Once stigmatized, food stamps find acceptance, By Jason DeParle and Robert Gebeloff, February 10, 2010, New York Times: “A decade ago, New York City officials were so reluctant to give out food stamps, they made people register one day and return the next just to get an application. The welfare commissioner said the program caused dependency and the poor were ‘better off’ without it. Now the city urges the needy to seek aid (in languages from Albanian to Yiddish). Neighborhood groups recruit clients at churches and grocery stores, with materials that all but proclaim a civic duty to apply – to ‘help New York farmers, grocers, and businesses.’ There is even a program on Rikers Island to enroll inmates leaving the jail. ‘Applying for food stamps is easier than ever,’ city posters say. The same is true nationwide. After a U-turn in the politics of poverty, food stamps, a program once scorned as ‘welfare,’ enjoys broad new support. Following deep cuts in the 1990s, Congress reversed course to expand eligibility, cut red tape and burnish the program’s image, with a special effort to enroll the working poor. These changes, combined with soaring unemployment, have pushed enrollment to record highs, with one in eight Americans now getting aid…”
Day: February 11, 2010
Low-income Students and Advanced Placement Exams
Disadvantaged students continue AP climb, By Erik W. Robelen, February 10, 2010, Education Week: “Continuing a pattern from recent years, more students from low-income families are taking-and earning what is considered a passing score on-at least one Advanced Placement exam, a new analysis of results for the public high school graduating class of 2009 shows. At the same time, significant gaps persist in preparation and access across ‘traditionally underserved students,’ the analysis released today by the College Board suggests, especially for African-American students…”
Detroit Free Press Series on Education
Fixing our schools, series homepage, Detroit Free Press:
- How do we prepare our kids for jobs, future?, By Lori Higgins, February 7, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “Renee Boogren of Troy has two compelling reasons for wanting Michigan to make its schools more challenging. She’s a mother. She’s also a biology teacher at Wayne State University who sees the results of kids who come to college unprepared. It’s most notable in their writing skills…”
- What it’s like inside the Detroit Public Schools, By Chastity Pratt Dawsey, February 8, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “On a recent Wednesday, only 11 of the 29 students enrolled in Karanji Kaduma’s second-hour environmental science class at Pershing High School in Detroit showed up. He didn’t know where the rest were, but he said some of the stories of their homelife could make a grown man cry. ‘When middle school hits, parents’ hands go off. These kids in my classroom — most have no curfews, go to bed when they want to go to bed; they don’t have any particular time to do homework. They’re raising themselves,’ said Kaduma, who has lost six former students to gun violence…”
- Big ideas for Michigan schools, By Chastity Pratt Dawsey, Robin Erb, and Lori Higgins, February 9, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “In Charlotte, N.C., the best principals and teachers are handpicked to lead the worst schools. In Washington, D.C., the mayor appoints the schools chancellor. In New York, Wisconsin and Florida, parents on public assistance lose a chunk of their welfare benefits if their kids continually miss school. These are some of the drastic solutions for schools with low student performance, chronic truancy and other issues affecting achievement. But the innovative changes have made a difference: Students are showing up for class and doing better on tests, and teachers are being held accountable for making sure students succeed…”
- How Marcus Garvey Academy rises above, By Chastity Pratt Dawsey, February 10, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “At Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit, the week begins with the recitation of black history facts followed by the sounds of drummers summoning students to an assembly. Students sing the black national anthem and recite the school creed, which starts, ‘I will have faith in myself. … I can learn! I will learn! I must learn!’ This is before any reading, writing and arithmetic. Garvey is an African-centered educational environment, and in 2008, its students outperformed the state average in most categories on the MEAP. Three other African-centered schools in Detroit serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade fared better than the Detroit Public Schools average…”
- About 1 in 5 students need remedial help in college, By Robin Erb, February 11, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “It should have been a simple math question. But it stumped more than half of Michigan’s fourth-graders last year. Many of them never catch on, even by high school. As a result, remedial education classes are flourishing at colleges and universities. Walk onto any of the state’s 28 community colleges, and one of every five students is enrolled in a remedial education course. National data suggests that one in five students at four-year colleges seek remedial coursework, too. And it’s a costly problem. In Michigan, more than $28 million is spent on remediation at the community college level alone…”