Recent studies suggest that the United States has the highest child poverty rate in the world, affecting the performance of hundreds of thousands of children in school, Press TV reports.
According to a report from the National Center on Family Homelessness, child poverty has been estimated to be at 22 percent, the highest rate in the world.
The report goes on to say that at some point during 2010, 1.6 million children in the US were homeless.
Poor academic achievement and poverty have been linked, indicating that children living in poverty often have a hard time concentrating on their studies.
“They're [students] going to be struggling with lack of food and nutrition, healthcare, Dentacare. You add those barriers up and you can see a child with those challenges walking into a classroom, and would any of us doubt his/her [dealing with the challenges of ] focusing on what is going on in the classroom,” DC Kids' HyeSook Chung says.
The report predicts a rise in the country's child poverty, as the rate continues to rise.
According to experts, even if changes were made to improve the situation, it would take up to a decade to remove the gap between poor children and their more privileged classmates.