While a student of education at Penn State, two very different teaching opportunities proved eye opening. Not only is there great diversity in the United States educational system, there is great inequity as well. The first experience, in the urban schools of Philadelphia, and the second in Pennsylvania’s rural Juniata Valley, helped form my interest in researching educational inequality. Each of these types of environments poses specific sets of challenges to their districts, not only in their struggle to draw qualified teachers to their schools, but also in keeping them there. This thesis focused primarily on the importance of highly qualified teachers and effective classrooms in the inner-city environments and the difficulties and solutions involved in recruiting and retaining effective teachers for these high-risk students. It will involve a discussion of the circumstances in urban schools that make them less desirable places to work. I will also detail some of the many strategies that have been implemented to combat this problem. The effectiveness of these strategies will be analyzed in an effort to examine what does and doesn’t work in closing the educational gaps that exist in our school systems.
