Equity in Education: A Low Priority in the School Reform Movement

Educational reform movements occur in cyclical fashion, often in response to crisis—real or perceived. The educational needs of children and youth who have not had the economic, social, environmental opportunities, or advantages enjoyed by the dominant group receive minimal attention in most of the school reform reports. The school reform reports focus on what they see as the improvement of education in general. The cure for mediocrity, as well as the core of the new reform movement, has been a full dose of "excellence." Of very low priority now, as in the 1957 period, is an emphasis on equity for those individuals and groups who are underprivileged and underachieving in comparison with majority-group persons. Most of the reports contain recommendations to reduce electives and concentrate on the customary college-bound program, perhaps with more science and mathematics added. Concrete recommendations for improving public secondary education made by James B.