"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Our overall scores are unspectacular because of our high rate of child poverty. (WSJ)


Test Scores, Students and Learning
Our overall scores are unspectacular because of our high rate of child poverty.
Published in the Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2014.
When researchers control for the effect of poverty, American scores on international tests are at the top of the world. Our overall scores are unspectacular because of our high rate of child poverty. The U.S. has the second highest level of child poverty among all 34 economically advanced countries. In some big city public school districts, the poverty rate is over 80%. Poverty means poor nutrition, inadequate health care and lack of access to books, among other things. All of these profoundly impact school performance.
This is compelling evidence that the problem is poverty, not teachers, teacher unions or schools of education. This is also compelling evidence that we should be protecting students from the effects of poverty, not investing in the Common Core.
Stephen Krashen
Posted at: http://tinyurl.com/pn594dr

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:15 AM

    Second highest level of child poverty? Is this a relative measure (defined bottom x% in each country?) or an absolute measure of poverty, considering all income and transfer payments?

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