Inequality in Key Skills of City Youth

Book excerpt: This groundbreaking research volume addresses the topic of educational inequality from a global perspective. It includes 16 chapters from an international group of scholars who examine how well city school systems from around the world are preparing young people, particularly poor and minority students, with the skills they will need for further study, work, and life overall. While skills in key domains such as science, math, language, and civics have been center stage in international comparisons, there has been growing recognition of the effects that education has on the development of broader sets of capabilities such as social and emotional skills (also known as “noncognitive” or “21st-century” skills) that can affect the success of students in school and beyond. This volume aims to address the shortage of international data on the wide range of skills that students need to learn, enabling researchers to compare the types and causes of educational inequality in skills within and between cities.