| Author(s): | Berliner, D |
| Title: | Our impoverished view of education reform |
| Source: | http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/documents/EPS... |
| Date: | 2005 |
| Organization: | |
| Short Description: | This analysis of the role of poverty in school reform examines the relationship between poverty and academic performance and between poverty and the suppression of genetic talent. |
| Annotation: | This analysis is about the role of poverty in school reform. Data from a number of sources are used to make five points. First, that poverty in the US is greater
and of longer duration than in other rich nations. Second, that poverty, particularly among urban minorities, is associated with academic performance that is well below international means on a number of different international
assessments. Scores of poor students are also considerably below the scores achieved by white middle class American students. Third, that poverty restricts
the expression of genetic talent at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Among the lowest social classes environmental factors, particularly family and
neighborhood influences, not genetics, is strongly associated with academic performance. Among middle class students it is genetic factors, not family and neighborhood factors, that most influences academic performance. Fourth, compared to middle-class children, severe medical problems affect impoverished youth. This limits their school achievement as well as their life chances. Data on the negative effect of impoverished neighborhoods on the youth who reside there is also presented. Fifth, and of greatest interest, is that small reductions in family poverty lead to increases in positive school behavior
and better academic performance. |
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