Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is poverty just another excuse for low test scores?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Is poverty just another excuse for low test scores?

Is poverty just another excuse for low test scores?

by Mike Klonsky

It's as if we've returned to the Nixonian era of "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps."

Arne Duncan claims that poverty is being used as an "excuse" and threatens he's lost patience with all those "bad teachers" and "failing schools" who tick off all the reasons why their poor or minority students can't score as high on standardized tests.. He assures us that "poverty is not destiny" and that new privately-run charter schools will overcome poverty's downward push on