Lead poisoning is now being linked to poor performance in schools. Can lead poisoning be a major factor in urban schools?
Detroit Public Schools Concerned about Lead
60% of DPS, Detroit Public Schools, students that fall below grade level on standardized tests have an elevated level of lead poisoning. While other factors may play a large role, (poverty, poor parenting, parents in jail, unhealthy diets) 60% is a startling number. Brenda Gelman-Berowitz, a school social worker for the Detroit Schools says, "For years, we’ve blamed the schools and the teachers for kids failing. We haven’t seen this connection with lead before. But I see evidence of it everywhere." [1]
Study Reveals Unbelievable Link to Lead
A landmark study taken by the city health department of Detroit and the Detroit Public Schools shows that the higher the lead level, the worse a student’s scores are on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program exam, MEAP. Of the 39,000 Detroit student tested, 58% had a history of lead poisoning. In fact, only 23 students out of 39,199 had no lead in their bodies.
Detroit schools rated "last" in the nation in 2009 on the NAEP, National Assessment of Education Progress math test for fourth- and eighth-graders. "This is a crisis. There is a clear connection between lead poisoning and academic problems, which is relevant to understanding achievement gaps and why schools are failing," says Carole Ann Beaman, disabilities coordinator for DPS.
What are Safe Levels of Lead?
What levels are safe when it comes to lead poisoning? In 1991, the CDC set 10 micrograms as a level of concern in children but some studies set the level much lower. Many consider 5 micrograms as lead-poisoned. The CDC states that there are no levels that are considered safe. There seem to be no safe levels of lead poisoning and the effects are permanent. Once levels of lead poisoning are detected, the damage is done.
How does lead poisoning affect students? Students with higher lead levels had lower IQs and are seven times more likely to drop out of school than those with low levels. A 2009 study in North Carolina found lead exposure helps explain the achievement gap between African-American and white student in reading tests. In addition, students with high levels of lead tend to be easily frustrated, inattentive and withdrawn. By adolescence, they are likely to turn to aggression or delinquency.
Detroit is not alone. Studies in Chicago, Massachusetts and Connecticut have similar results. Lead poisoning is very common and is damaging the ability of children to learn.
[1] Lam, Tina and Tanner-White, Kristi, "High lead levels hurt learning for DPS kids," freepress.com, May 16, 2010.
Barbara Pytel - Email me Experience Although I was never particularly fond of going to school as an ELL student, I ironically became a teacher, ...
