In his landmark study of American schools, sociologist James S. Coleman arrived at a startling conclusion: “The educational resources provided by a child’s fellow students are more important for his achievement than are the resources provided by the school board.”
Fifty years ago this month, Coleman delivered the "Equality of Educational Opportunity" study to Congress, which commissioned it as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The assumption had been that racial segregation explained the gaps in student performance, but the Coleman Report pointed to socioeconomic segregation as the greater impediment to children's learning.
“A child’s learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher,” said Coleman. “Particular individuals who might never consider dropping out if they were in a different high school might decide to drop out if they attended a school where many boys and girls did so.”
The idea that peers influenced achievement more than teachers or school spending was brand new. Rather than race, the study fixed on social class as a more effective lever for equality of outcomes. A half-century later, Americans seem resistant to using either race or class to diversify their schools.
To read more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.
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