Resource equity in education: Ensuring all students have what they need to succeed

All children need access to quality education in order to have meaningful opportunities to learn in school and to thrive. Yet, American public schools that serve students of color, students living in households with low incomes and English learners too often receive inadequate funding and provide their students with insufficiently rigorous coursework; low-quality instructional materials and facilities; curriculum and teachers that do not reflect students’ background and culture; and unequal access to highly effective teachers. 

This is where the concept of education resource equity comes into play. Achieving resource equity in education means ensuring that all students, regardless of their background or where they live, have access to the resources and supports they need in school to thrive academically and personally. Resource equity is about both how much funding public schools receive and how well that funding gets allocated according to student needs through state and local school funding formulas. A significant and growing research base bears out that both of these things about funding are impactful in a variety of ways. For example, a 10% increase in per-pupil spending across all 12 years of education for students living in poverty results in a 6.8% reduction in annual incidence of adult poverty and a 9.5% increase in higher post-secondary earnings.

But this concept of education resource equity goes beyond just funding. It’s about making sure schools have the right combination of financial, human and programmatic resources to create high-quality, daily learning experiences for every student and to meet each child’s most pressing learning needs in school.

The Alliance for Resource Equity has identified 10 dimensions of resource equity that research establishes as crucial to supporting all students to achieve in school and to thrive: 

• Funding: Adequate and equitably allocated school funding is the foundation for providing all other needed resources. Schools serving high-need students require more funding to meet their students’ additional learning needs. 
• Teaching quality and diversity: All students need access to effective, experienced teachers who reflect the racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity of the student population.
• School leadership quality and diversity: Every student needs strong school leadership who reflects students’ racial and linguistic diversity. 
• Diverse classrooms: All students can benefit academically, social-emotionally and civically from attending schools and classes that are racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. 
• Empowering and rigorous content: All students need access to challenging, engaging and culturally-affirming academic content and instruction.
• High-quality early learning: All children need access to high-quality early childhood education which lays a foundation for future academic success.
• Positive and inviting school climate: Schools must be safe, supportive environments for each student with fair rules and policies, positive relationships with staff and meaningful family engagement. 
• Student supports and intervention: Each student needs access to the combination of high-quality instructional time and additional evidence-based approaches they need to reach high standards and thrive. 
• Instructional time and attention: All students need sufficient learning time, appropriate class sizes and personalized instructional attention from teachers. 
• Learning-ready facilities: All students need to attend schools housed in safe, well-maintained facilities with up-to-date, functioning equipment. 

To read more about why each of these dimensions matters, visit “The Education Combination: 10 Dimensions of Education Resource Equity to Unlock Opportunities for Every Student,” from the Alliance for Resource Equity.

The Alliance for Resource Equity’s Data Stories paints a fuller picture of how these 10 resources are interconnected and how making key resource shifts at the school, district and state systems levels can drive more equitable student learning experiences and outcomes. 

Currently, about 90% of K-12 students in the United States—roughly 49 million students—attend a public school in their state’s public school system. Recent results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (often referred to as the nation’s report card) show about one-third of students score “below basic” level in reading and math and show achievement gaps between high and low scoring students widening, often by race. Significant achievement gaps on countless other outcome measures persist among students by socioeconomic status and by race across states. It is not a coincidence that, as the Education Law Center’s annual Making the Grade report has helped document for years, many states have continued to fund their K-12 public school system at a level that is inadequate to cover the costs of providing a rigorous, high-quality education that will enable each student attending the state’s public schools to succeed in school and thrive in life.

Advancing education resource equity across these 10 dimensions is essential in order to create public school systems in all 50 states where a student’s race, family income or ZIP code no longer predicts their educational outcomes. By focusing on these dimensions, educators, school leaders, students, parents, policymakers, community members and advocates can work to ensure that public school systems and the millions of students they serve have what they need to succeed, both in the classroom and in life.

Much work remains to be done for state public school systems and public schools in each of the 50 states to realize their true potential as the Great Equalizer. The good news is that promising efforts to advance resource equity are underway across the country. From state-level school funding formula reforms to district-led initiatives to improve teacher diversity and school climate to community-led organizing efforts to shape culturally responsive curriculum, stakeholders are coming together to reimagine how we resource our schools. 

Stay tuned for updates about this impactful work that is advancing education resource equity in public schools and school systems to meet students’ learning needs and enable students to thrive.