The real work of education is learning – and learning can only be done by students. No one can do it for them. If education doesn’t work for the students, then it doesn’t work at all.

Each student arrives at school with different challenges, advantages, resources, and distractions. A fundamental challenge of public education is to create conditions that maximize learning for each child, each year, regardless of where they start.

As with every section of Ed100, there is a lot to cover here. The main text aims for brevity, with a lot of the value delivered through links – and, of course, through your comments. 

What's in this Chapter?

We convinced Jeff to narrate a short video preview of each lesson. We hope you get a kick out of the awkward expressions we captured him in...

2.1 Diversity: The Changing Face of America's Students

California's students are even more diverse than California's adults. Do you know what percentage are Latino? What percentage are undocumented? Check it out...

2.2 Poverty and Race: How Do Students' Backgrounds Affect Their School Performance?

Are poor students... poor students? There are huge "achievement gaps" among students by socioeconomic status and race. It's a huge challenge. Many in the middle class can't even imagine what it means to be poor.

2.3 Health and Learning: What Can Schools Do?

“Schools serve lunch / across the nation / 'cause hunger disrupts / kids' concentration ” | About half of California kids are poor enough to qualify for the lunch program. Are they healthy?

2.4 Parents: A Child's First Teacher

Kids don't pick their parents. What is the role of a parent in a child's education? How can parent leaders make a difference? | "The most important 'teachers' / in a loose sense of the label / are the ones that students see / across the kitchen table "

2.5 How Does Education Change: Inputs and Outcomes

What you put in / without a doubt / is always connected / to what you get OUT

2.6 Motivation: What Motivates Students?

What motivates students? Do incentives (or bribes) help them learn? The evidence may surprise you. | "What makes you WANT? / What drives your choices? / Is it money that calls you / or subtler voices?"

2.7 Special Needs: Why Not Teach All Kids Alike?

It costs more to educate kids with special needs. How much more? It depends on what's in their "IEP." Here's how it works. | "When kids need help / to learn in class / if we provide it / they can pass."

2.8 Child Protection: Intervention and foster care

There are only about 55,000 foster youth in California. Why don't we help them more?

2.9 Undocumented: Undocumented Students

Perhaps one student in thirty in California is undocumented. Many more are citizens, but have undocumented parents.

2.10 Student Voice: What is the Role of the Student in Education Leadership?

Students know a lot about their schools, but they are rarely asked to help in the work of making them better. Here's how some schools are different.