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Dana Abdullah
English 1201-5B3
Professor Cassel
20 July 2016
Is There a Learning Curve That Exist in the Inner-City School Experience Versus Suburban
Schools?
Being an adult who was educated in the inner city public school system I have struggled
through college along with many of my peers who are now all thirty-something professionals.
When I trace back to where many of my academic struggles originated, I seem to always come
back to one particular source, my inner-city public school education. I am a fan of public
schools but cant help but notice the quality of education in suburban schools in The Miami
Valley seems to be better than that of the inner city schools. My own children who have been
exposed to both are now thriving in suburban schools after having horrible experiences in innercity schools. Why is the education consistently statistically better in suburban schools? Are the
children smarter in the suburbs? Are the teachers more dedicated? What factors contribute to
suburban schools success and inner-city schools demise? I will examine two school districts In
the Miami Valley in an attempt to answer these questions, the Dayton Public School and
Northmont City school systems. Although there are many attributing factors to a school systems
success or failure, my research indicates that two areas are major contributors: financial support
and the socioeconomic background of the student body. I would like to explore both and
compare the contrast between Dayton and Northmont schools.

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Inner -city schools are often looked upon in a negative light in our society. I feel that
some of the areas are warranted and others are not. I do not believe they are all inadequate or
problem ridden, however, collectively as a whole they seem to not be as academically strong as
some of the suburban schools in our area. I feel that children who attend suburban schools in The
Miami Valley are more prepared for college than inner city schools. I have a best friend whose
child graduated from a Dayton Public High School with honors. She maintained a 4.0 in high
school and received a few partial scholarships for college. Her first year of college at Wright
State University was disastrous; she received low grades in every course and struggled to keep
up with her peers. She was smart but simply not prepared for college.
One of the major contributing factors to quality of education is finance. In comparing
dollars spent on students classroom instruction and operating spending per pupil I examined two
schools. David H. Ponitz in the Dayton City School District and Northmont High School.
According to the State of Ohios school report card Ponitz spends 63.1% on classroom
instruction while Northmont spends 72.31%. However, Ponitz spends more per pupil than
Northmont at $10,860 versus 9,148. This gap in classroom instruction spending has resulted in
Northmont achieving higher scores on overall achievement test. In the 2014-2015 school year
the Ohio State Report Card reports that Northmont achieved 83.8% (B) in Performance Index
while Ponitz achieved 64.6% (D). Northmont has invested more in the curriculum and has in
return received a better rate of return.

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Fig. 1 David H. Ponitz High School Classroom Spending Data (reportcard.education.ohio.gov).

Fig. 2 Northmont High School Classroom Spending Data (reportcard.education.gov).

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Also in regards to finance, according to Jill Kelly in her 2013 Dayton Daily news article
Private schools top public in average ACT and SAT tests. Jill examines how private schools
consistently outperform public schools on the ACT and SAT tests with an 8.75% overage. Private
schools education costs parents anywhere from $5,511 to $18,400. It can be concluded that the
more money spent on academic instruction will produce higher achievement scores. However,
finance is certainly not the only factor. Are the teachers more dedicated in suburban schools?
Financial support and contributions is a major contributor to a schools overall success,
however, teacher dedication is just as important. Waiting for Superman, by Karl Weber is an
excellent book that later turned into a motion picture movie. The book is actually a very
uncomfortable look at the decline of the American school system in its totality. It highlights the
huge disparity in urban and suburban schools. There is great discussion about how teachers
unions and politics have affected the education system. The book focuses on what it will take to
reform the school system which includes a major overhaul on teachers being motivated and
allowed to teach free of politics. A quick look at the two schools Ive chosen to examine show a
difference in the education and dedication level of the teachers. In the 2014-2015 school year
Ponitz reported that 93.7% of teachers hold at least a Bachelors degree while 39.7% hold a
Masters degree. Northmont reports that 98.9% of teachers hold a Bachelors degree while 62%
have a Masters. 36.7% of Ponitzs teachers are categorized as developing while only 1.1% of
Northmonts teachers are listed as developing according to the Ohio State Report Card. From
these percentages it is easy to deduce that higher educated teachers are likely to be paid more. If
Northmont recruits and retains highly educated skilled teachers than they are more likely to have
more motivated educators. These motivated teachers would in turn be very invested in the
curriculum and the overall student success.

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Again, finance is not the only contributing factor in suburban schools success versus
urban schools. The socioeconomic makeup of the student body has a major impact on the
teachers being able to do their job. In his article Inequality in Inner City Schools Phil
DiLorenzo, explained the challenges inner city schools have in Rochester, New York as opposed
to the suburban schools. DiLorenzo explains that the suburban students have many advantages
over the inner city students primarily in the area of social status. The majority of inner city
students household income is at the poverty level. He believes that students that come to school
from dysfunctional environments are less likely to focus on academics due to other more
pressing concerns. Eating and sleeping regularly, being in a safe environment and the stability of
their home life are some of the concerns.
David Ribar, a professorial researcher at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic
and Social Research for University of Melbourne, Australia explained the advantages and
disadvantages a childs family structure has on his/her overall success in life in his summary
Why Marriage Matters for Child Wellbeing. Ribar gives a conceptual framework of different
family dynamics and explains the impact of each. The article gives social statistics on all
different family structures and the impact the structure has on the overall health of the child.
There is also a detailed look at dysfunctional relationships and the effects they have on children.
Children from dysfunctional environments are less likely to succeed in school than those from a
two -parent (healthy relationship) household. According to the Ohio State report card Ponitz has
a high level of students at the poverty level versus Northmonts low level of students in poverty.
Schools that have higher poverty levels are more likely to invest more time and money in noncurricular related activities such as behavioral coaching, and safety precautions. This takes away

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from investing in the curriculum. Whats going on at home directly affects childrens academic
success.
Urban Schools the Challenge of Location and Poverty an executive summary in the
National Center for Education statistics provides detailed research on the challenge of location
and poverty of students in the urban school system. It provides a clear study on a decade of
research completed between 1980 and 1990 on the performance of urban students. The summary
also details various beliefs about urban school childrens family status, environment and how
their backgrounds impact their ability to receive a solid education. There are several comparisons
and national surveys included that compare urban and suburban schools afterschool activities,
school experiences and student outcomes. An interesting fact that stood out to me was that
teacher absenteeism, which is an indicator of morale, was more of a problem in urban high
poverty schools than in suburban or rural schools. If the teachers are having difficulty showing
up and being invested how excited do we expect the students to be about their education?

Fig. 3 A percentage of New York States poverty percentages which shows the inner city schools
with the highest poverty rating (policybynumbers.com).

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Parental involvement is also a key attribute in a school systems success. When my

children attended Dayton Public Schools, parent teacher conferences were poorly attended and
the school struggled with getting parents involved in the students learning. In the Urban
Education publication, The relationship Between Parental Involvement and Urban Secondary
School Student Academic Achievement William Jeynes concluded after thorough research that
parental involvement as a whole affects all the academic variables for both inner city and
suburban children. I experienced this first hand at an inner city Charter school my children
attended. After the horrible experience at Dayton Public Schools my husband and I decided to
enroll our children in Richard Allen Charter School. Richard Allen encouraged and actually
required parental involvement. Parents received a graded report card for their contributions to
their childrens success. In one year two of our children who were underperforming in Dayton
Schools made the Honor Roll the very next school year.
In conclusion, it can be determined that a learning curve does exist in inner-city schools
versus the suburban schools. Statistically suburban schools in the Miami Valley have performed
better than their inner city counterparts. Suburban people are not better or smarter than those in
inner city communities however they are just privileged to more. Most inner-city schools are
under funded for the amount of students they have to care for. Suburban families typically earn
more and contribute more in tax dollars to the schools systems. Those dollars are then invested at
a higher rate in the academic curriculum than inner city schools. The socioeconomic make- up of
the student body also heavily contributes to a school systems success. Although a learning
curve exists, inner city schools and are making great strides to continuously improve their quality
of education.

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Works Cited
"Pages - Ohio School Report Cards." Pages - Ohio School Report Cards. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July
2016
Kelley, Jill. "Private Schools Top Public in Average ACT, SAT Scores." Private Schools Top
Public in Average ACT, SAT Scores. Dayton Daily News, 2013. Web. 09 July
2016.
Dilorenzo, Phil. "Inequality in Inner City Schools." Rochester Education. Rochester Education,
n.d. Web. 09 July. 2016
Weber, Karl. Waiting for Superman, N.p.: PublicAffairs, n.d. Print.
Kelley, Jeremy P., and Nick Blizzard. "How Did Your Schools Rank in New State Report Card
Report?" Dayton Daily News. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 July 2016.
Urban Schools: Executive Summary." Urban Schools: Executive Summary. N.p., n.d. Web. 09
July 2016.
Jeynes, William H. "MSAN - Minority Student Achievement Network." MSAN - Minority Student
Achievement Network. Sage Publications, 01 Jan. 2007. Web. 24 July 2016.
<http://msan.wceruw.org/>.