Two Views on School Reform

The following is an article in the Washington Post which discussed school reform and the issues faced by schools in high areas of concentrated poverty. Julie Mack from the Kalamazoo Gazette also discussed a similar issue in the following post. Thus, two views on school reform: one from a national reporter, the other from a local Southwest Michigan reporter.

Here's the view from the Washington Post reporter:

The numbers are nauseating. According to the just released new Census Bureau data, based on 2010 data:

*22 percent of American children live in poverty

*39 percent of black children live in poverty

*35 percent of Hispanic children live in poverty

The federal government set the poverty level in 2010 for a family of four living with an income of no more than $22,314 or a single person with an income of no more than $11,139. And, according to this Washington Post story, the total number of Americans living below the line is at the highest level in the last 52 years. That’s 46.2 million Americans, or 15.1 percent of all Americans.

And if you consider that, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, a family of four needs an income of about twice the poverty threshold to cover basic expenses, more than 42 percent of American children live in low-income families.

So what does this have to do with school reform?

Almost everything.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/public-educations-biggest-problem-gets-worse/2011/09/13/gIQAWGz2RK_blog.html