Divided We Fail-The Impact of Concentrated Poverty In Our Public Schools

“Of all the various strategies available, research suggests that the best method for improving education is to eliminate the harmful effects of concentrated school poverty. Despite years of trying, educators have found it extremely difficult to make schools serving large numbers of low-income children provide high-quality education. While such schools exist-the Heritage Foundation found 21 nationally-there are some 8,600 high poverty schools that the U.S. Dept. of Education calls underperforming. There are no high-poverty school districts that perform at high levels. All students-middle class and poor-perform worse in high poverty schools. One Dept. of Education study found that low-income children attending middle-class schools perform better on average, than middle-class children attending high-poverty schools.” From “Divided We Fail-Coming Together Through Public School Choice” a report by the Century Foundation Task Force on the Common School (2002).