[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Chicken or Egg? Poverty and Education

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Chicken or Egg?  Poverty and Education
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1238643186.shtml


   Nothing beats an involved parent when it comes to getting a quality
   K-12 education for a child. It works everywhere, from Minneapolis
   North to Wayzata, the big difference being in the number (percentage)
   of involved parents. This is then extrapolated by equating low
   involvement with low incomes to say that poverty itself is the big
   explanation for the "achievement" gaps between "rich" and "poor"
   districts.
   Once again we must remember that correlation is not causation, that if
   A and B rise and fall together there are multiple possibilities. A
   might affect B, B might affect A, both may be affected by a third
   factor C, or the whole thing may just be coincidental. To that end,
   consider a recent article from [1]US News & World Report article by
   the Chancellor of the New York Department of Education, Joel I. Kline.
   He thinks poverty is a symptom, not a problem, saying that "America
   will never fix poverty until it fixes its urban schools."
   After citing how Washington D.C. schools spend the most and achieve
   the least, he challenges the conventional wisdom of poverty (and race)
   explaining poor results.

     If the academic achievement of poor black students varies
     substantially from district to district, the mere fact of being
     black and poor cannot explain why low-income black students in
     Washington are years behind their peers in some big cities. By
     contrast, if extra spending and additional resources really were
     the antidote for the achievement gap, black students in D.C. should
     handily outstrip most of their urban peers.

   Kline's larger point is that "socio-economic status" is too often
   accepted as an excuse not to work harder, as if that would be throwing
   good money after bad. Yet, some Charter schools seem to be able to do
   so, obtaining spectacular results in some cases, and for less money
   that Washington D.C. is spending.

References

   1. http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2009/05/04/urban-schools-need-better-teachers-not-excuses-to-close-the-education-gap.html