A new Dowling College study names poverty as a reason many Long Island students fail to meet federal education standards.

The study, co-authored by researcher and economist Marty Cantor, measured the effectiveness of the "No Child Left Behind" mandate. Measuring results in "high-stakes" exams such as English and language, Dowling found students in 49 districts increasingly fail between third and eighth grades.

"'No Child Left Behind' is leaving Long Island behind," Cantor said.

In Nassau, 17 percent of third-graders and 22 percent of eighth-graders failed the exams. Four percent live in poverty. Suffolk's poor, about 3.5 percent of the county's students, fared worse. Twenty-four percent of third-graders and 29 percent of eighth-graders failed the exams.

Superintendent Ronald Ross' Roosevelt Union Free School District is among those with below-average test scores. Ross, too, blames poverty-related problems like unstable family life and poor diet.

"A school cannot overcome a child's life chances," Ross said. "Life chances must be equal for all."

For extended coverage of Dowling College's study on the impact of 'No Child Left Behind' on Long Island, go to channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.

Related Information: Dowling College Click on Long Island Economic and Social Policy Institute for the report