Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/2868
the NEW POOR Teaching in e toughconomic times As foreclosures, evictions and unemployment rise, so does stress on schools and teachers throughout the state. And with predictions that the economy may worsen, schools may be just beginning to feel the impact. “We know that the mortgage crisis is wreaking havoc on the stock market, on the housing industry and our economy as a whole,” says a study released by First Focus last May. “But there are 2 million voiceless victims of this crisis about whom we hear little. Largely over the next two years, an estimated 2 million children will be directly impacted by the mortgage crisis as their families lose their homes due to foreclosures.” More children in California have been affected than in any other state, with an es- timated 311,900 losing their homes, notes the study. However, this figure is likely to be on the low side because it does not in- clude children being evicted from rental units that are going into foreclosure or children whose parents default on conven- tional loans. California has more than dou- ble the number of impacted children in Texas, the second-highest state with 144,400 impacted children, followed by Florida with 130,500 children and New York with 106,500 children. Research shows that children who experi- ence excessive mobility, such as those hurt by the mortgage crisis, tend to suffer in school. The National Assessment of Educational Progress has found that students with two or more changes in the previous year are half as Stories by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin • Photos by Scott Buschman 6 California Educator | november 2008 likely to be proficient in reading as their stable peers and that math performance also suffers. A government study found mobile third- grade students to be nearly twice as likely to perform below grade level in math compared to those who do not change schools. Other researchers have found that school and resi- dential changes increase a student’s chances of being held back a grade and can reduce chances that a student will graduate from high school by more than 50 percent. Student mobility is associated with delin-