Improving Educational Opportunities for Foster Children. Heritage Lectures. Number 1050

The more than 500,000 children currently in foster care are among the most at-risk children in American society. Research shows that adults who were formerly in foster care are more likely than the general population to succumb to poor life outcomes. Many of these problems are at least in part a product of problems in the classroom, where foster children tend to have lower educational attainment than their peers. Foster children on average have lower scores on standardized tests and higher absenteeism, tardiness, truancy, and dropout rates. In this lecture, the author discusses the root causes of poor educational outcomes for foster children and possible ways of addressing their need for greater stability, high expectations, and better educational outcomes. He concludes that a school choice scholarship program for children in foster care would have several benefits, and suggests ways in which Congress could help encourage school choice for foster children. (Contains 10 footnotes.) [This Heritage Lecture was originally delivered on June 19, 2007.]