Common Core, Part 11

Decades of research indicate that poverty has a huge impact on student learning. According to professor emeritus Stephen Krashen of the University of Southern California, studies show that “more poverty means lower scores on all measures of school achievement.” Many studies show that poverty negatively impacts school performance. In brief, here are some findings:

- Children of poverty are more likely to suffer a lack of adequate food, resulting in slower language development and behavioral problems.

- High-poverty families tend to lack medical insurance or have high co-payments, which means less medical care and more childhood illness and absenteeism, both of which negatively affect school achievement.

- Children of poverty tend to live with more exposure to mercury, lead, PCBs, and smog, all impacting health, learning and behavior.

- Children of poverty usually have little access to books at home, their communities and their schools. Less access to books means lower reading achievement.

Some policymakers and shakers claim that students are not passing international tests, that education standards are too low, that schools and their teachers are failing the children. Unfortunately, their assertions have little or no evidence in support, and they ignore the elephant in the room: The only serious problem is poverty.

Here are some proposals:

1. In addition to teaching, schools should focus on food, wrap-around health care for children and parents through the school nurse, school social worker and mental health worker. And lots of books.

2. Reduce state and national testing to one – an improved NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). The money saved should go directly to improve services to children in poverty.

3. Take meaningful local, state, and national actions to provide living wages and universal health care for all Americans.

Achieving just one proposal would be a step in the right direction.

Dr. Duane Pitts is a former English teacher at Odessa High School.