Defining Equity: Multiple Perspectives to Analyzing the Performance of Diverse Learners

Abstract

Defining equity within the context of a diverse, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural society, and one where social class strongly influences one's life chances is problematic. This chapter reexamines equity in an attempt to advance the discourse beyond the debate about strategies to close the achievement gap between White students and students of color. I situated the issue of equity within an analysis of broader social forces that cultivate inequality throughout society in employment, housing, criminal justice, and so forth so that educational inequality is part and parcel of overarching social ills. The notion of equity will be unpacked by asking a more basic and fundamental question about the ultimate purpose of education. If we assume the end game of education is producing student learning, then we should ask whether learning outcomes are distributed randomly across race, ethnicity, and social class. Moreover, I will explore whether No Child Left Behind (NCLB)-like assessments or high-stakes tests measure real learning necessary for social and economic success, or do they measure something else. The role of increased accountability via state-based systems as an approach to obtaining equity is hotly debated. Although advocates are many, several studies have found the consequences of high-stakes testing, which are nonobvious and perhaps unintended, have not helped advance the nation toward equitable schooling. The pursuit of educational equity has long been a goal of reform efforts in the United States. Yet creating a system of education where all children have equal access to quality instruction and widely available opportunities to learn to their fullest human potential has been elusive. More than half a century ago, the Brown v. Board of Education decision settled persistent concerns about the degree to which access to quality schooling was based on race (Ball, 2006; Ball & Samy, 2006; Gutierrez