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             The poverty statistics are very interesting. According to the census data, 28% of Baltimore families with children under the age of 18 are living below the poverty level. That number increases to 40.6% for female-headed families with no father present. The blame for poverty is an age-old question which usually produces the same answers: high taxes, barriers to occupational entry, and other economic factors. When you factor choice into the equation, the numbers change significantly. .

             The poverty rate diminishes greatly for households that choose to marry and have children later in life, obtain a higher education, and stay of out jail. The poverty rate for married households with children under the age of 18 is 7.4%. The answer seems simple: obtain higher education and marry later in life. Cecelia Elena Rouse, an economist and Dean of the Woodrow WilsonSchool of Public and International affairs at Princeton University, conducted focus groups in Baltimore City, MD. She was looking at income expectations to determine if there was a correlation between expected income and college attendance. The sample consisted of low-income minority high school seniors. She found that income expectations of low-income minority students are not so different from higher-income students. Low-income students are less able to turn their college plans into college attendance (Rouse 1314).

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             The Maryland State Department of Education has reported that starting in 2007, city schools were beginning to show progress in its school reform effort; graduation rates were rising while dropout rates were decreasing. While progress has been made, more work and focus needs to be done in the Baltimore education system. The non-attendance rate has been recognized as a problem among low income students. Poor students are four times more likely to be chronically absent than their peers. Problems standing in the way of good school attendance include inadequate transportation, unstable housing, lack of health care, high incidence of chronic illness, and poor nutrition and safety concerns (Chang 7).