Two stories today focus harsh light on a bitter, if familiar, reality. While it's far from news that poor kids and kids of color fare less well than their better-heeled, white and Asian peers, confirmation of these long-entrenched trends is never welcome.
In the Times, Manny Fernandez previews a study from NYU's presigious Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and its Institute for Education and Social Policy that documents academic shortfalls for kids living in public housing. The study compiles data on 343 public-housing projects and 112,000 children aged 5 to 18, 95% of whom are living in poverty, and 56% in single-parent homes. Although the report relies on troublingly old data, from 2002-2003, its conclusion is, unfortunately, entirely current: Lower fifth-grade test scores predicted higher dropout rates; obstacles at home profoundly affect students' ability to learn, achieve, and succeed in school. And in the News, Merideth Kolodner documents a correlation between progress report grades and race: Schools that scored poorly on the city's progress reports have higher-than-citywide-averages of African-American and Hispanic students.
Chancellor Klein's in Australia this week; one only wonders what New York City's complex experience with educating poor, urban, often under-served youth will mean to the folks Down Under.
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