Education
Low-income students of color make up the majority of classrooms in American public schools, and research shows that the challenges they face -- poverty, homelessness, or hunger -- have directly influenced their level of academic success. While many of these children are failing to make the grade, education experts say state and federal policies are failing the students. They say there’s too much of a focus on raising test scores, and that policies should be designed to close opportunity gaps and get students excited about learning. Pedro Noguera is an internationally-recognized education scholar who studies how students are affected by a variety of social and economic factors. He’s in Rochester to give a presentation at East High School , but first, he’s our guest on Connections. We talk about how to create more equitable education opportunities for all students. In studio: Pedro Noguera , Ph.D., sociologist and distinguished professor of education at UCLA Shaun Nelms , Ed.D.,