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Diversity and Inclusion Center for Diversity and Inclusion

Educational Inequality Self-Study Guide

Click on the links below to learn about racial and socioeconomic disparities in the U.S. Education System. Key topics include disparities in discipline, school funding, and university debt.

Video

  • The Detroit Graduates | The New York Times
  • On the Streets He is getting his PhD – and is homeless
  • Ivy League and broke: One student shares her story
  • Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
  • Meet the rural Americans who fear they’re being forgotten

News Publications

  • Forget Wealth And Neighborhood. The Racial Income Gap Persists
  • How Are Different Asian-American Groups Faring Economically?
  • Good School, Rich School; Bad School, Poor School- The inequality at the heart of America’s education system
  • The Challenge of Educational Inequality
  • Severe Inequality Is Incompatible With the American Dream
  • In D.C., White Families Are on Average 81 Times Richer Than Black Ones
  • A Fear Born of Brooklyn Gentrification

Resources

  • A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education (PDF)
  • Let Her Learn: A Toolkit to Stop School Push Out for Girls of Color

Academic Journals and Books

Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.

Wilson, H. (2014). Turning off the school-to-prison pipeline. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 23(1), 49-53

Hardaway, C. R., & McLoyd, V. C. (2009). Escaping poverty and securing middle class status: How race and socioeconomic status shape mobility prospects for african americans during the transition to adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(2), 242-56.

University Courses

L90 AFAS 364 — Bad and Boujee: Blackness, Deviance, and Homemaking in the U.S.

L98-2033 section 01 — Introduction to Education: Contradictions and Controversies in School Choice

L98-299 section 01 —The Study of Cities and Metropolitan America

L98-3081 section 01 — City on a Hill: The Concept and Culture of American Exceptionalism

L98-332A section 01 — Getting Paid: A Sociological Investigation of Wages and Salaries

L98-3350 section 01 — Poverty and the New American City

L98-4621 section 01 — The Political Economy of Urban Education

Economics 348 — Economic Realities of the American Dream

Education 4621 — Political Economy of Urban Education

Education 461B — The Construction & Experience of Black Adolescence

Education 4289 — Neighborhood Schools and Social Inequalities

Education 489 — Education and Public Policy in the US

L77 WGSS 396 — Gender and Social Class

SOC 2510 – Sociological Approaches to American Health Care

SOC 351 – Topics in Sociology: Growing Up Poor Across America—An Application of Sociological Reasoning to Data

Sociology 2110 – Social Inequality in America

S20-5013 — Poverty & Inequality in America

Related Resources

  • Bias Report and Support System

    A system for those who have experienced or witnessed incidents of bias, prejudice or discrimination involving a student to report their experiences.

  • BRSS Report Form

    Please use this form to report an incident of bias involving a student at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Washington University in St.Louis

About the division:

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