Haves and Have Nots Seminar - Moody Middle School

"The concentration of income in the hands of the rich might not just mean a more unequal society, economists believe. It might mean less stable economic expansions and sluggish growth." This article outlines income inequality and the effect that it has had on our nation. In addition, it discusses the recession and how it could be explained by inequality and the possibility of income inequality greatly affecting us in the next couple of years.

""It's far more demoralizing to work and be poor than to be unemployed and poor," Linda Tirado writes in her book, "Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America," about her own experiences living in poverty. "Being poor while working hard is crushing. It's living in a nightmare where the walls just never stop closing in on you."" This article discusses the wealthy and that the "primary predictor of our economic circumstances as adults, is not our I.Q. or how hard we work, but rather our parent's level of income as we grew up." Overall, it talks about the lives of people below the federal poverty line and how they should be able to get help from those more fortunate than themselves.

"The Mystery Of Income Inequality Broken Down To One Simple Chart" Overall, the article unraveled the complex system that is income inequality. Included is a graph that shows the inequality growth from 1948 to the present. Also the article talks about how a growth in income created income inequality.

"President Obama has declared income inequality to be the "defining challenge of our time." The article states some of the main causes of income inequality. Single parenthood, between 1980 and 2012, was found to be the main cause of income inequality. Also, divorces have affected income inequality.

"Under Medicaid expansion, it is fragrantly false that everyone gets a 'fair' shot or plays by the same set of rules. For Obamacare's designers have heavily tilted the playing field to get an outcome more to their likeing."

""The challenge now is to move beyond the temporary disappointment of an accreditation rating and work together - school divisions shoulder to shoulder with the department - to share best practices and implement the instructional strategies that will move our students toward college and career readiness," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples said in a statement. While 68 percent of Virginia's 1,827 public schools achieved Fully Accredited status for 2014-2015, the number of schools that were Accredited with Warning increased from 393 last year to 545 this year. Last year 77 percent of Virginia schools were rated as Fully Accredited. The year before, 93 percent earned Full Accreditation." The purpose of this article was to display how the standardized test scores have declined over the years, specifically in schools around the Richmond area. Many schools have been accredited with warnings, but others, including Wilder Middle School, were denied.

"This ecological, contextual view of schooling will cultivate the understanding that significantly more students can cross the PreK-12 finish line with the tools needed to race to the top of where they wish to go. Educators will learn that while factors such as poverty will not desist, both teachers and students can develop mindsets, skills and practices that will diminish its effects." This article talks about finding the right formula for closing the achievement gap in America's public school classrooms and those who get left behind. It brings forth many plans that increase funding for education, better assessments, growth models etc. It also talks about proposing an ecological model that views everyone within the system where a component of the model identifies multiples contextual factors and influences on a students achievement.

"For nearly 50 years, the federal government has tried- but largely failed- to find the right formula to close the achievement gap between the highest-performing students in America's public school classrooms and those who get left behind."

""Extreme economic inequality is damaging and worrying for many reasons," the report said. "It can have negative impacts on economic growth and poverty reduction; and it can multiply social problems. When wealth captures government policymaking, the rules bend to favor the rich, often to the detriment of everyone else."" This article talks about the economic inequality America is facing. It also talks about how the rich/upper class people are often more focused on getting more money for themselves rather than even thinking about those who can barely afford a relatively comfortable life.

""We've done a good job in the last decade of calling attention to the achievement gap," said ­Darling-Hammond, who has advised President Obama on education issues. "But what we haven't been doing is addressing some of the fundamental reasons for the achievement gap: the poverty and segregation sets up some kids to have less when they get to school, and then the funding inequities, so that when they get to school, they don't have the resources and instructional supports that we want and need them to have."" This article talks about what the opportunity gap is and how we can fix it. It discuses how we need to start looking at the "inputs" (better teachers) rather than only looking at the "outputs" (graduating and good grades). It talks about working on the inputs to allow poorer students to succeed.

This article explains the reasons for the academic achievement gap in America. It also discusses the benefits of closing the gap by providing the lower class with more resources that will help them receive a better education.

Basically this article talks about the opportunity gap between poorer and richer students and how little things, like texts to the students and telling parents about their child's performance in school, can help start closing that gap.

This article proposes stories and information about a spread and increase in income inequality.  It gives many different scenarios and shows a lot of recorded data.

This article talks about the various things that can be affected by income inequality. These things include the democracy, health, family stability, and many more things.

"But there are many children in Virginia who do not have the benefit of caring, trusted adults in their lives, and closing this gap is an important step to giving kids the best chance to succeed in school and life." Not all kids get the same chances and opportunities that we do, not even in the area that we live in. There is a difference between the education of a child with a high family income and a child with low family income. Even if they aim for the same thing, they'll have different obstacles and paths as the gap grows steadily larger.

"These educators deserve praise, support and encouragement for their work, and not the confusion and discouragement fostered by this ill-crafted and very poorly timed resolution. The Washington State Democratic Party should be penalized for a late hit, not only on the schools but also on the underserved students of Washington." This article explains how certain races and social groups and genders do not end up going to college because their family cannot afford it. In other cases, students could possibly not have received a great education due to the environment and new obstacles to adapt to.

"Income inequality has emerged as a central fact of the modern U.S. economy, one that President Obama is expected to denounce as a growing threat to the American dream of upward mobility in his State of the Union address next week." The article summarizes the negative effects of economic inequality for the entire United States of America. It talks about how it is bad for the bottom 95% along with the top 5%.

"Americans simply do not have equal opportunities. This is more than an ethical or social issue: Underinvestment in human capital leads to lower productivity, which is to say, lower national income. Comparative data show that the U.S. offers less social and economic mobility than do many of its peer countries -- a startling rebuke to the mythology of America as the land of opportunity." This article talks about the reality of income inequality.  It tells that people who work harder earn more money in America, and that is what they think it should be.

"The Pew report shows that all income groups lost wealth from 2007 to 2010, but that the recovery has disproportionally benefitted the richest among us. Their median wealth increased to $639,400 in 2013, from $595,300 in 2010. By contrast, the wealth of middle-income households was stagnant at $96,500. (These numbers have been adjusted for inflation.)" This article is about how over the past couple years, the average wealth for the upper class has increased, but the average wealth for the middle class has stayed the same.

"AS the Yonkers public schools emerge from years of financial shortfalls and acrimony over desegregation and cutbacks, the school district, the state's fourth largest, is now looking to the private sector to assist its campaign to improve student achievement." This article is about helping the public schools in terms of funds and finding ways to achieve better learning environments for the students.

"The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. Likewise, the wealth of white households is now more than 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households, compared with nine times the wealth in 2010." The income inequality between different races has become a significant problem in the United States. According to a recent study, the average annual income of white Americans is 13x greater than that of black Americans. This problem needs to be fixed in order to maintain a healthy democracy.