Educational scholars have argued that poverty can hamper student achievement. In this critical discussion paper, we provide a historiography of how urban poverty increased in America over the last 30 years of the 20th century. We contend that educators and educational researchers working in P-12 urban schools should understand how federal urban policies contributed to the academic opportunity gap. To show how these federal polices still affect urban youth today, we provide demographic, housing, and crime data from two school districts in Nashville, Tennessee. These data shed light on the adverse effects federal policies have had on urban districts when compared to their suburban counterparts. As such, we believe there is a need for a reconceptualization of the type of research conducted in P-12 urban schools. We end by providing recommendations for how this shift might occur.