Writers Stress Link Between Poverty, Low Academic Performance

In an op-ed in the New York Times (12/12, Subscription Publication), Helen F. Ladd, professor of public policy and economics at Duke University, and education author Edward B. Fiske lambaste policymakers for failing to acknowledge that "students from disadvantaged households perform less well in school" and for incorrectly arguing that "since they cannot change the backgrounds of students, they should focus on things they can control." The authors cite "abundant" research linking poverty with low educational achievement, asking, "Can anyone credibly believe that the mediocre overall performance of American students on international tests is unrelated to the fact that one-fifth of American children live in poverty? Yet federal education policy seems blind to all this." The writers argue that policymakers who believe that "schools are capable of offsetting the effects of poverty" or that low expectations for poor students "will be self-fulfilling" are in denial, and call for a focus on offering better "social support" to underprivileged students.