14 Year Old Takes Down Ruby Payne

...and Ruby



Hat tip to the Education Policy Blog.

Scientists Track Poverty's Links to Cognition

This from Education Week:

"Socioeconomic Disparities Affect Prefrontal Function in Children"

The brains of children who are living in poverty function differently from those of children living in better circumstances, according to a study by researchers
at the University of California, Berkeley.

The research shows that the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that is active in problem-solving, reasoning, and creativity—responds differently in normal 9- and 10-year-olds who differ only by their socioeconomic status.

Abstract :

Social inequalities have profound effects on the physical and mental health of children.

Children from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds perform below children from higher SES backgrounds on tests of intelligence and academic achievement, and recent findings indicate that low SES (LSES) children are impaired on behavioral measures of prefrontal function. However, the influence of socioeconomic disparity on direct measures of neural activity is unknown.

Here, we provide electrophysiological evidence indicating that prefrontal function is altered in LSES children. We found that prefrontal-dependent electrophysiological measures of attention were reduced in LSES compared to high SES (HSES) children in a pattern similar to that observed in patients with lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) damage. These findings provide neurophysiological evidence that social inequalities are associated with alterations in PFC function in LSES children. There are a number of factors associated with LSES rearing conditions that may have contributed to these results such as greater levels of stress and lack of access to cognitively stimulating materials and experiences.

Targeting specific prefrontal processes affected by socioeconomic disparity could be helpful in developing intervention programs for LSES children.

Report: Ohio, Ky., relatively fair in school-fund allocation

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

In most states, school districts whose students are predominantly low-income or minority get the least public funding, a new report says.

But Ohio and Kentucky in recent years are reversing that trend.

A study by the Education Trust, a Washington-based education think tank, shows Ohio and Kentucky bucking the national trend of short-changing disadvantaged public schools.

School districts across the country spent on average $938 less per pupil at high-poverty districts than at low-poverty districts in 2005, the most recent year studied. The funding gap has widened since 1999, according to EdTrust.

Similarly, high-minority school districts were funded at $877 less per pupil than districts with few or no minorities. That funding gap narrowed since 1999, the report found.

"Many of the school districts with the greatest needs often receive the least funding, begging the question of whether we're setting some students up for failure," wrote Carmen Arroyo, EdTrust research director.

EdTrust based its analysis on census reports and federal education statistics...

...Kentucky in 1999 spent $801 more per student in high-poverty districts than in affluent districts. By 2005 it improved that to $878 more per impoverished student.

The state also wiped out its gap affecting high-minority schools.

H-L editorial says education is important tool for disrupting poverty cycle

Cycle of poverty
Education cuts stymie state progress

Governors and legislators come and go, state budgets strain under new and old demands, but Kentucky's grinding, intractable poverty remains a constant.

Education is the single most important tool to disrupt that cycle of poverty...

...The best way to increase tax revenue long-term is to increase the wealth of taxpayers. And the best way to do that is by attracting or creating fewer poor ones.

So what to do?

First, the legislature should pass, and Beshear should sign, a law giving public universities the authority to float their own bonds for projects that pay for themselves.

It will save money and allow university administrators to plan more effectively for big projects, like dormitories or the new hospital at the University of Kentucky.

Second, the pork train has got to stop. Practice facilities, roads to nowhere, pet local construction projects, tax giveaways masquerading as incentives, costly questionable change orders -- they all drain money away from education, and Kentucky's hope of future prosperity.

The governor and lawmakers could hand out diplomas (real ones) instead of those silly, fake oversized checks if they need local photo-ops.

Third, admit that tuition hikes -- an inevitable result of severe budget cuts -- are a tax increase. Then consider that higher taxes often drive people to change behavior to avoid the taxes.
Then ask this question: Which will help Kentucky in the long run, taxing cigarettes or students?

This from the Herald-Leader.

Southern schools swollen with poor kids

In 11 states, over half of students live in poverty

WASHINGTON - For the first time in more than 40 years, the majority of children in public schools in the South are poor, according to a report released today.

In 11 Southern states, a significant increase in the number of poor children attending public school has pushed their numbers above 50 percent of the student body. North Carolina comes close -- 49 percent of the state's schoolchildren live below the poverty line.

The increase has sent district officials scurrying for solutions on how to best educate kids who are coming from economically disadvantaged homes.

"The future of the South's ability to have an educated population is going to depend on how well we can improve these students' education," said Steve Suitts, a program coordinator with the Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on Southern educational issues and conducted the study...

...Also hitting the South disproportionately were federal cutbacks in anti-poverty programs, the region's higher rates of underemployment and the increased birthrates of Hispanic and African American children-who are statistically more likely than their white peers to be born into poverty....

This from the News & Observer.

Adolescent motherhood a likely prescription for failure

According to RI Kids Count, researchers estimate that if all of Rhode Island’s teen moms had waited until they were 20 to have babies, the state’s prison population would be down 11.2 percent. The sons of teenage mothers, they say, are 2.2 times as likely to be incarcerated.

Crime is hardly the only issue here. Premature pregnancies increase all kinds of social problems, from dropping out of school to poverty. In fact, 1 in 10 babies in Rhode Island is born to teen parents, and of those, 85 percent are poor. Premature pregnancy is a big part of families getting caught in a vicious cycle of poverty....

[Dr. Patricia Flanagan, medical director of Hasbro Children’s Hospital’s outpatient services] says teen moms tend to fall into two types. One type loses herself in the child. The baby is an extension of the mom’s life and personality.

The other treats her baby like a doll, a thing, a prized possession — dressing the child up, showing the baby off. As one teen mom said, “I got something that’s all mine, that nobody can take away from me!”

In both cases, the baby isn’t understood as a person in his or her own right, an evolving being with a unique future and a changing set of needs. After all, teens are in the process of forming their own identities. Though perfectly natural, a young parent’s egocentricity keeps the baby’s self from becoming entirely real...

This from the Providence Journal.