Opinion
Education Funding Letter to the Editor

Gates Foundation Ignores Poverty’s Hold on Student Performance

June 19, 2018 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To The Editor:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to “diagnose the root cause of poor performance” by investing $68 million to expand education grantmaking abroad (“The Gates Foundation’s Education Plans Go International,” Curriculum Matters blog, June 3, 2018). But we already know what causes poor performance. Study after study over many decades has concluded that poverty is the culprit.

Until our country’s government and citizens take steps to substantially reduce and eventually eliminate poverty by ensuring every person has full employment at a living wage, we can do a lot to protect students from the negative impact of poverty. Many low-income children suffer from food deprivation, lack of medical care, and lack of access to books&—all of which affect their school performance. We can invest more in food programs, medical care and school nurses, and libraries and librarians.

The Gates Foundation seems to have no interest in doing this. Instead, the foundation seems to be concerned about better data analysis and improving teaching and classroom practice. The best teaching in the world will have no effect if students are hungry, ill, or have nothing to read.

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus of Education

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, Calif.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the June 20, 2018 edition of Education Week as Gates Foundation Ignores Poverty’s Hold on Student Performance

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding How States Are Rethinking Where School Funding Should Go
There's constant debate over the best way to allocate state money to schools. Here are some ways states are reworking their school funding.
7 min read
Conceptual illustration of tiny people is planning the personal budget, accounting, analysis.
Muhamad Chabibalwi/iStock/Getty
Education Funding A Court Ordered Billions for Education. Why Schools Might Not Get It Now
The North Carolina Supreme Court is considering arguments for overturning a statewide order for more school funding.
6 min read
A blue maze with a money bag at the end of the maze.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding Schools Want More Time to Spend COVID-19 Aid for Homeless Students
Senators want to give districts more time to spend COVID relief funds for students experiencing homelessness.
4 min read
New canvas school bags hanging on the backs of empty classroom student chairs in a large modern classroom
iStock/Getty Images
Education Funding ESSER Isn't the Only School Funding Relief That's Disappearing Soon
Federal relief aid, policies to prevent schools from losing enrollment-based funding, and support for vulnerable families are expiring soon.
10 min read
Vector illustration of a businessman's hand holding a slowly vanishing dollar sign.
iStock/Getty