logo
  • Nonprofit News
  • Management
    • Boards and Governance
    • Communication
      • Framing & Narratives
    • Ethics
    • Financial Management
    • Grassroots Fundraising Journal
    • Leadership
    • Technology
  • Philanthropy
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Donor-Advised Funds
    • Foundations
    • Impact Investing
    • Research
    • Workplace Giving
  • Policy
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Housing
    • Government
    • Taxes
  • Economic Justice
    • About
    • Economy Remix
    • Economy Webinars
    • Community Benefits
    • Economic Democracy
    • Environmental Justice
    • Fair Finance
    • Housing Rights
    • Land Justice
    • Poor People’s Rights
    • Tax Fairness
  • Racial Equity
  • Social Movements
    • Community Development
    • Community Organizing
    • Culture Change
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Gender Equality
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Indigenous Rights
    • Labor
    • LGBTQ+
    • Racial Justice
    • Youth Activism
  • About Us
  • Log in
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Featured Articles
  • Webinars
    • Free Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Tiny Spark Podcast
  • Magazine
    • Magazine
    • Leading Edge Membership
Donate
Education, Education Disparities, Poverty

Education Policymakers Need to Accept the Facts

Martin Levine
August 17, 2016
Share130
Share17
Tweet3
Email

August 14, 2016; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “myAJC”

When trying to solve difficult problems, one would think knowledge and facts would be important to politicians, policymakers, and funders. When it comes to the ongoing national effort to strengthen public education, though, it seems knowledge is much less important than political philosophy. And nowhere is that so evident as when we consider the impact of poverty on the lives of children and families.

There is no question that poor children are falling behind their more affluent peers. A recent study published by Sean F. Reardon of Stanford University again confirmed that poverty and educational performance are strongly connected. He found a “very strong, relationship between district socioeconomic status and average academic achievement.”

Students in many of the most advantaged school districts have test scores that are more than four grade levels above those of students in the most disadvantaged districts. The socioeconomic context of a school district is a very powerful predictor of students’ academic performance.

Poverty-chart

To make this picture even starker, we are learning the difference between poverty and poverty. We now know that children who experience more extreme and persistent poverty do worse than peers whose exposure to poverty is more short term. Susan Dynarksi and Katherine Michelmore, University of Michigan, have studied these differences.

Those who first become poor by the time they enter kindergarten are least likely to escape poverty compared to their counterparts who become poor in later grades. They likely face a whole host of other issues such as unstable housing, family instability, and parental job loss. They also score significantly lower on standardized tests than both their counterparts who were never poor as well as their peers who were transitorily poor throughout grade school. Previous research linking test scores to adult outcomes suggests that these children are also less likely to attend college and earn lower wages in adulthood, which could have important implications for the intergenerational transmission of poverty and income inequality for years to come.

Despite billions of dollars of investment in “school reform,” the achievement gap is about 40 percent greater now than it was 25 years ago. Yet the solutions we are implementing and those being debated still focus almost universally on what will occur in classrooms and school buildings, factors that may influence less than half of a student’s success. In the words of researcher Dan Goldhaber, “The vast majority (about 60 percent) of the differences in student test scores are explained by individual and family background characteristics.” We focus on teachers and teacher unions, on testing, on the Common Core, and on disciplinary policies and ignore a much larger issue: poverty. Schools can and should get better; teachers can and should get better. We should be learning from schools where poor children are beating these odds and seeing if there are strategies that ought to be replicated.

But we cannot ignore poverty. Underlying much of the push to reform public education is the belief that the force of an open educational market place will drive struggling students to schools that will teach them better and drive failing schools to up their game and provide a better educational offering. But evidence suggests that that poor children face obstacles that keep them from learning as well as their more affluent peers despite the best efforts of the schools. Are we, in advocating for market-based solutions, just blaming the victims of a broader societal problem?—Martin Levine

Share130
Share17
Tweet3
Email

About The Author
Martin Levine

Martin Levine is a Principal at Levine Partners LLP, a consulting group focusing on organizational change and improvement, realigning service systems to allow them to be more responsive and effective. Before that, he served as the CEO of JCC Chicago, where he was responsible for the development of new facilities in response to the changing demography of the Metropolitan Jewish Community.In addition to his JCC responsibilities, Mr. Levine served as a consultant on organizational change and improvement to school districts and community organizations. Mr. Levine has published several articles on change and has presented at numerous conferences on this subject.A native of New York City, Mr. Levine is a graduate of City College of New York (BS in Biology) and Columbia University (MSW). He has trained with the Future Search and the Deming Institute.

Related
Economic Data Expose Falsity of COVID-19 Myth of Common Sacrifice
By Martin Levine
November 20, 2020
Stay Classy, Donors: A Report on Giving in 2020 Reveals COVID-Induced Shifts
By Ruth McCambridge
November 20, 2020
Will 2020 Change Grantmaking Forever?
By Jeanne Bell
November 13, 2020
Pandemic Impacts on Parents and Children Threaten to Be Long and Severe
By Martin Levine
November 2, 2020
PA Nonprofit Survey Asks the Right Questions and Gets Frightening Answers
By Nicole Zerillo and Ruth McCambridge
October 28, 2020
Behavioral Research Shows How Too Many Fundraisers Support Racial Bias
By Rob Meiksins and Sofia Jarrin
October 26, 2020

Upcoming Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
January 21, 2 pm ET

Remaking the Economy

Health, Racial Disparities, and Economic Justice

other posts by The Author
Taking Risks During the Pandemic: A Nonprofit Survival Case...
By Martin Levine
January 12, 2021
The Problem with Philanthropic “Self-Accountability”
By Martin Levine
January 11, 2021
Reparations, One Organization at a Time
By Martin Levine
December 16, 2020
CYNDI SUAREZ
The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap: Flipping the Lens
Powerful Interests Seek to Make Puerto Rico the Hong Kong of the...
Moving Beyond the Privilege of White Tears
logo
Donate
  • About
  • Contact
  • Newsletters
  • Write for NPQ
  • Advertise