Limited Opportunities to Learn

Limited Opportunities to Learn
In reviewing the literature on who gets access to
rigorous curricula in schools, it appears that, on the
basis of standardized test results, a disproportionate
number of racial and ethnic minority individuals, par-
ticularly those from low-income backgrounds, are
judged as “low ability” and assigned to low-track or
remedial classes. In contrast, individuals of European
descent, particularly those from high-income back-
grounds, are more likely to be considered “gifted and
talented” and placed in enriched or accelerated pro-
grams. Because track enrollment determines the level
of courses students take and the quality of the cur-
riculum and instruction to which they are exposed,
this means that minority students, on average, are less
likely than their majority peers to engage in high-
caliber curricula. Diminished opportunity to learn high-
level material results in low academic achievement.
Limited Access to Institutional
and Other Resources
Well-equipped libraries, mentoring, tutoring, qual-
ity teaching, rigorous curricula, low counselor–
student and teacher–student ratios, small class sizes,
extracurricular experiences, and computer and other
technologies are examples of key resources in educa-
tion that may be viewed as preconditions for enabling
high levels of academic achievement. Unfortunately,
a disproportionate number of individuals from certain
minority groups (e.g., African Americans, Latinos,
and Native Americans), particularly those from low-
income backgrounds, are likely to attend schools with
limited access to these resources, thus minimizing
their opportunity to do well academically. Moreover,
many of these individuals live in economically dis-
tressed communities where they experience poor
health and inadequate nutrition, factors that place
them further at risk educationally.
The Effects of Racial Stereotyping
Racial stereotyping is a deeply held, stigmatizing
belief in unalterable genetic or cultural inferiority that
many members of a majority population hold about
individuals and groups who have been assigned
minority status in society. In the United States, the
effects of racial stereotyping have a particularly
devastating effect on the academic motivation and
achievement of some individuals from racial and
ethnic minority groups, particularly those who have
been brought into society involuntarily through slav-
ery and conquest (e.g., African Americans, Mexican
Americans, and Native Americans). In the education
sphere, some individuals from these ascribed caste-
like minority groups have rejected this form of stereo-
typing by developing coping mechanisms to protect
their identity. In so doing, these identity-protection
strategies serve to dampen their achievement moti-
vation, which, in turn, results in low academic
achievement.