Low Educational Attainment Among Low Income Non-White Population in Urban Centers.

The stated purposes of this paper are to: (1) consider selected causal explanations of the problem of low educational attainment among low income non-white populations in a highly complex industrialized society; (2) examine alternative strategies of intervention; and, (3) construct a model as a tool for continued analysis of the problem. It is held that emphasis on inherited intelligence suggests such intervention strategies as grouping students by IQ and tailoring instruction to individual students. The "culture of poverty" approach stresses changing the sub-culture. It is asserted that school critics would argue for a strategy that would: (1) radically revise the instructional and administrative operation of the school; (2) eliminate compensatory type programs as mere "add to" methods; (3) decentralize school systems; (4) require teacher sensitivity training programs; (5) develop "schools without walls"; and, (6) have local black school Boards hire teachers. Intervention strategies are discussed which would emphasize the need for: (1) increasing economic and social opportunities; (2) reforming institutional arrangements; and, (3) using black ghetto populations in self-help efforts. The final section of the paper focuses on the selected causal explanations for the change strategies into models. (Author/JM)