If a child's score on a standardized test drops, and they've become homeless and poor recently...

[CreekDog]

Should we blame the teacher and count that decrease against the teacher for the purposes of reducing compensation or possible dismissal (firing)?

What if a teacher has 5 students facing the same situation?

And finally, do you think a student who has a family who is homeless and who lacks necessary nutrition and faces other substantial deprivations is able to concentrate and learn so that they can be successful in their education?

And if you think, "well, no it's not impossible, but it will be much, much harder", then what is the net effect of poverty on how our schools appear to be doing?

I bring this up because something like a third of children live in poverty and the safety net in this country which is far weaker than in others means that children in this country feel the effects of poverty and deprivation more than children in other wealthy nations. And I wonder what effect that has on our schools.

[valerief]

1. Not a charter school or religious school teacher. This is America, after all,

where some people have more democracy than other people.

Wouldn't it be interesting if, instead of the teachers being blamed, the real culprits--the pols--were blamed?

[The Straight Story]

2. The system today treats teachers as managers and students as employees

Teacher/Student terms no longer apply.

[Scuba]

3. Wait 'til the charter schools have all the best and brightest...

... and the public schools have all the learning disabled, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and other special needs kids.


When we get to that point the Republicans will decide that charter school kids should be tested against public school kids. Results will "prove" that public schools are a failure.

[dtexdem]

4. Then it's obviously not just the teacher's fault but also President Obama's.

And probably Bill Clinton's as well. ;-)

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. Damn. Four posts. You just...

...blew up my theory.

[LWolf]

5. Of course we should. That teacher should have

found that family a home, turned on the utilities, and found a way to feed them.


Bad test scores are ALWAYS the fault of the teacher.

[shraby]

6. I'll pose one question to you and you will have your answer.

How well do you as an adult think when you are hungry or have heavy duty worries on your mind???

[CreekDog]

8. Not well at all...and if one is hungry or homeless, they are going to worry about that

first and foremost.

our biology is going to make sure we focus on that which is a present danger.

if we're hungry, our bodies are going to put dealing with that above doing well on the test.

if we're homeless, our bodies are going to have that at the front of our minds rather than doing well on the test --because our bodies are going to focus on the things that threaten our survival at that moment.

deal with poverty as well as our peer nations do (peers in terms of wealth). if we do that, our schools will not be perfect, but they will improve across the board and our rankings and overall performance will increase.

poverty is a drag on our economy, our institutions, our children and our future. tolerating it costs us more than fixing it.