Child poverty is down sharply since the start of the ed reform era
U.S. student outcomes improved significantly from the late 1990s until the onset of the Great Recession, especially in math, but also in reading, science, writing, U.S. history, and civics. Gains were greatest for lowest-achieving students, students of color, and at the fourth and eighth grade levels. But it's possible that a certain change outside of school explains at least some of these gains: the vastly improving condition of the nation’s poorest families.