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New Census Measure Shifts the Face of Poverty

Census Bureau's new poverty threshold shows safety net's impact

Federal social programs are keeping nearly 2 million American children out of poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's first new poverty-calculation measure in more than four decades.

The new poverty measure , released on Nov. 6, is intended to supplement the federal government's official count, which is used by the education field for everything from achievement research to setting eligibility criteria for programs such as Title I school grants for disadvantaged students.

The new measure will not affect eligibility or grant allocations for those programs, Census research economist Kathleen Short said at a briefing on the release at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, but it does give a much more comprehensive picture of who is poor in America and how they are affected by housing, child care,...