"Educating the Educated:" The Exacerbation of the Black-White Achievement Gap in U.S. Public School Districts Located in University Towns

<div class="page" title="Page 3"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column"> Some of the nation&rsquo;s largest Black-white achievement gaps are found in some of the seemingly most promising public school districts: districts home to or neighboring a university. Despite the tendency of these districts to be well-resourced, racially diverse, and politically liberal, districts home to or neighboring a university claim the top nine spots on Reardon et al.&rsquo;s (2019) list of the largest Black-white achievement gaps in the nation. While existing literature highlights the systemic issues and variables at the root of the racial achievement gap on a national level, this study focuses specifically the factors that exacerbate the Black-white achievement gap in public school districts home to or neighboring a university. This study draws on ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews with current and former teachers, administrators, parents, and former students from the district of study, Fairview. Fairview is the pseudonym given to a diverse, liberal, affluent public school district in the southeastern United States that is home to a prestigious research university. Through thematic analysis, we find that the presence of the university creates an extremely stratified community where wealth and education fall along racial lines in an exaggerated way. This stratification results in differences in parent intervention, a culture of opportunity hoarding among white parents, and district-decision making processes that maintain racial inequity, resulting in an exacerbated Black-white achievement gap. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for stakeholders in university contexts and future research. <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>References</strong> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Reardon, S. F., Kalogrides, D., &amp; Shores, K. (2019). The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Score Gaps. <em>American Journal of Sociology</em>, <em>124</em>(4), 1164&ndash;1221. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/700678">https://doi.org/10.1086/700678</a> </div> </div> </div>