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It argues that educational equality should be defined through equal coverage of core academic content and reports research on variability in eighth-grade mathematics content across multiple districts and states, along with differences in high school course offerings. Findings indicate that students’ exposure to specific topics depends on where they live, challenging assumptions that inequity results solely from individual effort or inherited ability.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/equality-of-educational-opportunity-myth-or-reality-in-us-schooling/592358/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/equality-of-educational-opportunity-myth-or-reality-in-us-schooling/592358.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"McGucket","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How does the article define educational equality?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It defines equality at the most basic level as equal coverage of core academic content.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What research does the article summarize?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It reviews research on variability in eighth-grade mathematics content coverage across districts and states, and on variation in high school mathematics courses offered across additional districts.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why do the authors argue the “great equalizer” idea is a myth?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"They find that students’ exposure to topics depends on their location, meaning educational opportunities differ across schools, districts, and states.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},592358,1792984529,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},1236954412713,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","ILLUSTRAT IONS BY SERGE BLOCH  \nEquality of Educational Opportunity  \nMyth or Reality in U.S. Schooling?  \nBy William H. Schmidt,  \nLeland S. Cogan, and Curtis C. McKnight  \nPublic schooling is often regarded as “the great equalizer”  \nin American society. For more than 100 years, so the  \nstory goes, children all across the country have had an  \nequal opportunity to master the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a result, any student willing to work hard  \nWilliam H. Schmidt is a university distinguished professor at Michigan State University as well as codirector of the Education Policy Center, where Leland S. Cogan is a senior researcher. Schmidt is also codirector of the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence and codirector of the National Science Foundation–funded MSU PROM/SE project. Previously, he served as national research coordinator and executive director of the U.S. National Center, which oversaw U.S. participation in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Curtis C. McKnight is a professor of mathematics atthe University of Oklahoma. For a more complete reference and description of the work in this article, please refer to an article just accepted for publication in a future issue of the American Journal of Education.  \nhas the chance to go as far as his or her talent allows, regardless of family origin or socioeconomic status.  \nThis assumption regarding opportunity and emphasis on individual talent and effort seems to be a natural offshoot of the rugged individualism and self-reliance that are so much apart of the fabled American character. We have long celebrated our cowboys, entrepreneurs, and standout athletes—but we have also long ignored those who have not succeeded. When success is individual, so is failure. It must result from a lack of effort, talent, motivation, application, or perseverance, not a lack of opportunity. Right?  \nNot according to our research. Defining educational equality in the most basic, foundational way imaginable—equal coverage of core academic content—we’ve found that America’s schools are far from being the equalizers we, as a nation, want them to be.  \nSo what? Does it really matter that “the great equalizer” is a myth? To our way of thinking, it does. First, as researchers, we believe it is always important to question our assumptions—and that goes for our national assumptions about equality and individualism as well as our personal assumptions. Second, the more  \n12 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2010–2011  \nwe study schools, the more inequity we see. While other researchers have tackled important issues like disparities in teachers’qualificationsand in classroom resources, we have focused on the basic question of what mathematics topics are taught. We have been disturbed to see that whether a student is even exposed to a topic depends on where he or she lives. Third, we find that those who don’tquestion basic assumptions draw tragic, unsupportable conclusions. Take, for example, the controversial book The Bell Curve,1 in which Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray wrongly argued that unequal educational outcomes can only be explained by the unfortunate but unavoidable distribution of inherited abilities that relegate some students to the low end of the intelligence distribution. As we will show, unequal educational outcomes are clearly related to unequal educational opportunities.  \nIn this article, we explore the extent to which students in different schools and districts have an equal opportunity to learn mathematics. Specifically, we discuss research on (1) the amount of variability in content coverage in eighth grade across 13 districts (or consortia of districts) and 9 states, and (2) the variation in mathematics courses offered by high schoolsin 18 districts spread across 2 states. We knew we would find some variability in terms of content coverage and course offerings, so our real question had to do with the nature and e","cbCairE9LKLYFp85","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairE9LKLYFp85","pdf",241155,"English","# Equality of Educational Opportunity\n## Myth or Reality in U.S. Schooling?\n## Defining educational equality\n## Research approach and scope\n## Variability across districts and states\n## Implications for student achievement","[{\"question\":\"How does the article define educational equality?\",\"answer\":\"It defines equality at the most basic level as equal coverage of core academic content.\"},{\"question\":\"What research does the article summarize?\",\"answer\":\"It reviews research on variability in eighth-grade mathematics content coverage across districts and states, and on variation in high school mathematics courses offered across additional districts.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do the authors argue the “great equalizer” idea is a myth?\",\"answer\":\"They find that students’ exposure to topics depends on their location, meaning educational opportunities differ across schools, districts, and states.\"}]","Equality of Educational Opportunity - Myth or Reality in U.S. Schooling? | PDF",1792074400]