Though brief, this article brings the big picture of lead exposure into sharp focus very effectively. Reading this made me want to learn more about Rick Nevin, the economist and researcher who draws correlations between lead levels and education performance.

Essentially a one-source story. An interesting study is highlighted here, but absent much background and context, I can only read it at face value.

It is good in that it gives provocative, new information. The the headline could have been improved by indicating the direction of the change -- improvement in both. Had I only read the headline, I would have assumed that this was a story like so many showing rising environmental toxins increasingly depressing health and quality of life. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't provide experts critiquing the study. This type of analysis relies heavily on the quality of the study design and analysis, which the reader is not in a position to measure. There could have been other factors leading to both trends (i.e., distorter variables).