Child Poverty Tops 20 Percent In Half Of U.S. States: Report:
"Child poverty is getting worse in America. And with more and more states seeing their populations of disadvantaged youth soar beyond pre-recession levels, the crisis is far from limited to a few troubled states.
In 2007, before the economy seized up, and before a combination of rising unemployment and plunging home values left millions of Americans scrambling to make ends meet, the child poverty rate in America was 17.8 percent, according to a report released in December from First Focus and the Brookings Institution. Only fourteen states had child poverty rates of 20 percent or more, a percentage that put them in a category the report calls "high child poverty status.""And this:
In the years since the financial crisis, the dire state of the economy has affected children as much as anyone. By the most recent estimates, sixteen million children live in poverty in the United States -- a climb of some three million from 2007. Seventeen million children live in households thatlack food security, meaning they do not always know where their next meal is coming from.
Educational change and reform cannot be obsessed with achievement anymore. We need schools to become strong agents of actually helping children live their lives.
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