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
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”
Steven Brill Thinks So” by Dana Goldstein. This article is published by The Nation on August 10, 2011. Goldstein is journalist and a media entrepreneur. “Can Teachers Alone Overcome Poverty? Steven Brill Thinks So” is about how Goldstein first talks about what Brill says and then she responds to the question herself. She starts off with talking about the things that Brill mentions in his “The Rubber Room” article and how he believes the issue is in school with teachers. She then goes on to say that “family income, nutrition, health, English-language proficiency and the like-affect children’s academic performance, no matter how great their teachers are.” (Goldstein 1) The rest of the article is about how these out of school factors impact the students’ in school performance no matter how good or bad their teachers
Child poverty is and has been a big problem in America, and children below the poverty line do not do well in school. David H. Arnold, a scholar and studier on the subject, said in an article, "Child poverty has reached epidemic proportions within the United States. Of the 35.6 million people living in poverty in 1997, 14.1 million were children … One third of American children spend at least one year below the poverty line, and 18% experience extreme poverty … Younger children are more likely to face poverty… and its impact may be strongest during children's earliest years ... Among poverty's effects is a devastating negative influence on academic achievement; the relation between socioeconomic status … and underachievement is most dramatic near and below the poverty line” (Arnold). Child poverty is a very real problem in America and most children with money problems are likely to fall behind in school. In addition, Parents having a bad education will most likely lead to poverty, and it is hard for their children to improve their way of life after they have based under the poverty line. In Arnold’s article, he stated; "Numerous factors contribute to the relation between [economic stance] and educational outcomes … Such factors may, for example, have repercussions on child cognitive functioning or parenting, and in turn, educational
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
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...
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).”
For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused elsewhere, particularly in the inner city schools.
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
Julie green and Erica Lepping. “Education Report- Shows Poverty Linked to Student Achievement.” School Funding Inequity. Sptember 8, 1998. ©2000. <http://www. geocities.com/~schoolfunding/index.html>
Schools that are filled with low-income colored students across the country are far more likely to have inexperienced teachers, bad grades, very little opportunities for economic funding and racial segregation compared to schools in wealthier areas. The issue of teacher
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
There are many different factors that affect education. One such factor is, socioeconomic status. Children who attend school in a wealthier community receive a better education than those students in poor communities. In poor communities, student’s education is not only affected by a lack of resources, but also from teaching methods and philosophies. Urban and poor schools’ students do not receive as equal of an education as their more affluent and suburban counterparts do.
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.
"Causes and Effects of Poverty." Cliffs Notes. Cliffs Notes, n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2013. .