First Step to the Middle Class

The Hechinger Report traveled to three counties with very high numbers of adults without a high school credential to learn about the obstacles schools and families must overcome to provide and obtain this essential first step to a middle-class life. The three counties, all in the rural South, are profoundly different in terms of race and ethnicity — and in their experiences of racism and segregation.

Latino students

Out of the fields: In a North Carolina county where few Latino parents have diplomas, their kids are aiming for college

Latinos have some of the lowest education levels in the country, but poverty and immigration fears aren’t holding back some students and schools trying to break the cycle

First Step to the Middle Class

by Meredith Kolodner  – October 21, 2019

high school diploma

Hope in coal country: Parents without diplomas keep their kids in school

In a Kentucky county where coal once reigned, a principal tries to map a future for students that won’t take them away from home

First Step to the Middle Class

by Meredith Kolodner  – October 21, 2019

Avoyelles Parish

Progress in the Deep South: Black students combat segregation, poverty and dwindling school funding

In a parish with one of the lowest rates of black high school graduates in the nation, a community tries to raise graduation rates

First Step to the Middle Class

by Meredith Kolodner  – October 21, 2019

Map to the Middle Class

The story of the future of work in America is one of deepening economic polarization. Good jobs are disappearing for people with only a high-school diploma, while wage and employment gains increasingly accrue to people with higher education.
Latino students

Desde el campo: En un condado de Carolina del Norte donde pocos padres latinos tienen diplomas, sus hijos van en busca de una educación universitaria

Los latinos tienen algunos de los más bajos niveles educacionales del país, pero el temor a la pobreza y a los problemas de inmigración no son un impedimento para alumnos y escuelas que tratan de romper el ciclo

First Step to the Middle Class

by Meredith Kolodner  – October 21, 2019