In four years, Jolstad remembers only one girl who was unable to write her name on the first day of school. A couple of miles. A world of affluence. Eighty percent of children who attend Stratton Meadows come from families poor enough to qualify for lunch help. Only 5 percent of Broadmoor students do.
Differences extend beyond kindergarten.
Jolstad can count on watching most of her students grow up attending Broadmoor. Only a quarter of her first class of students, now fourth-graders, are still at Stratton Meadows. Money does matter Researchers have documented the link between poverty and learning in study after study since 1965, when a sociologist took the first look at students' home lives and achievement. More recently, they've tied family income to children's health, behavior and social skills. Nearly 70 percent of all students tested could identify letters of the alphabet.