An article in Education Next by Michael Petrilli and Brandon Wright of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute takes an important look at child poverty in America compared to other developed countries, and challenges the belief that high relative child poverty in the United States explains away poor academic performance compared to other countries.
Twenty20.
They find that when an absolute poverty measure is used, which they found to be more strongly correlated with school performance, American poverty is on par with other countries’. They concluded:
America’s mediocre [academic] performance is remarkably consistent. Yes, affluent students outperform poor students. But they don’t outperform their peers overseas.
This doesn’t imply that reform, as currently formulated, is on the right track. Why U.S. student performance is mediocre is a topic worthy of study and debate, as is how to help students at all points on the economic spectrum perform better.
What it does show is that poverty can’t explain away America’s lackluster academic performance. That excuse, however soothing it may be to educators, politicians, and social critics, turns out to be a crutch that’s unfounded in evidence. We need to stop using it and start getting serious about improving the achievement of all the nation’s students.
I couldn’t agree more. And I also wonder how American child poverty would stack up against other countries if all government transfers were reported.
As I wrote earlier this week, a new study by Bruce Meyer and Nikolas Mittag found that close to 50% of government transfers go unreported in the Current Population Survey, which is used to develop these types of poverty measures. This makes Petrilli’s and Wright’s arguments even that much more relevant.
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1KW5gs5
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment