Kindergarten-plus. (Where we stand: a commentary on public education and other critical issues).

How can we explain the achievement gap between poor children and more advantaged children? School critics usually assume that the schools are to blame, and blaming schools is easier than admitting that poverty affects the education of children in this wealthiest of nations.

Now, there's no question that we need to continue to improve the underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded schools that most poor children attend. But if Americans are serious about closing the achievement gap--and I believe they are--then our leaders must stop ignoring the evidence of poverty's corrosive ...