The Roosevelt Institution
Center on Education
http://rooseveltinstitution.org/yale/educationIn Fall 2006, the Center on Education...
...began the semester by helping to plan "A Seat at the Table: Socioeconomic Diversity and Access to Higher Education," a conference sponsored by Roosevelt and hosted by Yale. After the conference, the Center on Education continued its partnership with the Yale Admissions Office by researching the role played by outreach and advising programs in the struggle to increase socioeconomic diversity in higher education. The Center's analysis includes an exploration of Yale's Student Ambassadors program, and a critique of existing programs run by other institutions and organizations. The Center ultimately recommended that Yale revise its Student Ambassadors program to include an advising component, in order to further the goal of more low-income students attending college, even if they do not attend college at Yale. That report and its recommendations were presented at the January 2007 Policy Expo, as well as at Roosevelt's National Policy Expo in July 2007 in Washington, DC (this time with a focus on what universities can do unilaterally to improve socio-economic diversity).
In Spring 2007, the Center on Education...
...examined college-going rates and college guidance in New Haven Public Schools. A preliminary examination found that college-going rates are relatively high in New Haven schools, although room for improvement certainly exists, particularly in increasing the number of students attending four-year colleges. The Center on Education proposed an Open Forum discussion for New Haven guidance counselors in order to further examine and explore the challenges they face and the most effective ways moving qualified students toward college.
The Center on Education believes that
- Every individual in the United States deserves an equal opportunity to lead a happy and successful life.
- In our society, education is a powerful factor affecting the opportunities available to an individual.
- Many of the social and economic inequities in our country today are linked to the flaws in our education system, and can be remedied by the reform of this system.
- Increasing the number of well-educated young people will allow these individuals both to improve their own lives, and to better serve their communities.
- For example, improving a society’s educational system lowers crimes, improves the economy, protects against outsourcing by guaranteeing a strong workforce, promotes social mobility, and builds a stronger democracy.
- The inequities present in our society as a whole are perpetuated by and replicated in our educational system, as it currently functions.
- The backgrounds of students in the United States vary radically according to such factors as race, ethnicity, nationality, geographic location, socioeconomic status and parents’ education and background.
- Due to these differences in background, students throughout their childhood and primary and secondary education are subject to educational experiences of a radically varying quality in both the home and the school environment.
- Within the school system, resources such as funding and qualified teachers, in particular, are often unevenly and unfairly distributed based on the backgrounds of the students served.
- The inequity of resource distribution leads to, and is exacerbated by, a culture of expectations in which the aspirations of students typically vary according to their background.
- The unequal primary and secondary educational system leads to a situation in which by the end of high school, students are unevenly prepared for higher education academically, socially and psychologically.
- Institutions of higher learning currently do not sufficiently compensate for the differing backgrounds of high school graduates and the corresponding educational inequities.
The Education Center will
- Conduct research to analyze more fully the flaws in our country’s system of education, and to work towards finding solutions to these problems.
- Raise awareness of our findings and of the many issues surrounding education reform.
- Engage with the Yale and New Haven community and with college students in general in our efforts to identify problems and formulate solutions.
Current Projects:
Teacher Retention in New Haven
Completed Projects:
College Outreach & Advising Projects
Teacher Retention in New Haven
For more information on the Center on Education's projects and to get involved, email center co-leaders Sam Brill (samuel.brill@yale.edu) and Abby McCartney (abby.mccartney@yale.edu).Meetings:
Tuesdays, 8:00 pm, Trumbull Seminar Room (above the dining hall)
Group members:
Sam Brill
Abby McCartney
Presca E Ahn
Irene Akingbade
Lynda Blancato
George Bogden
Michael Boyce
Elizabeth Breit
Geoff Buller
Nandi Chihombori-Quao
Marie Cita
Emily Cole
Carolina C Cooper
Anna S Creager
Meg Evans
Brandon Fong
Madeleine Gelblum
Gregory Geusic
Mark D Godfrey
John P Good
David D Hamstra
Jenny Holmes
Michael B Jones
Amy E Jones
Amber Joseph
Will Kletter
Jhenette Lauder
Katherine Linzer
Naomi A Lisan
Aaron M Littman
Christopher Magoon
Zach Marks
Tiffany Mason
Kevin O Olusola
Stephen Oshman
Christopher J Palencia
Samuel R Purdy
Lauren D Russell
Paul D Schneider
Sam E Schoenburg
Jason Silberstein
Antonio Sirianni
Ben Stango
Lizzy Star
Dylan Stern
Minh N Tran
Lindsay E Ullman
Bradford Williams
Victor A Zapana