A majority of public-school children in the South and West are poor for the first time in four decades, the Southern Education Foundation reported in its new study, "A New Majority."
In the 2010-11 school year, more than half of the students in 17 states qualified for free or reduced price lunches. And across the country, nearly half — 48 percent — of public-school children were low income. When the language gap between low-income and higher-income students begins as early as 18 months, this demographic shift has big implications for the success of our nation's students. Almost half of U.S. public-school students may be arriving at school for the first time already behind — with higher chances of falling further behind academically, having lower test scores, dropping out, or being "pushed out" — a finding of the Dignity in Schools Campaign.
The report found that while the number of low-income students is growing rapidly, funding for their education is not, and learning gaps between low-income students and their higher-income peers have persisted.
Katherine Dunn is a program officer with the Southern Education Foundation, a public charity based in Atlanta.
Across all regions of the country, the number of poor students in U.S. public schools has grown substantially over the past decade — by 32 percent nationwide from 2001 to 2011, or more than 5.7 million children. Certainly the 2008 recession compounded this high growth.