Chapter 8: The Adequacy of Urban Education: Focusing on Teacher Quality

Equity has long been a central focus of urban education policy, and conceptions of what constitutes equity have varied across time, place, and individual perspective.¹ While most of these understandings of equity have focused on the allocation of inputs (e.g., dollars, services, programs), the current principle of adequacy focuses on both school inputs and educational outcomes. Guthrie and Rothstein (2001) define adequacy as “sufficient resources to ensure students an effective opportunity to acquire appropriately specified levels of knowledge and skills” (p. 103). Given the simultaneous emphasis on inputs and outcomes, adequacy represents the convergence of two previous reform streams—the equity-based school finance reforms of the 1970s and the excellence movement of the 1980s. Each of these eras of reform sought to address a compelling educational problem and each arguably fell short of meeting its envisioned potential. By linking the goals of equity and excellence, adequacy holds new promise for public policy that might realize both.