Educating All God's Children: What Christians Can--and Should--Do to Improve Public Education for Low-Income Kids

There are sixteen million children growing up in poverty in America. They have the same God-given potential as children in wealthier communities, but on average they achieve at significantly lower levels. Education expert Nicole Baker Fulgham explores what Christians can--and should--do to champion urgently needed reform and improve our public schools.

"A compelling call to a new generation of Christians to fight poverty and injustice through committing themselves to education. Nicole Baker Fulgham is a leader who gives me hope for the future of the church and for educational equality in America. Her passion and dedication to her faith and to tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time is clear on every page. Anyone looking for a practical and faithful means of changing the world should read this book at once."
--Jim Wallis, president, Sojourners; author of The (Un)Common Good: How the Gospel Brings Hope to a World Divided

"A powerful, engaging book about one of the most urgent challenges facing our nation today. Combining moving stories with solid data, Educating All God's Children is a ringing challenge to provide quality education for all our children. Excellent."
--Ronald J. Sider, president emeritus, Evangelicals for Social Action

"Educating All God's Children stands as a justice manifesto on behalf of millions who stand crippled by the epidemic of educational disparity. This book serves as a clarion call for the church of Jesus Christ to rise with a prophetic and moral imperative to reform our public schools."
--Samuel Rodriguez, president, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Hispanic Evangelical Association

"Nicole Baker Fulgham weaves personal experience, national statistics, educational theory, biblical teaching, and practical examples into a compelling call to transform public schools from worst to first. Everyone who cares about America's children must read this book."
--Leith Anderson, president, National Association of Evangelicals

Children living in poverty have the same God-given potential as children in wealthier communities, but on average they achieve at significantly lower levels. Kids who both live in poverty and read below grade level by third grade are three times as likely not to graduate from high school as students who have never been poor. By the time children in low-income communities are in fourth grade, they're already three grade levels behind their peers in wealthier communities. More than half won't graduate from high school--and many that do graduate only perform at an eighth-grade level. Only one in ten will go on to graduate from college. These students have severely diminished opportunities for personal prosperity and professional success. It is clear that America's public schools do not provide a high quality public education for the sixteen million children growing up in poverty.

Education expert Nicole Baker Fulgham explores what Christians can--and should--do to champion urgently needed reform and help improve our public schools. The book provides concrete action steps for working to ensure that all of God's children get the quality public education they deserve. It also features personal narratives from the author and other Christian public school teachers that demonstrate how the achievement gap in public education can be solved.

Nicole Baker Fulgham (PhD, UCLA) is president and founder of The Expectations Project, a national organization that mobilizes people of faith to support public education reform and close the academic achievement gap. She is the former vice president of faith community relations at Teach For America and has appeared on CNN and ABC News. Baker Fulgham was named to the list of "50 Women to Watch: Those Most Shaping the Church and Culture" by Christianity Today and one of "14 Faith Leaders to Watch in 2014" by the Center for American Progress. She lives in the Washington, DC area.