Welfare Reform, Poverty, and Children's Performance in School: Challenges for the School Community

The adoption of welfare reform brought with it a host of expectations surrounding children's outcomes. It was hypothesized that as adults receiving benefits went to work their children's educational patterns of achievement would change. Using longitudinal administrative data combining children's school records and their family's department of social services welfare services records, the study reported in this article examined the relationship among academic achievement, dropout patterns, and welfare reform strategies targeted to the adult population. Findings suggest that although there has been improvement in math and reading proficiency, the “success” of welfare reform, largely based on caseload reduction, has not translated into a significant pattern of better educational trajectories for children from poor families. It appears in fact that patterns of dropouts for these children continue to increase. These findings suggest a need for stronger linkages between welfare departments and school systems in adopting strategies to achieve better outcomes for families in poverty.