Why do math scores track poverty?
April 10, 2010 am30 10:21 am
I am not going to try to answer. But here’s a dramatic slide (I found it at Schools Matter, a pro-Public School website, thanks) –
Click to enlarge.
Note: this is not comparing lots of years.
This is comparing kids by income. The kids get poorer left to right.
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JD2718 
I don’t have the answer, either, jd. But, it certainly serves to highlight the pathology of low-income students, which is a constant source of research funding dollars. Perhaps we need to stop focusing on what’s wrong and come up with some real solutions that help ALL students?
BTW: This is missprofe from “It’s A Hardknock Teacher’s Life.” No longer have that blog, but, I have a new one up and running. :)
Hi M! Glad to see your new blog.
Because some of the most important learning happens at home, where there is less pressure to look good, no grades, less rush, and where families with higher income often have more time and energy to play games and answer questions.
I wonder if they printed that one (4th grade math) because it was the cleanest set of lines?
When they choose schools to close, they choose the ones that serve poor kids. So first the kid is poor. And then they have their schools closed. Same kids, so the new school is danger of being closed from the get-go. Great.