Education and Poverty Commentaries
"Nearly 60 percent of the school districts in the state, representing 81 percent of Illinois' public school kids and 86 percent of its low-income public school kids, have signed on. That's up from 42 percent of districts in the first round."
"But a local businessman... was so frustrated by the political opposition to what seemed like a sensible idea that he launched a privately funded alternative, the CHOICE Charitable Trust. The trust has provided scholarships for low-income families to have a private school option..."
"Students from low-income families are not able to replace the $3,000 the state will cut from each award to those attending private colleges. Students attending public colleges will not find an extra $1,000 available to replace what the state has cut from their aid."
"The estimated summer school tuition is $200. There will be a sliding scale to adjust the payment for students from lower-income families. Those earning below the federal poverty line are exempt..."
"Often, that goes hand-in-hand with low family incomes. For example, in Guilford County students from low-income households make up nearly half of the student body but less than 20 percent of advanced learners."
"The resulting settlement in what's known as the Williams case has provided millions of dollars each year for low-performing schools. But Wednesday's ruling, while welcome, affects only three local schools and doesn't do nearly enough to protect low-income students..."
"Ohio still faces an uphill battle to convince the U.S. Department of Education that enough teachers will embrace education reforms to justify awarding the state any money in the department's Race to the Top stimulus-grant competition."
"With the right techniques and content knowledge, teachers can transform low-income urban students into high achievers, said Lemov, the former principal of the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School in Boston."
"The upshot is bound to be the emergence of schools where poverty is a common denominator. People who could afford it would flee any neighborhood served by schools with a high quotient of kids from poor families."
"Currently, the state pays for universal preschool in the 31 poorest school districts and funds some low-income children in 116 districts. Then came the economic crisis and the state's preschool expansion was shelved."
"Using his 'more carrots, fewer sticks' approach, the president also proposes to restructure Title I funding for impoverished students so schools showing the most improvement -- perhaps the top 10% -- receive more money."
"Diane Ravitch, perhaps America's most influential scholar on education, has reversed her stance on issues such as standardized testing, school choice and the No Child Left Behind Act."
"Obviously, business interests have a stake in an educated workforce, and it is going to take everyone pulling together to put a dent in problems of chronically low-achieving schools that tend to serve high-poverty and minority students"
"Schools in wealthier communities have resources... While urban school parents are shunned and judged, community factors like poverty and its attendant problems are ignored or discounted as irrelevant."
"We are not arguing that this reform should be expected to overcome the harm caused by insufficient school resources or the ravages of poverty. But we... believe that high-quality schooling opportunities, coupled with the effort of the student, can... affect student success."
"Why is this voucher program not needed? Because we have free public schools. Are low-income children discriminated against in our schools? No. Certainly not on the basis of low income. Then how did such a program with no sensible rationale get started?"
"Florida is all about school choice. We have 389 charter schools and a state-run virtual school. We have private-school scholarships for low-income students and private-school scholarships for students with disabilities."
"But most of that money will be gone by the end of the school year, leaving them as vulnerable as ever to the antiquated system of tying school budgets to property taxes, which automatically puts low-income urban or rural children in a hole."
What Will it Take? Posted February 8th, 2010
All Children Can Achieve, Even if They're Poor