Educating All God's Children
What Christians Can--and Should--Do to Improve Public Education for Low-Income Kids
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Children living in poverty have the same God-given potential as children in wealthier communities, but on average they achieve at significantly lower levels. Kids who both live in poverty and read below grade level by third grade are three times as likely not to graduate from high school as students who have never been poor. By the time children in low-income communities are in fourth grade, they're already three grade levels behind their peers in wealthier communities. More than half won't graduate from high school--and many that do graduate only perform at an eighth-grade level. Only one in ten will go on to graduate from college. These students have severely diminished opportunities for personal prosperity and professional success. It is clear that America's public schools do not provide a high quality public education for the sixteen million children growing up in poverty.
Education expert Nicole Baker Fulgham explores what Christians can--and should--do to champion urgently needed reform and help improve our public schools. The book provides concrete action steps for working to ensure that all of God's children get the quality public education they deserve. It also features personal narratives from the author and other Christian public school teachers that demonstrate how the achievement gap in public education can be solved.
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Despite a strain of anti-intellectualism among extreme Christian conservatives, Christianity has historically been at the forefront in promoting both public and private educational systems. Baker Fulgham, who leads a faith-based education reform group, makes this point as she calls on Christians in this, her first book, to once again lead the way. While contributing valuable data on the "achievement gap" between low- and high-income schools, the systemic inequities that shape academic outcomes, and innovative grassroots models of church and public school partnerships, she excels at illustrating biblical principles and personal stories in a conversational tone sure to engage the reader. Her goal is clear: she's on a mission to bring more people of faith into the fight to save the minds of America's low-income children. Given the unpopularity of tax increases of any kind, however, it will be critical for Christians especially the evangelicals whom Baker Fulgham particularly addresses to use their "strong and powerful advocacy voice" for policies that will close educational gaps. Baker Fulgham is well-informed and stands on a firm historical foundation.