The University of Chicago

Opportunity Gap

  • Wicked Smart: Massachusetts’s Efforts to Turn Around a Failing School District

    Wicked Smart: Massachusetts’s Efforts to Turn Around a Failing School District

    •

    Mikia Manley

    Just 30 miles north of Boston on the Merrimack River is the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. This industrial metropolitan area is home to almost 80,000 people, with a median household income of $32,851 and a poverty rate of 29.2 percent. Almost 40 percent of residents are immigrants, coming predominantly from…

  • True Colors: How Ethnic Studies Courses Can Help Minority High School Students

    True Colors: How Ethnic Studies Courses Can Help Minority High School Students

    •

    Mikia Manley

    New research shows promising impacts of Ethnic Studies courses for students in the San Francisco Unified School District.

  • Closing the School Readiness Gap for Children Born to Teenage Mothers

    Closing the School Readiness Gap for Children Born to Teenage Mothers

    •

    Marlene Saint Martin

    In her paper, Amber L. Brown evaluates whether there is a difference in the school readiness of children born to teenage mothers versus children born to average-age mothers participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. The results suggest that children born to teenage mothers perform…

  • Better School Outcomes Aren’t Free

    Better School Outcomes Aren’t Free

    •

    Kayla Phelps

    A new analysis demonstrates that funding increases make a huge difference in schooling outcomes, especially for students from low-income families.