This latest work from Compton-Lilly examines issues of schooling and how students and their parents make sense of educational experiences over the course of many years.
The book follows a group of about 10 students from first grade through high school, bringing to the forefront issues and insights that are invisible in shorter-term projects. When Compton-Lilly began this research project in , she was a doctoral student at the University of Rochester, N. Compton-Lilly explains that she was teaching in a school that served children from the lowest socioeconomic community of a city that had one of the highest rates of child poverty in the United States.
The elementary school she worked at served more than 1, children -β and 97 percent qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. But some of the students she worked with and followed as they moved from first grade, through middle school and onto high school, never graduated. Some were incarcerated. Compton-Lilly notes that this most recent book in the series stands on its own β- as do the others β- so there is no need for readers to first digest the other publications before diving into this one.
Compton-Lilly says that one of the key takeaways from this latest work is the fact that inequities in schools are often persistent, structural and baked into the education system in disadvantaged communities. Things like ongoing underfunding in their schools and not having access to textbooks. Or disproportionate punishments and suspensions from school for certain children. I also heard from people who reported a range of problematic interactions with teachers.
The publication provides empirical stories while breaking new ground both theoretically and methodologically. In particular, the long-view nature of this research provides interesting insights into current conversations about literacy learning in underserved communities and highlights how children who have been historically underserved by schools can easily fall through the cracks of education systems. Along these lines, Compton-Lilly says schools should consider designing and implementing practices and policies that allow educators to follow and build relationships with children over time.
