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Monday, October 3, 2011

Schools Matter: Does improved school performance help the economy? Does it help people find (better) jobs?

Schools Matter: Does improved school performance help the economy? Does it help people find (better) jobs?:

Does improved school performance help the economy? Does it help people find (better) jobs?

This is the second of three posts written in response to a post on the NCTE connected community listserv in reaction to Krashen and Ohanian, "Arne Duncan's position on education and poverty." I will not post the original comment and will refer to it only minimally, because, although I have given my permission to quote and share my posts, others posting on the NCTE listserv have not.

Does improved school performance help the economy? Does it help people find (better) jobs?

For school success to impact the economy, the jobs must first exist. Good school performance does not create jobs. To create jobs in the private sector, you need (1) an increase in jobs from

Success despite poverty

This is the first of three posts written in response to a post on the NCTE connected community listserv in reaction to Krashen and Ohanian, "Arne Duncan's position on education and poverty." I will not post the original comment and will refer to it only minimally, because, although I have given my permission to quote and share my posts, others posting on the NCTE listserv have not.

This post deals with the question of those who succeed despite poverty.

How do we explain the fact that many people did well in school even though they experienced poverty growing up?

Note that it is not poverty per se but the conditions resulting from poverty that count: In our post