A systemic intervention research agenda for reducing inequality in school outcomes

ABSTRACT

Persistent education inequality is a complex problem in the United States, and, despite efforts to promote equity, education performance and attainment remain highly related to characteristics of students’ families, schools, and neighborhoods. Systemic interventions are designed to address complex problems through the identification and purposeful incorporation of knowledge from the multiple systems implicated in a problem. Although systemic intervention approaches are not widely reported in education, they have yielded positive effects in health and human services and are worth investigating in the education context. In this paper we review policy and research evidence related to education inequality and provide an agenda for designing and evaluating systemic interventions to reduce education inequality.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• school outcomes
• inequality
• poverty gap
• school
• partnerships

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Kirsten Kainz is a professor in the School of Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill, where she also serves as the Associate Director of Research Development and Translation. Her research focuses on policy and practice related to education equity. She holds a doctorate in Education Research from UNC Chapel Hill and master’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Melissa Lippold is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill. She studies the role of parent-child relationships in preventing adolescent risky behavior. She holds a doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from Penn State and a dual master’s degree in Social Work and Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

Elaina Sabatine is a fourth-year doctoral student in the School of Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill, where her research interests include achievement motivation and academic self-efficacy of underserved youth. Elaina is dedicated to helping teachers create socially and emotionally safe learning spaces for students.

Rebecca Datus is a graduate of the UNC School of Social Work MSW program who works with youth and schools to promote equitable outcomes.