Description

Current education reform focuses on the idea that a high quality, transparent, and standardized school curriculum can improve educational outcomes and decrease the achievement gap between urban and suburban schools. The question that primarily concerns this paper, however, is whether or not high test scores on standardized tests are enough to indicate that students are graduating with the tools to thrive in modern society. If all schools achieve equally high test scores, will students in poor urban areas achieve educational parity with their suburban peers? This paper suggests that high test scores aren’t enough. In particular, students from more advantaged backgrounds tend to have access to higher quality extracurricular activities than students in poor urban communities have access to. Extracurricular activities, I argue, offer an opportunity for students to develop skills, abilities, and social networks that supplement their education within the classroom setting. Equalizing access to high quality extracurricular learning is an important component to reducing the achievement gap, and to supplement curricular learning in the classroom in important ways that are relevant to a 21st century modern society.