The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP)

The recent release of admissions data for New York City’s specialized high schools has reignited calls to scrap the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Pointing to figures such as Stuyvesant High School’s admission of just three black students for its incoming class, progressive critics label these institutions as “segregated” and argue that discarding the test is the only path to boosting black and Hispanic enrollment.

If decades of research on poverty have shown anything, it’s the importance of work in helping people to avoid or escape poverty. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of a pathway out of poverty that does not involve work. While it may need to be subsidized, at least initially, paid employment is the best and primary route to self-sufficiency. The benefits of work go beyond the paycheck.

July 7, 2026 | Millions of Americans’ utility bills have risen drastically over the past few years. As companies build data centers and factories and Americans switch to driving electric vehicles and install heat pumps in their homes, demand will continue to rise. Such energy inflation is particularly harmful to lower-income and fixed-income Americans as energy costs make up a growing proportion of their household budget.

In a city defined by gridlock and dysfunction, last week something extraordinary happened: Congress passed productive, pro-growth, bipartisan legislation that reduces government barriers to prosperity. Last Monday, the Senate voted 85–5 to pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The following day, the House followed suit, 358–32. Despite some theatrics from President Trump, the bill will become law in short order.

The American Dream is increasingly looking like a mirage, especially to low-income Americans. Fewer and fewer Americans believe the promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is accessible to them. In an April 2026 survey from AP-NORC, only one third of Americans believe that the American Dream still holds true. This finding is consistent with other polling in recent years, such as a 2025 survey from The Wall Street Journal and NORC.

Over the last few decades, the number of publicly traded companies has fallen considerably, while the share of assets inside privately held companies has skyrocketed. Since regulations have historically locked out all but a few investors from those companies, the broader public—and especially the bottom half of the income distribution—has entirely missed out on reaping returns from firms until they already mature.

This post below is an extenstion of a newsletter that originally appeared on the FREOPP Substack. Two stories broke last week that, taken together, embody an ideological divide at the heart of so many debates in America: people’s belief in the chief drivers of prosperity and well-being.

Two stories broke this week that underscore a deep divide in people’s understanding of the drivers of prosperity and well-being. First, more than four million Americans have moved off food stamps since expanded work requirements took effect. Second, Elon Musk became the world’s first “trillionaire” when SpaceX debuted on NASDAQ. The reactions were telling. Progressive critics treated the decline in SNAP enrollment as cruelty. They treated Musk’s wealth as greed.

Despite more than $150 billion in federal spending since 2016, more than 745,000 Americans are homeless according to the latest point-in-time estimates released last week. More than 266,000 of them were “unsheltered;” that is, living on the streets. The good news is that this represents a three percent decrease in the number of homeless since 2024. The bad news is that it also marks a 27 percent increase since 2013. Pretty clearly, current policies to end homelessness are not working.

June 4, 2026 | Last month, the U.S. national debt topped $39 trillion, and the portion of the debt (roughly $31 trillion) held by the public now exceeds 100 percent of GDP for the first time ever. It is projected to reach $40 trillion before the November midterm elections. There are myriad reasons why this tsunami of red ink is bad news. But less talked about are the significant ways that the debt is making life harder for low-income American families.