Schools alone can’t be expected to solve poverty when multiple factors outside the classroom affect academic performance.
A new report from the liberal Economic Policy Institute lists “Five Social Disadvantages That Depress Student Performance.” The report argues that parenting, health and environmental factors can hurt students in a way that schools can’t fix. The report was authored by Leila Morsy, with the University of New South Wales, and Richard Rothstein, with the Economic Policy Institute.
Too often, schools are blamed for students who fail to thrive because of bad parenting or health problems. To be sure, many students attend bad schools, but the blame does not fall on educators alone.
“Policymakers typically resist accepting that non-school disadvantages necessarily depress outcomes,” Morsy and Rothstein wrote. “Rather, they look to better schools and teachers to close achievement gaps, and consistently come up short.”
To be cognitively prepared for school, children need to be mentally stimulated, read to and allowed to make their own choices. This helps them to learn how to think critically. Failing to do these things may lead children to act out in the classroom. Though not difficult to do, many low-income parents aren’t even aware that these practices would benefit their children.
Children of single parents are particularly vulnerable. Less time spent with mom or dad means less time for beneficial parenting practices. Conservatives often argue that stable, intact families are more likely to rise from poverty.
Irregular work schedules also exacerbate the problems associated with single parenthood. Ever-changing work schedules can make arranging regular daycare and babysitting difficult. A regular home routine is also easier on children.
The report goes on to blame inadequate access to primary health care for lowering student performance, although it acknowledges that no research directly links access to physicians with student outcomes. The authors also suggest that more illness leads to more absence from school, which drags student scores down.
Lastly, the report says low-income children are disproportionately exposed to lead in their environment, which reduces IQ and causes misbehavior.
“These are not the only characteristics that depress outcomes, nor are they necessarily the most important,” Morsy and Rothstein wrote.
The report recommends many liberal solutions to these problems, few of which would make any headway with a Republican-led Congress. But expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit has some bipartisan support among conservatives focused on increasing economic opportunity.
“None of this report’s recommendations alone will close the achievement gap, but, implemented together, they could make a substantial difference,” Morsy and Rothstein concluded.
