A study in Detroit showed that low-performing students have higher levels of lead than other students,the Detroit Free Press reported on Sunday.
About 60 percent of Detroit Public Schools students who performed below their grade level on 2008 standardized tests had elevated lead levels, the story said, according to the study conducted by Detroit Public Schools and the city’s Department of Health and Wellness Promotion. The study also showed that students in special education programs were also more likely to have blood tests results that showed elevated levels of lead.
“For years, we’ve blamed the schools and the teachers for kids failing,” Brenda Gelman-Berkowitz, a school social worker for the district, told the Free-Press. “We haven’t seen this connection with lead before. But I see evidence of it everywhere.”
