Charles S. Benson, Professor, Division of Policy Planning and Administration, School of Education, University of California at Berkeley were all instrumental in this respect. In addition to the above individuals, a number of professional colleagues contributed directly to the content of the report. Appendix A, which provides a general description of state school finance arrangements and a specific analysis of Michigan school aid formulas, is the work of Jack W. Osman, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, San Francisco State College. Denny Stavros of the Research Division of the Detroit City Schools contributed heavily to Appendix E on the relationship between student socioeconomic status and availability of informal educational opportunities. A working paper on school programs designed to increase the educational achievement of low socioeconomic status students was prepared by William D. Rohwer, Associate Professor, School of Education, University of California at Berkeley. Stephen Michaelson, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Harvard University, provided valuable assistance in analyzing data from the Equality of Educational Opportunity Survey. Forest Harrison, Research Associate in the Division of Policy Planning and Administration in the School of Education, University of California at Berkeley, and Michael Woodroofe at the University of Michigan provided advice about statistical procedures. Computer programming and other tasks connected with electronic data processing were provided by Charles E. Hansen, Girard C. Pessis, Stephen Rhoads, Marvin Tener and Dorothy A. Wall. |