Children in poverty make up thirty-nine percent of the population, and most of these children do not receive a good education because their parents cannot afford to send them to anything but a public school. This paper will discuss the education of children under twelve years of age who are in poverty, including programs offered to education children in poverty, how the government helps disadvantaged children, how the environment and ethnicity affect learning, and what can be done to help these children get a better education.
             There are many programs out there may benefit the education of poor children. Right now, the Federal government provides some funds to educate children in the public school system only. Often times, parents in poverty do not like the level of education their child is receiving, and they want to have the government help them pay to send their children to a private school to get a better education. The Federal government does not provide any funding to educate poor children in private schools. So many parents are forming organizations that put pressure on their state's government to provide funding. Wisconsin is one state that parents are pushing for better education of children who are in poverty. A group of parents who are in poverty formed a group called the Milwaukee Parent Choice Program. This group formed in response to the poor education their children were receiving. This program will allow children from low-income families to attend private non-sectarian schools. They get their funding from the state of Wisconsin through grants. This program has been very successful for children who were not doing well in the public school system (Committee on Labor and Human Resources, 1997). Another organization in Wisconsin that is fighting for education for children in poverty is Partners Advocating Values in Education. This organization raises money to help provide scholarship support to low-incom...