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| English: Number in Poverty and Poverty Rate: 1959 to 2009. United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
One component of educational performance by our kids that rarely gets mentioned during discussion of education reform is poverty. It seems obvious to me that poverty affects education. Kids can't learn if they come to school hungry. Poor kids hear fewer words said aloud and this makes reading more difficult. The depressing effects of living a life in extreme poverty cannot be removed by curriculum adjustments. Even if you accept standardized test scores as a measure, compare the scores of poor school districts to more affluent districts- guess who wins?
To really reform education in the United States, we need to address the problem of poverty. The poverty rate in 2011 rose to 15.9% up from 15.3% the previous year. The official report of the census bureau has these plus many other stats concerning states and metropolitan areas. Your can read the new report here.
School reform is not really a special education law issue, but it affects all of our children.What are your thoughts?
