Reflections: The Effects of Poverty on Teaching and Learning
I knew I had some pre-conceived ideas and did not understand the “hype” about the effects of poverty on teaching and learning in the United States, specifically between Washington, D.C. (considered a state for educational purposes) and Arkansas Public Schools. However, even though I grew up and graduated from Washington, DC Public Schools, through research I have found that there are many similarities when when it comes to the effects of poverty on teaching and learning whether you live in North or the South. First, the statistics are astounding. The January 2011 Children's Defense Fund's statistics reveal that the number of poor children in the District of Columbia is 29.4% and the number of children in extreme poverty is 18.8%. In comparison, the number of poor children in Arkansas is 27.2% and the number of children in extreme poverty is 12% . Yet, Washington ranks 3rd among states in per pupil expenditures while Arkansas ranks 37th. Since per pupil expenditures does not seem like a major factor, we must consider the concept of at-risk and the challenges that include diversity, achievement gap, student motivation to learn, lack of readiness to learn, relationships with and involvement of parents and families and brain based research, learning and poverty as outlined by Karen M. Pillino.
THE CONCEPT OF BEING AT-RISK
Pellino contends that “the impact of learning on the child of poverty but can also impact the learning of other children.” Because I am African American, I wanted to take a closer look at students who have been identified as “at risk” because of poverty. In Washington, D.C., poverty among students who are White, non-hispanic, 0.35% (7.1%); b...
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...e of students at or above selected National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading achievement levels, by grade and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 1998 through 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2014, from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_143.aspIsaacs, J. and Magnuson, K. (2011).
Income and Education as Predictor’s of Children’s School
Readiness. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
National Center for Education Statistics (2013). State Profiles.net. Retrieved January 30, 2014, from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/
Pellino, K. M. (2007). The effects of poverty on teaching and learning. Retrieved April, 23.
The President and Fellows at Harvard (2014). AGI Topics: The Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard. Retrieved January 30, 2014, from http://www.agi.harvard.edu/projects/thegap.php
Especially in regard to educating children in poverty so they will not fall behind. Helping adults to understand how to help these children is vitally important because those in poverty have different needs and require a different means of motivation, “if poor people were exactly the same cognitively, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally as those from the middle class, then the exact same teaching provided to both middle-class students and students from poverty would bring the exact same results (Jensen).”
Basic education is mandatory for all kids in the United States. There are laws with minimum and maximum age limits for required free education, but this does not make all education equal. The minimum age varies from four to five to begin kindergarten, while most students graduate high school by age of eighteen or nineteen. However, there are kids that begin their education much earlier. Bell Hooks’ “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Jonathan Kozol’s “From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”, and Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How I Discovered the Truth About Poverty” have a common topic, “poverty”. Moreover, each of these readings has a different perspective with a different agenda attached, but “poverty”
To successfully teach students living in poverty, educators need to provide support and stability. Teachers should be aware of different strategies used in the classroom that encourage students living in poverty, rather than singling them out from other children. After doing extensive research, I have found numerous strategies and activities that can aid in a child’s educational success while living in poverty.
In many low income communities, there are teachers that are careless and provide their students with poor quality education. These teachers are there just to make sure that they keep receiving their monthly paychecks and act in this way because they believe that low income students do not have the drive, the passion, or the potential to be able to make something of themselves and one day be in a better place than they are now. Anyon reveals that in working class schools student’s “Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps.” (3). This is important because it demonstrates that low income students are being taught in a very basic way. These children are being negatively affected by this because if they are always being taught in this way then they will never be challenged academically, which can play a huge role in their futures. This argument can also be seen in other articles. In the New York Times
The United States is a country known for its diversity; so when it comes to the diverse classrooms of today many would not think there would be an issue. However, many schools face a multitude of problems that affect pupil’s education. Roughly twenty-seven percent of Hispanic, Latino, and African-American students in the state of Louisiana fall within the poverty level and unfortunately do not obtain a decent quality education. In addition, only seventy-four percent of those Louisiana students go on to graduate high school (Spotlight on Poverty, 2015). The core portion of the issue concerning poverty in relation to education is due to the economy, work availability, and
School funding is systemically unequal, partially because the majority of school funding comes from the school district’s local property taxes, positioning the poorest communities at the bottom rung of the education playing field. A student’s socioeconomic status often defines her success in a classroom for a number of reasons. Students who live below the poverty line have less motivation to succeed, and their parents are less inclined to participate in their child’s education, often because the parents cannot provide support for their children. Although it’s logical that school districts from poorer communities cannot collect as much funding as the richer communities, persons stuck in these low-income communities often pay higher taxes, and still their school dis...
Low income students are generally found in low income communities which have fewer resources to devote to their schools. With inadequate funds and resources, these kids are not getting the equal opportunity in education as kids in high income communities. Kids...
As Nelson Mandela once proclaimed, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Unfortunately, some students do not have the chance to take part in a college education. Not receiving a post-secondary education is a rising issue among those below the poverty line in the United States. In 2010, eighty-two percent of high income students continued their education into college; while in contrast, only fifty-two percent of students living in poverty had the opportunity to receive their college education. Poverty can be defined as having little to no money, goods, or means of support. Living below the line of poverty is an ongoing struggle for at least fifteen million young adults nation-wide, according to the Institute for Higher Education Policy. This accounts for at least forty-four percent of young adults. Currently, one person out of every four people living in poverty as an adult has earned their college degree; but somehow cannot escape the life of poverty, while eighteen percent of adults living in poverty dropped out of high school without even earning a GED or an equivalent degree (Low-Income). According to the New York State Department of Labor 2010 statistics, an individual with a Bachelor’s Degree will earn over fifty thousand dollars more per year than an individual who has only completed high school (Smith). Earning a college degree will not ensure escaping the life of poverty; however, it provides a solution to escape that lifestyle and gives an opportunity to move on to a more successful life that those living in poverty have only dreamed of.
The Effects of Poverty on Minority Education Poverty and its effects on educational performance of minorities is a societal issue with many facets. First, understanding the implications of poverty, and then offering creditable interventions to combat the problem is necessary. First, one must understand that belonging to an underrepresented minority group does not necessarily imply that a student is disadvantaged, but those belonging to those ethnic groups in addition to having low income offer a risk of low academic achievement (Olszewski-Kuilius & Clarenbach, 2012). Statistically, students from minority groups score lower on standardized testing than their white counterparts (Tomlinson & Jarvis, 2014). The reasons for this are numerous.
Throughout the nation, education inequality affects many minority students that have low-income which reinforces the disparity between the rich and the poor. The amount of children that have a socioeconomic background of poverty in the United States is estimated to be 32.4 million (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2011). Since many of these children are from
In the Southern Education Foundation’s (SEF) October 2013 report, A New Majority Low Income Students in the South and Nation, it is shared that a majority of public school children in 17 states, one-third of the 50 states across the nation, were low income students as of 2011. Thirteen of the 17 states were in the South, and the remaining four were in the West. Since 2005, half or more of the South’s children in public schools have been from low income households. During the school years 2010 and 2011, for the first time in modern history, the western United States had a majority of low income students attending P-12 public schools.
More and more people are falling into insular poverty. Insular poverty is rapidly growing, in our nation, into a huge problem today. It’s affecting student’s education causing them to work so much harder than the average American. To get a higher education in a poverty stricken home is almost impossible. Research is showing that poverty negatively impacts students during their educational
Living in poverty exposes children to disadvantages that influence many aspects in their life that are linked to their ability to do well in school. In the United States of America there are an estimated 16.4 million children under the age of 18 living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). “The longer a child lives in poverty, the lower the educational attainment” (Kerbo, 2012). Children who are raised in low-income households are at risk of failing out before graduating high school (Black & Engle, 2008). U.S. children living in poverty face obstacles that interfere with their educational achievement. Recognizing the problems of living in poverty can help people reduce the consequences that prevent children from reaching their educational potential.
A 2006 nationwide study revealed that students enrolled in Title I Programs had lower levels of engagement than students who didn’t attend lower income institution (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). Poverty has a direct effect on students’ behavior and emotions. It also has an impact on their perception of education. The causes of poverty include divorce, substance abuse, lack of education or being born into low income culture. Other factors include declining job markets or simple misfortune. Regardless of the cause, students tend to bring these burdens into the classrooms.
"Causes and Effects of Poverty." Cliffs Notes. Cliffs Notes, n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2013. .