Poverty

  • Students in Large Upstate Cities Performed Poorly on the Most Recent State Assessments - Source - New York State Education Department. Grades 3-8 Annual Performance Assessment. Grades 3-8 Mathematics, 2022-2023 Historically, economically disadvantaged students have performed poorly on the State's annual Student Assessments. That pattern continued in the 2022-2023 school year. On the State's Grades 3-8 mathematics examination, only 30% of students in districts…
  • COVID-19’s Impact on School Performance in New York State - The COVID-19 Pandemic disrupted teaching and learning at schools nationally and in New York State. School closures and remote learning removed the opportunity for students to interact directly with teachers. National testing shows that this led to significant learning losses. New York State students lost six points on the fourth-grade…
  • Have Charter Schools in Upstate Cities Achieved their Promise? - According to a recent article by Albany Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill, the sponsors of a new Charter school in Schenectady faced a chilly reception from area elected representatives. Churchill wrote, "Before it even opened, the new Destine Preparatory Charter School was denounced by two area politicians, Phil Steck and Angelo…
  • Have Charter Schools In New York City Achieved their Promise? - Although charter schools have operated in New York State since 1998, their effectiveness continues to be disputed. A recent New York Times article, "New York City Schools Face a Crisis, Charter Schools Gain Students, points out, "As traditional public schools in the nation's largest system endure a perilous period of…
  • An Early Look at COVID’s Educational Disruption in New York State - When COVID hit the nation in early 2020, the nation's schools shut down. The disruption continued into the 2020-2021 school year, as most schools offered remote or hybrid learning rather than in-person instruction. Some reopened but suspended in-person instruction because of COVID in classrooms. These decisions became contentious, with critics…
  • The Continuing Racial and Ethnic Income Gap in New York and the Nation - Race has been a defining aspect of American society since Europeans came to this continent. Although racial identification reflects where people's ancestors lived, not biological differences between people, it gained a connotation of superiority or inferiority as a justification for actions by dominant settlers of European descent to subjugate non-Europeans…
  • The Economic Value of College Depends upon Where You Live - College graduates enjoy a substantial income premium over those with a high school degree. In New York State, the median income in 2019 for people aged 25 or older with a Bachelor's degree was $62,699. The median income for high school graduates was only $33,491. For those with advanced degrees,…
  • With a New Governor, New York Faces Economic Challenges - For decades, New York has had substantial disparities in economic performance. Although some parts of the State are doing relatively well, much of it has declining employment, higher levels of poverty, lower household income levels, and fewer adults working than the nation. Over most of the past decade, job growth…
  • COVID-19 erased New York’s Employment Gains over the Past Decade - From June 2011 to June 2019, New York saw employment increase by 388,440 - 4.4%. But by June 2021, the pandemic had erased all those gains. In June, the state's employment was lower than in 2011 - by 72,916 jobs or 0.8%. Both before the COVID pandemic and in June…
  • New York’s Population Increased by 823,147 between 2010 and 2020 while Upstate’s Declined - Based on the newly released 2020 Census data, New York's population grew by 823,147 residents - 4.25% - between 2010 and 2020. The State's performance was similar to others in its region and not far from the median growth rate for all states - 5.9%. But, more than three-quarters of…
  • Poverty in Upstate Metropolitan Areas: Myths and Realities - We live in an era in which long-held attitudes about race have been heightened by political campaigns that attempt to mobilize fears among white voters about minority group members and immigrants.  These appeals have ranged from claims that President Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya and claims…
  • Don’t Make Poor Districts Shoulder the Burden - An opinion piece written for the Albany Times-Union:  https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Viewpoint-Don-t-make-poor-districts-shoulder-the-15573324.php
  • Covid-19: The Cost in Lost Jobs - With more than 190,000 lives lost and millions infected, Covid-19 has imposed a tragic toll on residents of the United States.  New York State was hit hard early on, and has lost 32,600 residents to the disease as of early September  But strong controls that shut down much of the…
  • New York’s School Aid Cuts Will Disproportionately Harm Poor Districts - A recent Albany Times-Union report "recently warned officials they should expect state aid payments to be reduced by 20 percent."  The source of the report was the Questar III Board of Cooperative Educational Services State Aid and Financial Planning.  The Times-Union article went on to report that "Freeman Klopott, a…
  • Income Inequality in Metropolitan Areas - In many respects, the American economy has done extraordinarily well since the great recession of 2008. We have seen a long period of growth in employment, while unemployment has dropped to levels not seen in many decades. But this period has also seen a troubling increase in income polarization, which…
  • A Closer Look at Student Performance in Upstate City Schools - Parents in central cities seeking good educations for their children face the disconcerting reality that relatively few city school children pass standardized tests required by New York State, suggesting that the schools are failing.  In Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Schenectady, less than 20% of students passed state required English Language Arts…
  • Education, Economic Status and Student Performance in New York School Districts - Note:  A more recent, closer look at this subject may be found here:  https://policybynumbers.com/a-closer-look-at-student-performance-in-upstate-city-schools In 1966, James S. Coleman and associates wrote the report, "Equality of Educational Opportunity," for the United States Department of Health Education and Welfare, as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The report was…
  • Rochester’s Broken School System - Kent Gardner argues forcefully in the Rochester Beacon that Rochester’s school system is broken and in need of radical change. Gardner’s post highlights the efforts of a local organization, ROC the Future, to bring about reform of the city’s school system. Gardner is correct – students in the city’s schools…
  • New York’s Local Revenue Sharing Aid Program is Broken:  How to Fix It - Most New Yorkers are aware that the state has a cap on local property taxes that has effectively slowed their growth.  But few know that residents of a few large cities benefit from a multi-million-dollar infusion of state dollars that limits property taxes, while residents of smaller cities, towns and…
  • Times Union Op-Ed: State’s Unfair City Aid Formula Needs Revising - I've been looking at how well the State's local revenue sharing works.  It doesn't work well.  I wrote an Op-Ed that appears in the Albany Times-Union this weekend:  It may be found here:  https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/State-s-unfair-city-aid-formula-needs-revising-13709884.php I'll have a longer piece that takes a closer look at this on my blog next…