POVERTY INDEX
Why is this important?
Scholarly research shows that poverty is the most significant factor in determining how a child will perform in school. A child’s own family income is central, but it is not the whole story. The socioeconomic status of the community in which a child lives and goes to school is also important. Concentrated poverty—where many families in a certain area are poor—is far more disadvantageous than individual poverty alone.
A common measure of school poverty is the percentage of students in a school who are federally defined as eligible for free lunch. Using percent free lunch, schools can be thought of as "high" and "low" poverty. In "high poverty schools" many students receive free lunch and thus poverty is highly concentrated. In "low poverty schools," few students receive free lunch.
How are we doing?
In 2006, 13% of students in Long Island schools received free lunch. This rate has stayed constant since 2004. The trend for New York State is more dramatic with NYS schools averaging 23% free lunch in 2006.
On Long Island, there are large disparities in the concentration of poverty. In 2006, the 10% of schools classified as “low-poverty” had almost no students qualify for free lunch (.05%), middle-poverty schools (80% of all schools) averaged about 9% of students qualifying for free lunch, and the 10% of schools classified as high-poverty schools had 59% of their students receiving free lunch. Since 2001, low-poverty schools have experienced a decrease in the percent of students receiving free lunch. However, between 2001 and 2006, high-poverty schools saw a 7% increase in the percent of students receiving free lunch (from 55% to 59%). Thus, the gap between “rich” and “poor” is widening.
Race, Ethnicity and Education
Historically, racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, particularly Blacks and Latinos, have suffered most from disproportionate funding of education. These minority groups are over-represented among the poor. In addition, the cumulative impact of economic and racial segregation means that they are also over-represented in schools impacted by poverty. This creates a cycle in which those who need quality education most to raise their future socioeconomic status tend to go to schools in which there is a relatively high concentration of economically needy students, thereby making the challenges at the school level that much greater.
The overall composition of the student body on Long Island is 69% White and 31% from ethnic and racial minority groups. However, Long Island schools tend to be segregated, rather than integrated. Both White and Asian students tend to go to schools that are more homogenously white. Of the 69% of students who are White, half of them attend schools that have a mean White enrollment of 92%. Half of the Asian student population attends schools that have a mean White enrollment of 88%. In contrast, Black students comprise about 11% of all students on Long Island. Yet, half of them attend schools in which the mean White enrollment is only 5%. Similarly, Hispanics make up 15% of the overall Long Island student body, but half of the Hispanic student body attends schools that have a mean White enrollment of 12%.
Another way to look at the situation is with respect to the pattern represented by Long Island schools. Overall, there are 659 individual schools in 127 school districts. Of them, 17% have a number of White students that is generally in proportion to their overall representation in the student body as a whole. Therefore, 83% of schools can be viewed as being either over- or under-represented by the presence of White students.
Moreover, ethnic disparities tend to be associated with economic inequalities. Black and Hispanic students are much more likely to attend a high-poverty school (10% of schools with the highest proportion of students receiving free lunch) than either White or Asian students. 89% of students in high-poverty schools are either Black or Hispanic (40% and 49%, respectively). In contrast, 9% of students in high-poverty schools are White and 2% are Asian.
