ABSTRACT
The chapters in this volume have explored the many and significant ways economic inequality and social class have impacts on education. Bruce Biddle sets the context for the succeeding chapters by marking the comparative extent of poverty in the United States, reviewing theories of poverty effects on education, analyzing the research bases for those theories, and offering some suggestions for change that would reverse those effects. Biddle's analysis also demonstrates the weakness of much of the research base, offers some directions, and argues the necessity for more carefully considered research. In terms of policy, he suggests elimination of child poverty as a starting point as well as increased funding and different programming for schools with populations of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
