Deck 8: Does Education Really Lead to a Better Life Educational Inequalities

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT an example of US educational inequalities?

A) Some states have passed laws eliminating bilingual education programs, replacing them with English-only immersion programs.
B) During Covid-19, some families were able to pivot to find tutors and pods and good computer connections, while others lacked such resources.
C) Public school students between 1950 and 1980 received a low quality education compared to today's standards.
D) Schools in more affluent areas are better funded to teach students in their communities whereas low-income and disproportionately non-white areas are under-funded due to lower property tax base and political power.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Personal attribution points to _____ as the cause of one's poverty; systemic attribution looks at _____

A) individuals ; external social forces.
B) international comparisons ; social location.
C) external social forces ; individuals.
D) social location ; international comparisons.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which sociologist looked at the intersection between biography and history which applies directly to the discussion of poverty, race, and education?

A) C. Wright Mills
B) Emile Durkheim
C) John Locke
D) Max Weber

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Whereas before 1900 less than _____ of Americans finished high school and even fewer went on to college, by 2018 the high school graduation rate was approximately _____

A) 20% ; 75%.
B) 2% ; 85%.
C) 33% ; 67%.
D) 50% ; 95%.

Question 5

By the 20^th century, how had US schools designed K-12 curricula?

A) To guide students in the adolescent maturation process.
B) To equip students with the moral code for good civic engagement as Americans.
C) To prepare each student for competition in the international business market.
D) To offer potential pathways for students, depending on whether they are destined for an academic-based or trade-based career.

Question 6

Which racial/ethnic group has the highest percentage of students earning a public high school degree (92%)?

A) American Indians/Alaska Natives
B) Asian/Pacific Islanders
C) African Americans
D) Hispanics

Question 7

Which racial/ethnic group has the lowest percentage of students earning a public high school degree (74%)?

A) Asian/Pacific Islanders
B) American Indians/Alaska Natives
C) African Americans
D) Hispanics

Question 8

Rank the groups from highest to lowest in percentage who has earned a college degree.

A) White, Asian, Black, Hispanic
B) Asian, White, Hispanic, Black
C) Asian, White, Black, Hispanic
D) Asian, Black, White, Hispanic

Question 9

Regarding safety in US schools, Native American and Black students were more likely to report

A) being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.
B) feeling safe and comfortable at school.
C) avoiding in-school suspensions compared to other groups.
D) avoiding being expelled compared to other groups.

Question 10

In bilingual/bicultural education

A) students move to another country for boarding school to learn another language.
B) students must become fluent and literate in two languages (including English) in order to earn a high school degree.
C) students are immersed in English-only classes, even if English is not their native language, in order to accelerate the learning process.
D) students are taught in their native language until they are proficient in English.

Question 11

Why was the Bureau of Indian Education created?

A) to collect tax revenue from Native American reservations so that public schools in these communities are properly funded.
B) to preserve the culture, heritage, and learning styles of native students.
C) to study and assess Native American student learning in reservation schools compared to other schools.
D) All of the above

Question 12

Which of the following is a persistent structural factor that contributes to educational inequalities, especially for Black students?

A) Individual teachers may discriminate against students based on the teachers' own biases and poor training.
B) Segregation has relegated certain communities into school districts with fewer resources from property tax revenue.
C) Because equal schooling is not available in many communities, success in school can be seen as "selling out" and not desirable.
D) A disproportionate amount of funding is streamed to bilingual education for English-language learners, which takes resources away from native English speakers.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT a goal of the No Child Left Behind Act?

A) School choice for parents
B) Research-based decision making
C) Accountability
D) Consistency across all public school curricula and funding

Question 14

What was an example of the challenges created by No Child Left Behind?

A) There was no incentive for schools or teachers to change their practices because funding was fixed.
B) Teachers felt pressure to "teach to the test" so that they could improve scores for their schools even if they were not covering other important material for their students.
C) States had no control or flexibility in planning how to address achievement gaps in their schools as everything was standardized at the federal level.
D) Decisions and policies were not informed by research.

Question 15

What happened to schools that failed to meet their objectives after five years under No Child Left Behind?

A) Schools had to make substantial changes where the state could take control of oversight, teachers and administrators could be reassigned, or schools could be converted into charter schools.
B) Students would be bussed or transferred to other schools with better performance scores.
C) Schools would have to refund property tax investments to the community to support creation of new/better schools.
D) Parents would be given free school vouchers to change school location for any student, at the expense of the failing school.

Question 16

Federal grants through a program called _____ as well as flexibility waivers that give some struggling schools a chance to opt out of the existing requirements were designed to incentivize states and local school districts to improve student test scores as well as provide comprehensive assessments of teachers and principals.

A) No Child Left Behind
B) Gun-Free Schools Act
C) Zero-tolerance
D) Race to the Top

Question 17

Research indicates that zero-tolerance school behavior policies are

A) highly effective at redirecting student behavior and increasing academic performance.
B) equally administered across all racial and ethnic groups, contributing to less structural racism in public schools.
C) unnecessary, negatively influence the overall educational environment for all students, and more severely impacts minority students.
D) highly effective but overly costly in terms of the investment and resources required to make these policies work.

Question 18

Compared to students in 33 countries on literacy and problem-solving ability, US students scored

A) at or near the bottom in every category.
B) at or near the top in every category.
C) very high in terms of literacy but low in terms of problem-solving.
D) very low in terms of literacy but high in terms of problem-solving.

Question 19

What is the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)?

A) The global version of No Child Left Behind
B) A global non-profit organization providing standardized testing instruments to schools
C) A sophisticated system for comparing international educational performance across countries and over time.
D) A study abroad and transfer program to provide students with cross-national learning opportunities.

Question 20

Why are international rankings of educational performance problematic?

A) They can be misleading about actual differences between ranks, and provide little in the way of context.
B) Scores are based on other countries' definitions of what high performance is, rather than a US standard.
C) The companies that set the rankings are often lobbied by specific schools or regions to earn higher marks.
D) US students have greater access to classroom technology, which skews the scores and rankings.

Question 21

Taking in all available information and insights about the U.S. in comparison with international education performance, the U.S.

A) needs a major overhaul to bring US students up in rankings.
B) is doing above average and could take on incremental changes to show consistent increases and improvements.
C) is far and away the most successful in K-12 student performance.
D) could benefit from reducing public investment in education since no other countries are competitive.

Question 22

A major structural factor in school inequality is funding because

A) very little state or federal tax money is actually allocated to education.
B) everyone has to pay taxes that are allocated to public education even if they do not have children or prefer home school or private school.
C) wealthy donors and corporate investments provide disproportionate funding to some schools and not others.
D) schools are resourced primarily from property taxes which means that some communities generate more revenue than others.

Question 23

The fact that, currently, a typical minority student finds him or herself surrounded by other minority groups, but very few White students are indicative of

A) bias of non-white families to have their children attend non-white schools.
B) racism of specific white communities and families in avoiding minority schools.
C) bilingual/bicultural education.
D) persistent racial school segregation.

Question 24

The U.S. Supreme Court decision of the 2007 case of Meredith vs. Jefferson County Board of Education found that policies based on race to achieve a more integrated classroom were unconstitutional. In effect this decision

A) ended racial school segregation.
B) had little impact since public school funding is equal and standardized.
C) forced schools and parents to accept the notion of racially segregated schools.
D) benefited minority schools which disproportionately receive more funding than White schools.

Question 25

Because of the funding issue, low-income schools cannot readily compete with their wealthy counterparts in paying teacher salaries, and therefore

A) teachers who work in low-income schools are likely to be less experienced.
B) teachers in wealthier schools have better credentials and connections.
C) teachers in low-income schools are more likely to experience burnout.
D) All of the above

Question 26

In April 2020, one study found that _____ of low-income parents reported that their children were unable to complete their schoolwork at home because they did not have access to a computer vs. _____ of middle-income parents and _____ of upper-income parents.

A) half ; 2/3 ; hardly any
B) 40% ; 25% ; 12%
C) 36% ; 14% ; 4%
D) 1/3 ; half ; less than 1%

Question 27

What are structural reasons behind minority parents' disproportionately low involvement in children's education?

A) These parents are more likely to be low-income and having to work more than one job to support their families.
B) These parents are less interested in school achievement.
C) Minority schools do not typically invite or welcome parental engagement.
D) These parents are largely unaware of the importance of connecting with their children's schools and aiding in their education.

Question 28

Some youth in low performing schools are convinced that success in school is impossible. For students who demonstrate some level of academic success, they could find themselves in this common dilemma.

A) They could try to use school choice vouchers to attend a better school, but this would mean leaving their friends behind.
B) If they show their talent for school, they will likely be socially outcast, and perhaps even physically harmed, but if they embrace the anti-school/education movement, they will not likely graduate or create other opportunities for themselves.
C) They could quit school and get a good job, or delay employment and make no money because they are good at school.
D) They might embarrass their peers by outperforming them, but they would greatly disappoint their parents and let down devoted teachers.

Question 29

What is the main reason why parents enroll children in private school?

A) Dissatisfaction with the public school system
B) History of parents having gone to private school
C) The desire to follow an alternative curriculum such as religious-based education
D) Perception that public schools are unsafe

Question 30

What is a charter school?

A) Charter schools are new emerging public schools that have a probationary period before they are permanently added to school districts.
B) Charter schools are private schools that are funded by donations and cater to wealthy families.
C) Charter schools are publicly funded, organized locally, tend to be smaller, have the freedom to customize their offerings, and are centered around a particular theme such as STEM or the arts.
D) Charter schools include specific student populations such as all Catholics or all students learning a specific foreign language.

Question 31

How do school vouchers work?

A) They allow schools to allocate resources according to their own assessments of where funding is needed.
B) They allow parents to behave more like consumers. They can transfer from a low-performing to a more successful school, and the funding should follow the student.
C) They allow schools to trade and transfer students to even out challenging student groups vs. high-performing student groups.
D) They provide full school choice for parents to use for whatever reason and to enroll their children in whatever school they prefer for public education.

Question 32

What is "brain drain" in the context of school choice?

A) Families tend to choose less academically challenging schools so that their students earn higher grades, but are not scholastically challenged.
B) Talented students drain resources from schools such that low-performing students are not adequately educated and cared for.
C) Academically talented students leave low-performing schools in search of better opportunities, thus leaving the school worse off.
D) So many students are using vouchers that there are long waiting lists and over time, families lose patience and move out of state.

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT a legal pathway for parents of young children in choosing alternatives within the US education system?

A) School vouchers
B) Home school
C) Charter school
D) Withdrawal from school/formal education altogether

Question 34

Despite evidence that bilingual education enhances the academic achievements of non-native English speakers, the English-first movement contends that

A) bilingual education is expensive, interferes with English development, threatens the American identity, and stigmatizes children who participate.
B) non-English speaking students should learn English first in order to help their parents better assimilate to the U.S.
C) students should be able to choose if they want to learn English first or attend classes in their native languages.
D) non-English speakers should not be provided US public education.

Question 35

For students who graduate from _____, it takes about _____ before the costs of attending are covered by the higher income earned than had they gone to work right out of high school.

A) affordable 2-year community colleges ; 8 years
B) affordable 4-year colleges ; 9 years
C) private universities ; 12 years
D) average American universities ; 7 years

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT a key variable in determining whether college is a good investment?

A) The type of college one chooses and field of study
B) Whether or not one works while attending school
C) Connections made via Greek life and/or extracurricular activities
D) How tuition is financed

Question 37

What external factors can alter the value of higher education?

A) Typically college is not a good investment and does not confer lifetime earnings advantages.
B) Family obligations may ultimately make a higher education a bad value if a graduate cannot move to a new area for employment.
C) College degrees are more highly valued from other countries, driving the value of US higher education degrees down.
D) If students find themselves post-graduation trapped in a tight labor market and forced into jobs for which they are overqualified.

Question 38

Which of the following groups is less likely to graduate college within 6 years?

A) Female college students
B) Private college students
C) American Indian/Alaska natives
D) Students who start college right after high school

Question 39

While there are differences based on race/ethnicity, by public or private university, or by age of first enrollment, about _____ of students graduate college within 6 years.

A) 45%
B) 60%
C) 70%
D) 85%

Question 40

Why do so many students enroll in for-profit higher education programs, given their relative lack of both effectiveness and accountability?

A) Cheaper tuition
B) Degrees are more highly valued in labor market.
C) Predatory recruitment and false promises by for-profit schools
D) Famous faculty members

Question 41

What do the majority of US students do to pay for college?

A) Take out loans.
B) Work full-time.
C) Earn scholarships.
D) Borrow money from family.

Question 42

What is an example of the manifest functions of education?

A) Racial segregation
B) Gender socialization, courtship
C) Preparation for skills needed in the labor market
D) Talent scouting for professional athletics

Question 43

What is an example of the latent functions of education?

A) Academic preparation for higher education
B) Social cohesion and patriotism
C) English-language learning for non-native English speakers
D) Opportunities for upward mobility through achievement

Question 44

Which theory argues that rather than provide students with equal opportunities, education actually perpetuates inequalities?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) None of the above

Question 45

Which theory asserts that schools are organized bureaucratically, with rigid structures and a host of set policies and procedures in order to allow for standardization and consistency for all students? This means that students must accommodate to the system, not the other way around.

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) None of the above

Question 46

What theory points out that US education is only theoretically a path out of poverty, given the dramatic and systemic inequalities?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) None of the above

Question 47

What is tracking in education?

A) Labeling of students based on stereotypes, class, race, or other factors
B) Long-term data collection on specific cohorts of students from kindergarten through grade 12
C) Organization of students based on their abilities as well as their post-graduation path
D) Detailed standardized testing conducted each year in public schools

Question 48

Head Start has been shown to

A) delay English-language learning for young children, despite offering good health benefits.
B) improve high school graduation rates as well as health status and health care access for participants.
C) offer a wide range of early childhood services at very low expense in terms of tax dollar spending.
D) succeed in advancing early education for children in urban or suburban areas, but not in rural areas.

Question 49

Sometimes called Small Learning Communities, these are cohorts of students, typically less than 200, that operate within larger high schools in low-income urban areas and combine academic and technical curricula focused on a particular theme or career field.

A) Cultural Capitalists
B) Early College High Schools
C) Head Starters
D) Career Academies

Question 50

Why are community college graduation rates misleading?

A) They appear to be low because many students actually transfer from community college to 4-year institutions before completing their associate's degree.
B) They seem high because community colleges typically have smaller cohorts of students.
C) Some students complete certificate programs but do not officially graduate.
D) Community college costs less in tuition so it is misleading to compare graduation rates without adjusting for costs compared to 4-year colleges and universities.