MITIGATING INEQUITY IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS

WHEREAS, America's children deserve the same access to high- quality public education as youth in other industrialized countries; and

WHEREAS, a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that 15 year-olds in the United States ranked a disappointing 26th out of 34 industrialized countries in mathematics; and

WHEREAS, the same report confirms that a decade of top-down, test-focused schooling that has been promoted in Ohio and throughout the United States has failed our children. If the strategies of privatization, competition and overtesting were successful, U.S. student performance wouldn't be dropping in global comparisons; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. supports so-called reforms that involve hyper-testing, sanctioning teachers, and closing schools (no other top-performing country does so); and

WHEREAS, the OECD report concluded that no other factor matters more to student achievement differences then socio-economic conditions; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. has one of the highest and fastest growing child poverty rates among all the industrialized nations, an astounding 22.6 percent, and in schools where AFT members teach and work the rate is nearly 50 percent; and

WHEREAS, the United States has to address the inequities that put disadvantaged children at a disadvantage in their education; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. addressing the effects of poverty and creating a more equitable education system would lead to American students being more academically competitive and having greater opportunities in the 21st-century global economy; and
WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers has called on the president of the United States, the Congress, governors, state legislatures, mayors and school boards to give our children the tools to succeed in school and—where needed—the broader supports to succeed in the 21st-century global environment; and

WHEREAS, children succeeding in the 21st-century global environment will only happen when every state ensures that each and every child has the opportunity for a quality public education, and care is taken to provide the supports that children in poverty need; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. needs to give students these supports if they are to have the opportunity to meet high achievement standards; and

WHEREAS, to emulate the policies and practices of other high-performing countries to mitigate the detrimental effects of socio-economic disparities, it would require:

• Directing resources to the schools and students with the greatest need;
• Ensuring that teachers are well prepared and supported;
• Providing all students with a robust curriculum;
• Managing school choice so as to contain the risks to equity;
• Expanding and enhancing partnerships with parents and community, providing wraparound services and programs that target unmet needs for children and their families; and
• Investing in high-quality universal early childhood education:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers advocate for funding and legislation that ensures all students have access to those supports that mitigate the effects of poverty and increase educational equity for all students; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT needs to educate the public and elected officials about evidence-based strategies used by the high performing countries; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT seeks to ensure that frontline educators and parents have meaningful input in the development, implementation and assessment of these new strategies, including the distribution of resources; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will work with community partners to find practical application of these strategies in public school systems across the state and the country.