ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the roots and persistence of education inequality in the United States. It focuses on elementary and secondary education, and examines the disparities in college performance. The chapter shows evidence of systemic disadvantage perpetuated by and within the American institution that is designed to interrupt it. It discusses funding inequality and considers the purely racial nature of school segregation that traces to the arrival of the first slave ships in the seventeenth century. The problem of vastly disproportionate funding in education stems from relying on local property taxes as the primary source of revenue for most public schools. Much of the public discourse about education policy over the past decade has focused on outcomes and accountability, two concepts that are difficult to oppose in principle. The outcomes portion is clear: there are achievement gaps that can be measured in a variety of ways.
