Focus Question For The Essay : To what extent does our public education  

system empower students?   

Research Terms: L ​ ist the terms, topics, or questions you generated to help you find this 
particular source 

- Taxes → What portion of the people’s taxes are invested into the public education 
system ?  
- Investing → In what areas is the money invested to and why ?  
- Poor vs. Affluent 
- English Language Development ( ELD )  
- What Curriculum is offered  
- Is money the main factor of a good education ?  
- What environment is created ? 
- What programs do they invest the most ? Does it have to do with geographical 
stay? 
- What’s considered poor ?  
- Critical thinking Development → how many students develop 

Source 1 Title: H
​ ow do we fund our Schools  

Author(s): Pbs.org 

Originally Published In (Journal, Magazine, Newspaper, Website, etc): Website  

Publishing Date: September 5, 2008 

Popular or Scholarly Article? How do you know?  

I would say this is a scholarly article because it was written by someone who probably 
works for PBS therefore it is someone who has knowledge or know of what they are 
talking about.   

Summary of Source: Write a 1-2 paragraph summary about the text. Use signal verbs to 
help you do this​. According to PBS “ Depending on the property wealth of a community, 
its schools might boast gleaming buildings and equipment, or they might be dilapidated – 
struggling with the burden of outdated equipment and unpaid bills. According to the most 
recent F
​ unding Gap​ report by the non-profit group The Education Trust, many states still 
provide the least amount of funding to school districts serving students with the greatest 
needs.” Because of property wealth in a community, it puts many kids at an advantage 
when they grow up in an affluent community. With the community providing most of the 
help and funding it makes it much easier for the children to have choices. Plus having a 
school updated with the latest in technology, books, etc puts them at an advantage because 
they are already one step ahead of everyone else.  

What did you learn about from this text?    

What I learned from this text is that schools that have the latest in technology or in 
general the latest update are most likely because the community is the one investing into 
them which means that if someone is investing a lot of money into something they most 
likely want nothing but the best, which is for the students to have the latest so that their 
opportunities aren't limited. 

Analysis and Application​: How might this source help you better understand the topic of 
public education in the United States? Do you think it is a source that may help you write 
your essay? Why or why not?  

It helps me understand the topic of education better because it is giving me a little bit more 
background on where communities invest some of their money and later throughout the 
article they mention how it would be if money wasn't being invested in public schools. 
This source might help me write my essay, but I don't think it will be a strong enough 
source because of the way i might be interpreting the evidence ( misinterpretation ).  

  

Research Terms: L ​ ist the terms, topics, or questions you generated to help you find this 
particular source 

- Curriculum  
- What kind of curriculum should be offered 
- Does investing in electives help empower children ? 
- Ethnic studies → how it helped many in a broken education system ? 
- Jealousy ?  
- Does the US not want younger generations to find out how they have so much 
power ? → sweeping stuff under the rug 
 Source 1 Title: ​Federal Judge Finds Racism Behind Arizona Law Banning Ethnic 
Studies 

Author(s): Julie Depenbrock  

Originally Published In (Journal, Magazine, Newspaper, Website, etc): KQED 

Publishing Date: August 22, 2017  

Popular or Scholarly Article? How do you know?  

Summary of Source:​ Write a 1-2 paragraph summary about the text. Use signal verbs 
to help you do this.  

While at her intern at NPR Ed Julie Depenbrock reported many stories, ran social 
media and amongst these others news related stuff. Although​ Federal Judge Finds 
Racism Behind Arizona Law Banning Ethnic Studies​ a non scholarly source, opinions of 
people that were taken for this article are reputable sources. For example Depenbrock 
brings in a point from a professor and ethnic studies expert Christine sleeter who 
reviewed a research about ethnic studies and says ​"Ethnic studies curricula exist in
part because students of color have demanded an education that is relevant,
meaningful, and affirming of their identities." Therefore we can assume that
because it is a curriculum that interests kids and it is not being forced down
their throats it is something many will benefit from having. When someone can
relate to something especially in school the last thing they want is for it to be
removed.  

What did you learn about from this text?    

What I learned from this text is that there is a good portion of people fighting to get 
ethnic studies reinstated back into the publcinschools of arizona because it is a 
curriculmum that may benefit from, and that they actually enjoy.  

Analysis and Application​: How might this source help you better understand the topic 
of public education in the United States? Do you think it is a source that may help you 
write your essay? Why or why not?  

It helps me better understand the topic of education because it comes to show that the 
states can implement as much as they want to “prepare” kids but they won't really know 
what the major key is to get students to continue higher education unless they listen to 
 what they have to say, and what curriculum it is that moves them ( Kids ). In a way 
they won't really know the definition of empowerment unless they listen to the public.  

  

Research Terms: L ​ ist the terms, topics, or questions you generated to help you find this 
particular source 

- Social background .. how it affects a children's empowerment during school ? 

- Can socioeconomic keep a student from succeeding in school 
- Is money always an empowering form ?  

Source 1 Title: ​The Effects of Family, Social and Background Factors on Children's 
Educational Attainment 

Author(s): Megan DeSerf  

Originally Published In (Journal, Magazine, Newspaper, Website, etc): Journal - Honors 

Program  

Publishing Date: 2002  

Popular or Scholarly Article? How do you know?  

Scholarly - A lot of her evidence is from professors or people that know that field in 
which she is explaining well, many were written on the references and most have 
knowledge in economics or family background and have written books.  

Summary of Source:​ Write a 1-2 paragraph summary about the text. Use signal verbs 
to help you do this.  

According to Megan Deserf’s Honors paper written to the Economics department at 
Illinois Wesleyan University she brings a point to support her question about children 
having more advantages because of their background. In Deserf’s paper ​The Effects of 
Family, Social and Background Factors on Children's Educational Attainmen​t they say 
“In educational and economic studies, it has been found that background variables 
including family income, family type, family size, and parents' education are 
determinants of the amount and quality of education children receive over their lifetime 
(Jones, 1999; Rossetti,2000).”   

What did you learn about from this text? ​I learned that the economical and background 
of a person is a variable that highly influences the outcome of how successful a student 
ends up being, and sometimes how motivated they feel to continue. Therefore money is a 
factor of disempowerment because a lot of people struggle with this. 

Analysis and Application​: How might this source help you better understand the topic 
of public education in the United States? Do you think it is a source that may help you 
write your essay? Why or why not?  

There are very important points made throughout this paper that I think will help me 
write my paper. Not just that but many of the sources are trusted and have knowledge of 
what they are talking about. It has also helped me understand more about public 
education because i have seen a trend between all these articles and journals and it is that 
many of them money seems to come up a lot.