The inequality of the educational system and how to overcome it: the USA evidence

The equity of the school system and the ability of schools of acting as an instrument of social mobility have been the focus of the American debate in the last few years.

M._Viarengo__School_Reform_and_Equal_Educational_Opportunity_-_FGA_WP28_01.pdf

As Martina G. Viarengo (Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and London School of Economics) explains in her paper School Reform and Equal Educational Opportunity: Evidence from the United States, in the US there are as many educational systems as there are States and, historically, the Federal Government has only ever issued a few guidelines in order to guarantee that the school system matches some basic requirements.  Most of the educational offer comes from the community itself or by initiative of private citizens and are only institutionalized later on.

Such factors gave rise to huge geographical gaps in terms of quality of the school system in the various States as well as too many different ways to face the issue of equal opportunity both in terms of accessibility and in terms of educational attainment.

Hence in the last few years the Federal Goverment has claimed its centrality in co-ordinating the US school system and in defining the Country’s main target as far as education is concerned, creating a complex evaluation system as well as a system based on incentives and penalizations for those States who have to meet certain standards of education and equal opportunities in schools.

Despite some initial difficulties, the process of making institutions involved in the school system management (ranging from States themselves to single schools) aware of their responsibilities has now began and is fully accepted as a basic element of school government.

This paper is part of the researches commissioned by the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli for the “Rapporto sulla Scuola in Italia 2010”.