ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how certain neighborhoods and schools provide assets and opportunities as well as challenges and difficulties for children and families. It emphasizes that these communities are places of tremendous potential opportunity on which schools can capitalize. In the USA, opportunities and resources are not evenly dispersed across communities. A long history of racism, discriminatory housing policies, and disinvestment and unequal development has created a significant inequality between communities with different racial and class characteristics. A small group of critical educational researchers has suggested that educational reforms must expand beyond school-based remedies to address the school's social and community context. Racial segregation is one significant factor that contributes to the development of low-opportunity communities. The chapter provides an overview of urban demographics and economic and educational challenges within cities. Educational attainment is important to a community because it is related to future employment, income, health status, and access to housing in a safe community.
