Friday, November 27, 2015

Lift kids out of poverty before expecting higher test scores

Published in the Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2015

No Child Left Behind gets undeserved credit for making schools pay attention to students living in poverty ("Education's sweet spot," editorial, November 27).

Experienced educators have always been aware of the effects of poverty and know which schools and students are the most impacted.  Also, educational research has confirmed the negative effects of poverty on learning for decades. 

Recommending more precise measurements to identify needy schools is like recommending that fire departments invest in expensive and highly accurate thermometers so that firefighters get the exact temperature of dangerous and rapidly spreading fires before trying to put them out.

Instead of spending billions on unnecessary testing, let's invest in protecting children from the impact of poverty, i.e. expanded and improved food programs, improved health care, and improved school and public libraries in high-poverty areas. The best teaching in the world has little effect when children are hungry, undernourished, ill, and have little access to reading material.

Stephen Krashen

Original article: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-adv-school-reform-20151127-story.html

1 comment:

  1. Experienced educators will always be aware on the effects connected with poverty as well as know which in turn schools as well as students will be the most influenced. Also, educational study has validated the uncomfortable side effects of poverty on learning for many years.Recommending far more precise measurements to distinguish needy schools is similar to recommending that will fire departments invest in expensive as well as highly accurate thermometers making sure that firefighters have the exact temperature of dangerous and speedily spreading that will fire before attempting to put these individuals out.

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