Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty

[Anonymous]

Didn't NO do away with all schools operated by the city and the entire public school body attends a charter. There was an article several months back focusing on NO school system and how they have two separate lotteries for the haves and the have nots. If this article included NO as part of their analysis, it is safe to say that charters were included in the analysis. That's all NO has for its public school system

[Anonymous]

Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

[Anonymous]

Or people should stop having kids they can't afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

In the US, it's not just a matter of getting academic help and enrichment from parents. It's a matter of having a family that's functional enough not to impede learning by providing the basics of a good home life -food, shelter, emotional support, stability. etc. A lot of kids lack that and teachers in the classroom can't make up for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

This is why parents pay for private school. These issues do not exist in good US private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

Agree. Schools do need to reinforce student responsibility. We've gone far too far in the wrong direction, coddling kids far too much in schools, with low expectations, grade inflation and expectations of passing with minimal effort. In fact, a huge number of schools around the area do social promotion, where a student advances from grade to grade with his peers regardless of whether he's actually even done any work or tried to make any effort to learn any of the material. Far too much passing of the buck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

Agree. Schools do need to reinforce student responsibility. We've gone far too far in the wrong direction, coddling kids far too much in schools, with low expectations, grade inflation and expectations of passing with minimal effort. In fact, a huge number of schools around the area do social promotion, where a student advances from grade to grade with his peers regardless of whether he's actually even done any work or tried to make any effort to learn any of the material. Far too much passing of the buck.

It's administrators, not teachers, who enforce social promotion. Low expectations - are you kidding me?? in DCPS teachers having "High expectations" has been a requirement for getting of keeping a job. Unfortunately, administrators don't believe (despite lots of statistical evidence) that high expectations are not enough to actually educate real children with real learning deficiencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or people should stop having kids they can't afford.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

Agree. Schools do need to reinforce student responsibility. We've gone far too far in the wrong direction, coddling kids far too much in schools, with low expectations, grade inflation and expectations of passing with minimal effort. In fact, a huge number of schools around the area do social promotion, where a student advances from grade to grade with his peers regardless of whether he's actually even done any work or tried to make any effort to learn any of the material. Far too much passing of the buck.

It's administrators, not teachers, who enforce social promotion. Low expectations - are you kidding me?? in DCPS teachers having "High expectations" has been a requirement for getting of keeping a job. Unfortunately, administrators don't believe (despite lots of statistical evidence) that high expectations are not enough to actually educate real children with real learning deficiencies.

I really don't consider DC-CAS or PARCC to be all that high of a bar for kids. Kids are capable of much more, but we do a lousy job of getting them to where they ought to be.

[Anonymous]

Will be interesting to see what the PARCC scores look like.

What grade do they start having kids do practice testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers that teach the basics is key to ending inter-generational poverty. Education in the US tends to be inherited and not taught.

I spoke to a highly educated international family that is absolutely shocked by the amount of support they have to provide their children with homework and academics. My husband who also grew up overseas and has a doctorate from a prestigious US university never had to get help from his parents with schoolwork, which is a good thing because his parents were relatively well off, but had little formal education and likely couldn't help him anyway. The teachers conveyed the information to all the kids in the classroom, and each individual child had to take responsibility for his/her learning and was empowered to do so in school and at home with support from the classroom.

Shouldn't the US have a teaching model that develops a solid foundation for children in school? The reliance on parental help reinforces class and educational differences very early in life. If your parents cannot help you with school then you are completely lost.

Agree. Schools do need to reinforce student responsibility. We've gone far too far in the wrong direction, coddling kids far too much in schools, with low expectations, grade inflation and expectations of passing with minimal effort. In fact, a huge number of schools around the area do social promotion, where a student advances from grade to grade with his peers regardless of whether he's actually even done any work or tried to make any effort to learn any of the material. Far too much passing of the buck.

It's administrators, not teachers, who enforce social promotion. Low expectations - are you kidding me?? in DCPS teachers having "High expectations" has been a requirement for getting of keeping a job. Unfortunately, administrators don't believe (despite lots of statistical evidence) that high expectations are not enough to actually educate real children with real learning deficiencies.

I really don't consider DC-CAS or PARCC to be all that high of a bar for kids. Kids are capable of much more, but we do a lousy job of getting them to where they ought to be.

Your expectations are not the issue -- it's the high expectations of DCPS administrators. They think that a teacher having high expectations can make a kid preform at high levels, despite having myriad problems outside of school. It's like believing in magic - and teachers are the magicians. It's like believing something can make it so -- like in a fairytale.

It's a huge ego thing for the leadership at the expense of the kids.

[Anonymous]

^^^^ If the administration of DCPS had realistic / logical expectations, they'd understand that kids from problem backgrounds need additional assistance which isn't always consistent with teaching in a differentiating classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think its important to remember this is about poverty for kids enrolled in PUBLIC SCHOOLS. thats not the same as sayiing 50% of ALL kids in US live in poverty. I don't know the second number but I would assume its less than 50%. I think part of this number is a reflection of more and more parents putting their kids in private, charter and home school. bascially you are seeing a pheonomenom where parents who do have a choice, choose to leave public schools. They may also live in poverty but for whatever reason of ability, have pulled their kids out. This is so different from even when I was a kid in the 80s. I went to a mix of average to below average public shcools, my family was high income. Everyone we were friends with were upper middle income and we all went to the same public schools. I think parents now are inundated with so much information about how poverty creates a negative learning environment etc that they are trying a hell of lot harder than a generation before to get their kids out of public schools. To be fair, I am probably one of those parents. Issues my own parents probably would have ignored, I am overly concerned with. My parents never could have told you a FARMS rate or free lunch percent at any of my public schools (and my mom was a teacher). But I know that for every single choice we are looking at in D. And its very likely that we will end up in a charter.
I think this article was important but we need more information on the increase in school age kids who simply no longer in the public school system. I think for both DC and new orleans at least half of all kids are not in public schools.

Please read the rest of the thread -- charter schools are public schools - funded with taxpayer dollars and free to the children attending them. Half of kids in public schools in DC are in traditional public schools and half are in charter schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its important to remember this is about poverty for kids enrolled in PUBLIC SCHOOLS. thats not the same as sayiing 50% of ALL kids in US live in poverty. I don't know the second number but I would assume its less than 50%. I think part of this number is a reflection of more and more parents putting their kids in private, charter and home school. bascially you are seeing a pheonomenom where parents who do have a choice, choose to leave public schools. They may also live in poverty but for whatever reason of ability, have pulled their kids out. This is so different from even when I was a kid in the 80s. I went to a mix of average to below average public shcools, my family was high income. Everyone we were friends with were upper middle income and we all went to the same public schools. I think parents now are inundated with so much information about how poverty creates a negative learning environment etc that they are trying a hell of lot harder than a generation before to get their kids out of public schools. To be fair, I am probably one of those parents. Issues my own parents probably would have ignored, I am overly concerned with. My parents never could have told you a FARMS rate or free lunch percent at any of my public schools (and my mom was a teacher). But I know that for every single choice we are looking at in D. And its very likely that we will end up in a charter.
I think this article was important but we need more information on the increase in school age kids who simply no longer in the public school system. I think for both DC and new orleans at least half of all kids are not in public schools.

Please read the rest of the thread -- charter schools are public schools - funded with taxpayer dollars and free to the children attending them. Half of kids in public schools in DC are in traditional public schools and half are in charter schools.

sorry, got mixed up, didn't realize this was the initial post on this subject

[Anonymous]

have to agree with PP this is not all kids, but public school kids. What it says to me is that the upper and middle classes are abandoning public education in favor of private. That was especially likely in the south.

Interesting idea, but only ~10% of school age kids in the US are enrolled in private schools: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-jennings/proportion-of-us-students_b_2950948.html, and only ~3 percent of the US population is home schooled: [url]http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/2013/201309030.asp
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If we assume that everyone who is home schooled and in private school are not low income (which may not be a great assumption), that would mean that ~45% of school aged kids in the US are growing up low income. Which is a huge deal.