About the Fight

The Issue


What is educational inequality?

Oakwood Education Foundation’s focus is fighting educational inequality and bridging the educational achievement gap. Educational inequality deeply affects those who attend schools and live in areas mainly composed of lower class and minority individuals. Those who suffer from educational inequality lack resources, funding, and adequate challenging and engaging material, which in turn, leads to the achievement gap: the disparities in standardized test scores, and dropout and college completion rates, due to poor distribution of resources in the educational systems. Often, the issue of educational inequality is disregarded, and people continue to be uninformed about the topic. In America, inequalities are prevalent everywhere, but those present in the educational systems have some of the longest lasting repercussions, as it is one of the main factors of cyclical poverty. Educational inequality, caused by various issues in our education systems — from lack of transportation to under-qualified teachers — prevent countless students from reaching their full potential. 

Educational inequality is constantly disregarded in relation to other issues occurring throughout the world, but many scholars state inequality is rooted in the educational system. Ronald Ferguson, the director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative , states that educational quality is the “fundamental root of broader inequality." He explains that limits in education lead to limits in careers as well as income and wealth inequality due to the lack of resources and weaker foundations. 

The disparities in the achievement gap are proven to be one of the main contributors to the vicious cycle of poverty by which many people are limited. The Economic Policy Institute conducted extensive research on this issue, expanding on the changes over time, possible factors, and current implications. The article, "Education Inequalities at the School Starting Gate," describes how educational inequality plays a prominent role in cyclical poverty. The authors of the piece, Emma García and Elaine Weiss, describe how lower achievement leads to “lowered economic prospects later in life." This has been proven when comparing the previous and current incomes claimed by lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups and higher SES groups. It is evident that for the top 1% of individuals, the income claimed has increased while that for the lower 99% has steadily decreased because of what “education, economic, and social protection services don’t allow for people to expand past their birth circumstances."

We aim to advocate for the countless individuals affected by the institutionalized inequalities and inequities embedded in our educational systems. We hope that providing underprivileged students with the resources they need for the chance they deserve will bring about change that is long overdue.

How will we help?

Learn more about how we plan to address these issues and our vision for this organization.
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