Assessing Ch. 3: Family Income and School Success in "Restoring Opportunity" [Sec. B] by Barry Goldenberg

CRITIQUE/QUESTION

ProfessorBarry — 2024-01-16 05:48:35 UTC

Just because a book if published or a study shared, does not mean that every perspective is necessary the correct one.

Is there some critique you can make of the reading? (Or, rather, if critique is too strong, perhaps some "thing" the authors left out or should reconsider.)

Critique/ Question - Edgar Avalos, Melody Charres, Aprajita Singh, Trevor Torres, Nikki Gigante

2024-01-16 22:35:07 UTC

A critique that we have about this chapter is that it offers a lot of examples, however our group felt like there was not enough elaboration to these statistics/ examples, and that it could use more in-depth analysis of what these statistics/ examples mean in the context of the achievement gap.

Praise/Applaud (Jessie Archer, Isabella Vega, Irma Guevara, Samantha Gonzalez, Kimberly Nava, Katy Cloutier)

2024-01-16 22:35:12 UTC

Duncan and Murname made the content of their chapter digestible by providing interviews. For example, introducing Alexander Williams and Anthony Mears before delving into income analytics reminded readers that these problems are human, rather than detached figures.

2024-01-16 22:35:35 UTC

Using specific examples like the extracurricular activities of Alexander and Anthony helped us understand how the cost of education is more than just the school itself. It made it personalized and contextualized how income students don't have the same opportunities to acquire social capital.

-Mia Jimenez, Brenna Cowley, Sharon Chang, Leyna Nguyen, Melissa Nava

Critique

2024-01-16 22:36:34 UTC

If the writer can go in more depth into the research, he did give out evidence, he did not provide enough examples. And if he did that, it will make the readings more persuasive in the statistical aspect.

Yuhang Li, Ethan Shojaee, Brandon Eyau, Viridiana Sanchez , Mi Zhou

CRITIQUE

2024-01-16 22:37:01 UTC

If we were to do this study again in our current time would we see different numbers? This book was published a a few years ago, and the graphs all illustrate statistics from 2005 or 2012.

Kaylana Khamvongsa, Gordon Peng, Jolin Chen, Martin Ochoa, Chloe Smith

PRAISE/APPLAUD (Arianne C., Lyndsey N., Samantha Z., Kamile M.)

2024-01-16 22:37:14 UTC

The authors considered how a parents prior schooling can also affect their child's experience in school, which helps give more context and background on their situation.

PRAISE: Jay Dick, William Davis, Chelsea Kerr, Ruidong Wang

wgdavis1 — 2024-01-16 22:37:46 UTC

This chapter of the book did a great job of mention and discussing the issues that arrise from single parent households or households where the parents do not have a healthy relationship. It does a great job of supporting these points with research and other evidence.

Praise/Applaud

2024-01-16 22:37:49 UTC

Ana, Citlali, Jennifer, Areli, Jayna

Chapter 3 does a good job of suggesting ideas that can help narrow achievement gaps through each section, such as enrichment expenditures, mental health, and parental education. They also do a good job of comparing specific students' situations.

Critique/Question

2024-01-16 22:37:51 UTC

Carolyn, Eming, Justin, Monserrat

-Author relies on personal narratives from case studies too often as examples for data from. There could be more emphasis on the data itself to provide substance to the achievement gap.

-Author could have included more research and evidence to support her claims of mental health on the achievement gap.

CRITIQUE

2024-01-16 22:38:10 UTC

Having parents with high income, a good school district, and a big house may not be the key to a child's academic performance. You could be a child with rich parents and still perform badly in school because of attention problems or you're just not interested in a class subject, therefore not putting enough effort. (Will Han, Michelle Ma, Aina Jung)

Critique

2024-01-16 22:38:31 UTC

One recommendation we have for the author is to give more background on certain statements. One example that we had is when the author brings up a study done where low-income families were given certain benefits like healthcare and stipends. One question we had is what happened at the end of this study? Were the benefits taken away? And what impact did taking this away have? Also, why did boys specifically benefit the most from this?

By: Wendy Sanka, Dominic Pagano, Camila Haro, Juliette Bercaives, Marlene Garcia, YufeiSun, Deo Korompis

PRAISE

2024-01-16 22:38:42 UTC

We appreciated how the author included personal experiences and used real people to illustrate the achievement gap between people of different socio-economic classes. The personal experiences made it easier to understand what the author's message was.

Kaylana Khamvongsa, Gordon Peng, Jolin Chen, Martin Ochoa, Chloe Smith

Critique: Jay Dick, William Davis, Chelsea Kerr,Ruidong Wang

2024-01-16 22:38:55 UTC

One main critique from this book is how it describes the beginning of formal education as being kindergarten. Our group thinks it is better to address the beginning of formal education as preschool, as going to a good preschool or even to a preschool at all often determines your success in kindergarten and beyond. For example, being able to read well, a skill taught and supported in preschool, can be a huge determining factor in how well one does when they reach grade school.

Praise (Kaitlyn Trinh, Emilie, Ligia Sanchez, Sunmu Jung)

2024-01-16 22:39:01 UTC

We liked how they included an example of a person from a high income family, Garrett compared with someone of low income, Anthony and Harold. Hearing perspectives from real individuals from different families really shows that the problem is very much real rather than just listing a bunch of statistics.

Praise/Applaud

2024-01-16 22:39:11 UTC

Chieko, Lina, Nicole, Frida, Fabiel, Thuyan

Author refers and uses actual case studies as evidence to support their claims
Alexander and Anthony as personal examples, giving us a glimpse into how it actually affects them
Uses graphs as visual depiction of what they are explaining; reliable and visually engaging
Easy to read and follow; mostly straightforward and has effective word choice
Interesting points, such as how parent’s education affects their word count/choice, which then influence their children
- Had more statistics to support their claim

Praise/Applaud (Christopher Galaz, GuanJi Zhu, Avyel Leyva, Dron Mongia)

2024-01-16 22:39:17 UTC

Something I found particularly appealing about this text was the addition of statistics and visualizations. These made it so the author's claims felt far more substantiated and ingrained in fact rather than some opinion piece. The bar graphs which compare school achievement to family income level di a particularly good job at visualizing the affect this disparity has on students.

Praise/Applaud (Jesus, Brody, Julian, Giuseppe, Senar )

2024-01-16 22:39:36 UTC

The graph provided on page 2 was a great way of seeing how income affects students and the knowledge gap. The graph is titled, "Skill and behavior gaps between high-and low-income kindergarten-ers and fifth graders" and it shows how as children progress in school the knowledge gap will grow based off of their income

2024-01-16 22:40:13 UTC

We wish there was more context for the studies included in this chapter so we could understand more clearly the research method and attest to the validity of the results shown. -Mia Jimenez, Brenna Cowley, Sharon Chang, Leyna Nguyen, Melissa Nava

2024-01-16 22:40:22 UTC

The author sets up the article by providing the contrasting experiences of Alexander Williams and Anthony Mears, which demonstrated on a personable level the extent to which the education system failed one student because of his social status/class, and benefited the student who grew up with more resources. The author also provided graphs and statistical figures to support his findings, which was visually helpful in our understanding of the reading.

Faith Lee, Jessie Lee, Michelle Tran

Praise/Applaud

2024-01-16 22:40:30 UTC

(Gabriel, Lisette, Qian, Peiyi, Tsen Pu)

What we liked about this book was that the author put real life examples and extended on them. Another thing we liked were how straight forward the drawings were. They were labeled clearly. The author supported his words by explaining what the income structure in education looks like.

Praise / Applause - Edgar Avalos, Melody Charres, Aprajita Singh, Trevor Torres, Nikki Gigante

2024-01-16 22:40:40 UTC

This chapter provides a very well-rounded view of the issue that also includes many different ways that different factors influence the achievement gap, which introduced us into different ways of looking at the problems that we had not thought about before. It is evident that the author has done extensive research on the topic, and they show this through their wide variety of examples and viewpoints that are interesting and unique.

Critique

2024-01-16 22:40:51 UTC

One critique our group had about the examples provided in the text was that it was not specific enough because not all families could not have a very good parent/child relationship (differing from rich and poor families). In other words, there is not a clear comparison whether these families that are being talked about in the text have a good relationship with each other or a bad one. How do we know that all examples have a good parent/child relationship with one another?

Amanda C.

Jiexiao (Jacob) Wu

Xuanrong Liang

Josie Juarez

CRITIQUE/QUESTION

2024-01-16 22:41:19 UTC

Family income and school success is a prominent issue that has continue to affect our flawed education system. The reading was too general and failed to specify which racial groups were directly affected.

Table Names: Athena S, Amy D., Clarabelle S., Kaiya A., Reena L.

Critique/Question (Jessie Archer, Isabella Vega, Irma Guevara, Samantha Gonzalez, Kimberly Nava, Katy Cloutier)

2024-01-16 22:41:53 UTC

The reasoning as to why the achievement gap was large was mainly focused on disadvantages of low-income and minority students, rather than showing the advantages of students with higher income.

Additionally, "Stress and Mental Health" is a header, but it is not explored in depth throughout the chapter. While Duncan and Murname list some acts that have benefited mental health, like EITC and New Hope, there are no examples (like those of Alexander and Harold) to remind readers of the human toll.

Praise: Jason Lee, Michelle Nguyen, Frank Aguirre, Lauren Patag

2024-01-16 22:41:58 UTC

This chapter does a good job of examining other factors such as anti-social behavior and mental health problems. Ducan and Murname go in depth as to why children from low-income families are more likely to face stress and mental health issues. Many studies tend to only look at achievement gap through test scores but this chapter does a good job looking at other factors.

PRAISE/APPLAUD James Zhang & Ryan Ding & Jason Yoon

2024-01-16 22:42:07 UTC

I think using specific examples of two students are a good way for readers to dive in the student group they are in( Wealthy and Poor). The education gap increases as time wents by. The writer also uses data and statistics to show the full picture. I think the extracurricular activity examples can represent the difference in a great way. However, now that the data only focuses on the examples. If more data generally can be analyzed, it would be better.

Critique

2024-01-16 22:42:15 UTC

Ana, Citlali, Jennifer, Areli, Jayna

Duncan and Murname could do a better job of discussing what we label as "low-income" and why we label it that. The grouping is very broad and could be more specific, even if we aren't comparing race.

Praise/Applaud

2024-01-16 22:42:16 UTC

What we enjoyed about the book is the concrete data that is given as well as the visual graphs to help put the situation in perspective for the reader. We also enjoy how there are specific examples that are given at the beginning of the chapter to help personalize the problem for the reader. This helps the reader understand just how different the world is for the two students that are described.

By: Wendy Sanka, Dominic Pagano, Camila Haro, Juliette Bercaives, Marlene Garcia, YufeiSun, Deo Korompis

Praise/Applaud

2024-01-16 22:42:21 UTC

Carolyn, Eming, Justin, Monsserat

- It helps to see the graphs especially when the text can be number/research heavy at certain parts.

- Tone of the chapter seemed personal and adds a layer of empathy. The way the author writes forces the reader to put themselves in foreign situations.

- Very organized writing with individualized subsections. Makes the writing non-repetitive.

Critique

2024-01-16 22:42:30 UTC

Although the authors did a great job with the effects of mental health on schoolchildren, I think they could have added more examples as to how low-income families may be a tad more likely to disregard mental health and invalidate their child's feelings. Because there may be a lot of emphasis on supporting the family, children may feel gaslit into believing they are overreacting. This can worsen their performance in school and may prevent them from getting help in adulthood.

-AnaKatrina Cortado, Yijie Zhang, Nina Nguyen

Praise/applaud

2024-01-16 22:42:33 UTC

I like how relatable the author made their story. I can definitely see how low-income students may struggle to provide the "correct resources" to their children when they are busy doing their best to provide their basic needs.

Adalberto German-Garcia, Javier Aguas, Luis Arciga, Johnathan Carberry

Critique: (Jason Lee, Michelle Nguyen, Frank Aguirre, Lauren Patag)

2024-01-16 22:42:37 UTC

While the author was very thorough with the data and successfully developed an informative chapter, we sense that this chapter also inadvertently reinforces people's views of poor people (us vs. them mentality).

We also believe the data is a little outdated (2005, 2012) and doesn't accurately reflect the achievement gaps we see today.

Critique (Christopher Galaz, Guanji Zhu, Avyel Leyva, Dron Mongia)

2024-01-16 22:42:58 UTC

A lack or representation in terms of current data weakens the authors argument to an extent. Much of the data is grabbed from a decade ago if not longer and in a topic which is as dynamic as student achievement, this can be detrimental to the rhetoric of the author. Current data is briefly spoken about but not to the extent that it should be.

Praise/Applaud

2024-01-16 22:43:04 UTC

He incorporated many different factors, he explained how families with higher incomes. Their relationship with their kids has less tension. He also did a good job bringing up real-world examples about how, although some may be born with limitations, they are still able to overcome the obstacles.

Yuhang Li, Ethan Shojaee, Brandon Eyau, Viridiana Sanchez , Mi Zhou

Critique/Question - Jason Yoon, James Zhang, Yang Ding

2024-01-16 22:43:36 UTC

Although this book does a good job at citing examples through analytical data and personal experiences, it lacks the detail to go more in-depth and show possible solutions on fixing the gap seen in students due to income. It would've definitely been helpful to show the authors thought-process in coming up with possible solutions after giving us the data.

PRAISE/APPLAUD

2024-01-16 22:43:45 UTC

Firstly, we like how the author is backing up his claims with numerical evidence and bar graphs. Secondly, we like how the author compares different experiences from different students, such as Alexander and Anthony. The author also does a good job mentioning external factors that can impact students' academic performance, such as family background and household language, and not just factors restricted in a school setting. (Will Han, Michelle Ma, Aina Jung)

Critique/Question

2024-01-16 22:43:51 UTC

Chieko, Nicole, Lina, Fabiel, Thuyan, Frida

Could have spoken more on responsibilities that low income students face
- Taking care of younger children
- Working
At the last section of the reading, where is states how the gap is bigger now than ever, but we thought there was evidence that it was slowly decreasing, and makes us question if they are contradictory or reliable to some extent
Question: should we be relying on schools to create that equal level playing field?

Appluad

2024-01-16 22:44:17 UTC

According to the article, we are all like the points that family income is linked to a child's school success because parents in higher-income families are more focused on their children's development. They coould necessary provide more resources and opportunities, which in turn helps their children develop. In addition, parents in high-income families are more focused on their children's linguistic strengths and provide more opportunities for communication, which in turn helps their children's development. Both of them has specific details to discuss that, so we are all appluad for this chapter. —————Junhong Fu, Jingbo Xu, Zijian Luo,rongze ao, Jiaxuan Tang, kai Jiang

PRAISE/APPLAUD

2024-01-16 22:44:32 UTC

The author of the book did a nice job of incorporating real-life accounts of students to illustrate the contrasts between how income levels affect education. The reading felt more personal instead of using broad ideas and statistical data to try to convey the different opportunities students receive due to social class.

(Brooke Cassidy, Diaba Konate, Isis Mejia, Samantha Phung)

CRITIQUE/QUESTION (Arianne C., Lyndsey N., Samantha Z., Kamile M.)

2024-01-16 22:44:41 UTC

The author did not elaborate on the results of the national study that was used to evaluate performance gaps. Additionally, the examples used throughout the chapter were not analysed enough and could've been given more explanation. Our group questions why the author used 2012 data when this was published in 2014. Could more recent data not have been used?

Praise

2024-01-16 22:44:50 UTC

This chapter provides very good examples between families, but one that stood out to us were the comparisons between families. We thought the amount of examples for each type of family (low income and high income) showed a variety of different family dynamics and didn't limit it to one on one comparison. Example, Alexander and Anthony, Garrett and Harold.

Amanda C.

Jiexiao (Jacob) Wu

Xuanrong Liang

Josie Juarez

CRITIQUE/QUESTION

2024-01-16 22:44:51 UTC

The author's argument under family structure and parental education came off a bit unclear in the sense that although education and income are two different things, they're very much intertwined. It didn't make sense to read lines such as "Parental education levels probably matter more than... income" (31) because parental education levels are likely to have some relation to generational wealth. At the end of the day, money matters, and we believe that parental education continues to fall under the factor of money.

Further, we'd also be interested in seeing how the relationship between family income and school success persists past high school.

(Samantha Phung, Isis Mejia, Brooke Cassidy, Diaba Konate)

PRAISE

2024-01-16 22:45:10 UTC

The chapter raised a number of issues regarding income inequality and education, such as the relationship between accessible resources and academic performances and the relationship between mental health problems and academic performances, which are quite critical and thought-provoking. Also, there are a some demonstrated real-life examples and compelling data provided, making the audiences better understand the ideas behind it. - Yijie Zhang, Nina Nguyen, AnaKatrina Cortado

2024-01-16 22:45:28 UTC

Although the authors provided graphs and statistical evidence, it isn’t clear when the studies were conducted and the data obtained. This information would be important to determine how relevant the text and studies are today.

Faith Lee, Jessie Lee, Michelle Tran

Critique

2024-01-16 22:45:59 UTC

One critique that we can find is broader thinking in the difficulties that a child can face rather than the ones talked about during the text. There are numerous different things that can affect someone's learning so thinking more broadly about more possible effects could help better understand their struggles.

Adalberto German-Garcia, Javier Aguas, Luis Arciga, Johnathan Carberry

PRAISE/APPLAUD

2024-01-16 22:46:12 UTC

The story of low income families were not only supported by quantitative data, but also utilizes personal family experiences where these struggles were highlighted in real families.

Table Names: Athena S., Clarabelle S., Amy D., Reena L., Kaiya A.

2024-01-16 22:46:14 UTC

In the article, we don't notice very specific examples of where the students are from or raised. At the beginning of the "Family Income and School Success," they mention suburban areas as a main source of evidence to help build a certain narrative, instead of including more environments like the name of these cities and towns.

Senai Solomon, Giuseppe Bravo, Julian, Jesus, Brody

Critique/Question

2024-01-16 22:46:39 UTC

(Gabriel, Lisette, Qian Wu, Peiyi Wu, Tsen Pu)

One thing that we thought the author could do better was that he kept showing data that was easy to understand, but only touched it on the surface and didnt go in depth. As well as kind of repeating himself with the same info a couple of times. He can also show more detail in what negative effect low-income families have on the phycological of child neglect.

Critique (Sunmu Jung, Emilie, Kaitlyn Trinh, Ligia Sanchez)

2024-01-16 22:48:57 UTC

While I was reading the books, I think there are many analyses that are going to conclusions too fast. Many cases are simply showing a certain race is performing poorly in a certain education course than another group of races. I do not believe that just showing this does not prove that certain groups of race are experiencing racial inequality or poor economic status. There were also a lot of data which are not reliable and too old to apply in nowadays analysis.

Praise (Yt Deng, Jieyu Fan)

2024-01-16 22:57:26 UTC

We enjoyed stories, quantitative data, and anecdotes from this chapter. These stories make connections among low income students and the lack of resources - basic needs, educational sources, network, etc. What low-income family and children deal with and what they struggle with are made very clear to readers. The ideology of egalitarian cannot be achieved at the end because money is important and inherent. It is good to learn and hear about these stories, but we are also wondering what solutions could be used "fix" the gap among families and how to achieve "Egalitarianism".

Praise

wandingl — 2024-01-21 08:20:56 UTC

Duncan and Murname do not use a lot of conceptual stacking to explain what creates the achievement gap. Instead, an interview and charts are used to help explain, which gives the reader a more straightforward sense of how family structure, stress and mental health, enrichment expenditures, etc., affect the education of both high- and low-income children. At the same time, the description of the Harold siblings' permission example in the book gave me a deeper understanding of the achievement gap. People with lower incomes have more freedom to spend their free time, but for people with higher incomes, their time is money because they can use it to improve their knowledge, specialties, and abilities.

Wanding Li