English review

Jeffery L. Pieters

Professor Lycan

First Year Writing Seminar EN106

02 April 2020

Is Income Inequality To Blame For Poor Student Test Scores?

Studies ranging from psychology to economics all indicate that early childhood education and development are vital to the success of a child in all aspects of life, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Despite the reality that children from disadvantaged households often face more challenges and have lower test scores, publicly funded programs can have a significant and measured effect on success. Lawmakers have the responsibility to shape fiscal policy in order to bridge the gaps that face our nation's “persistently disadvantaged.” Although I agree that eligibility to qualify for free or reduced school meals is a poor measure of a student's actual needs as Susan Dynarski points out, it is important to extend these ideas to include access to quality early childhood education programs.

“A closer look reveals that the standard measure of economic disadvantage whether a child is eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch in school masks the magnitude of the learning gap between the richest and poorest children.” (Greene, Kindle Locations 11218-11220). This gap is an important aspect of the disparity in which money is distributed to schools as it can be misconstrued to divide the money based on numbers instead of actual need. The disadvantaged children are those who are in the most need for assistance both monetarily and educationally and these funds should be focused on their needs specifically instead of a school as a whole generically, though there is likely no easy way to focus this money in a specific manner. One possible way to address this need is to provide assistance and education to all children across the nation from birth regardless of financial need. Studies for years have shown that children who attend preschool are more likely to be successful throughout elementary and high school, and early childhood brain development increases intelligence levels (Untangling the Evidence). By providing this type of education and development across the board we could raise the test score of children across the nation. This would prove to be an expensive and extremely difficult task to implement universally however, we do currently have a federal program in place currently aimed at providing these types of educational programs to low income families, Head Start.

The Head Start Program is administered under the Department of Health and Human Services and provides services to pregnant women and children from birth to age five. The Head Start Program is designed to teach early learning, health education, and family well-being with the intention of promoting school readiness to these children. In fiscal year 2018, the Federal Government spent $9.47 billion dollars on this program which helped 1,050,000 children and pregnant women in 2017 and 2018 (Head Start Programs). This program is delivered nationwide through 1,600 agencies which tailor the program to the needs of the local areas, both in centers, and homes. The Head Start Program however was only able to serve just over one million children and pregnant women, yet according to www.childstats.gov there were 23.2 million children under the age of five in 2018 alone. This one million served represents the most needy in our nation yet provided services to only a fraction of those who could benefit from this education. Expanding the budget for this program in the area of childhood education specifically would lead to a significant improvement of test scores of all lower income and middle income families.

In addition to the Head Start Program, pre kindergarten schools are another way that children can receive critical education prior to entering elementary school. Yet as recently as 2017, six states did not have state funded preschool programs, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming (Early Childhood Education). These programs are funded from state budgets and local municipalities in the form of bonds or other taxes. Yet despite the studies and evidence that shows for every dollar spent in one of these programs, the return on investment can be from two to four dollars (Cannon, 2018), some lawmakers are still hesitant to expand the budgets from preschool programs.

According to the New York Times article by Reardon, Waldfogel and Bassok, “Greater availability of affordable preschool programs particularly if they are high quality may be part of the reason poor children are starting to catch up to their affluent peers.” (Greene, Kindle Locations 11314-11316). Preschool is proven to increase childhood development and helps to close the gap of test scores from lower income to upper income children. A common thought is that a more educated society is a more civilized society, by this thought we should be investing heavily in education while paying the teachers much more than they currently receive as 80% of all Head Start teachers have a Bachelor's degree or higher. Yet if we continue to use the qualification for free lunch as the only measure to receive public funds we will continue to leave the most in need children behind.

Works Cited

Cannon, Jill S., et al. “High-Quality Early Childhood Programs Can Change Lives.” RAND

Corporation, 3 Jan. 2018,

www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2018/01/high-quality-early-childhood-programs-can-cha

nge-lives.html.

“Early Childhood Education.” Education Commission of the States,

www.ecs.org/research-reports/key-issues/early-childhood-education/.

Greene, Stuart,Lidinsky, April. From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader (Kindle

Locations 11218-11220). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.

Greene, Stuart,Lidinsky, April. From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader (Kindle

Locations 11314-11316). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.

“Head Start Programs.” ECLKC, 25 Mar. 2020,

eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/programs/article/head-start-programs.

“POP1 Child Population: Number of Children (in Millions) Ages 0–17 in the United States by

Age, 1950–2018 and Projected 2019–2050.”

ChildStats.gov-Forum on Child and Family Statistics,

www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp.

“Untangling the Evidence on Preschool Effectiveness: Insights for Policymakers.” Learning

Policy Institute,

learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/untangling-evidence-preschool-effectiveness-brief.