Educational inequality in the United States: can we reverse the tide?

Abstract

Educational inequality is a pressing problem in much of the English-speaking world and especially in the United States, as the last three decades have witnessed rising inequality on several measures. This is an appropriate subject for a special issue commemorating the contributions of David Raffe, whose career of scholarship greatly enhanced our understanding of educational inequality. Although research publications on inequality have increased, especially internationally, studies of youth inequality still lag, and studies of ways to reduce inequality are more the exception than the rule. Advancing beyond these trends requires a stronger capacity for research on reducing inequality, including more research funding, more diverse voices calling attention to inequality, and broader and more integrated approaches to studying inequality. These insights are applied in this paper to the case of research on career and technical education (CTE), one of David Raffe’s central concerns. We argue that progress in CTE research will require more funding, greater diversity in perspectives and new approaches to scholarship, and enhanced synergies across disciplines and in connecting research and practice.