Richard Rothstein, who is my favorite writer on education reform issues and who I have often quoted in this blog, just wrote a very thorough and insightful perspective on the future of No Child Left Behind. It’s worth a look.

In it, Rothstein also links to a very interesting article by John Irons called Economic scarring: The long-term impacts of the recession. Irons says:

“Unemployment and income losses can reduce educational achievement by threatening early childhood nutrition; reducing families’ abilities to provide a supportive learning environment (including adequate health care, summer activities, and stable housing); and by forcing a delay or abandonment of college plans.”

Even more importantly, he goes on to provide a sizable research base for these comments, and this article, too, is worth a look.  These are more reasons why schools need to connect with parents to organize for community improvement issues.

Thanks to This Week In Education for the tip.