Educational Disparities
The Children Youth and Family Consortium (CYFC) began in 2005 to
organize a major portion of its work around theme areas as a way
to address children, youth and family issues in greater depth. This year,
2007-2008, is the second year of a three-year focus on the topic
of “Educational Disparities,” more commonly known as
the achievement gap – a critical issue in Minnesota, which
has one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation.
CYFC considers educational disparities to be the differences in
educational opportunities and outcomes among various groups of people,
often defined by race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or geography.
Much of the work on the achievement gap has focused primarily on
student differences in outcomes or achievement; CYFC’s work
also looks at the disparities in opportunities.
As is the practice in all of its work, CYFC is addressing educational
disparities from ecological and development perspectives.
The developmental perspective recognizes that human development
begins at birth, and continues throughout the lifespan. Events that
occur at one stage of development have a profound effect on future
development. Educational disparities span the ages of birth to adulthood,
and include issues such as language acquisition, early childhood
experiences, school readiness, classroom performance and behavior,
standardized test performance, out-of-school experiences, high school
completion, post-secondary enrollment, job preparation, and labor
force participation and earnings.
The ecological perspective recognizes that children and families
do not operate in a vacuum but rather their development is influenced
by interactions between the many parts of the world around them.
As illustrated by the Circles
of Influence framework (color
pdf, black and white pdf) developed
by CYFC, the child is at the center of this model with
multiple circles of influence ranging from immediate family and informal
support systems to the more distant society at large. The experiences
that occur within and across these circles of influence all contribute
to the child’s (as well as the family’s) development.
To most effectively address issues related to children and families,
actions must occur and be reinforced in all of these areas. CYFC’s
work related to educational disparities will focus on all five circles
of influence. CYFC’s publication, Consortium
Connections, is also focusing on various aspects of Educational
Disparities using the Circles of Influence framework during these
three years.
The goal of CYFC’s work related to Educational Disparities
is to move beyond talking about it and put into action some potential
tools to reduce the gap in Minnesota. CYFC is consulting and working
with partners from many parts of the University and the community
to make this happen.
Disparities:
Unequal Opportunities, Unequal Outcomes
The President’s Initiative on Children, Youth and Families
(PICYF) reviewed nearly 60 proposals submitted in response to its
2007 Request for Proposals entitled “Disparities: Unequal Opportunities,
Unequal Outcomes.” This granting program, administered
through the Children, Youth and Family Consortium (CYFC) which houses
PICYF, is intended to seed small projects that will promote understanding
of or examine ways to effectively address disparities, broadly defined,
among Minnesota’s children, youth and families. Read
more about the 2007 winners. Review of 2008 proposals is
currently in process.
