Low-Income Youth, Access to Education

A disproportionate number of people in poverty are youth under the age of 18, many of whom are African American and Latino. As poverty rates [Page 1421]grow, educators and social scientists are becoming increasingly aware of how difficult it is for students living in poverty to achieve success in the American educational system. Census data reveal that households in which parents have lower education levels are much more likely to remain in or move into the lowest quintile of wage earners than their higher income counterparts.

Lower educational attainment among low-income individuals derives in large part from the fact that many children from low-income families continue to lack access to high-quality, well-resourced schools. Schools with the largest numbers of low-income students have the greatest shortages of ...