Generational Poverty: Implications and Effective Strategies for School Administrators

Kelly S. Compton

Bradford Area School District

Workshop Objectives

Examine the characteristics of students and families living in generational poverty

Address the challenges of teaching students of poverty

Identify instructional strategies for “empowering” students of poverty

Characteristics

Community Associations

Crime Alcohol and Substance

Abuse

Unemployment Rent-to-Own / Cash

Advance Poor housing

Violence

Child abuse and / or neglect

Depression

Lack of Transportation

Social Services

School Associations Delay in Language and

Reading Development

Lack Problem Solving Skills

Aggression / Violence

Social Withdrawal or Attention Seeking

Substance Abuse Issues

Apathy and / or Laziness

Lack of Responsibility

Irregular Attendance

Depression and Mental Illness

Lack of Parental Involvement

Lack of Preparation (no assignments, no studying, no supplies)

ADHD

Impede the learning of other children

Who are the students of poverty?

Children who receive little or no pre-natal care

Children who are born to teen mothers

Children who are more likely to suffer developmental delays

Children who live in a single-parent household

Children who are being raised by grandparents

Children who visit a parent in jail

Children who are exposed to violence

Children who are involved in the foster care system

Children who suffer from their parents’ addictions

Children who do not have adequate nutrition

Children who live in substandard housing

They are . . .

Children who born to mothers and fathers without a high school diploma

Children who are at-risk of dropping out of high school

Children who enter school not ready to learn.

Children who do not know the hidden rules of success in a classroom.

Children who . . .

Make up an aggregated group

Factor into proficiency rates on standardized tests

Stand in the way of AYP

In the past have been left behind

In the past . . .

Our schools were designed to leave a lot of children behind.

Our previous mission was to rank students according to their achievement levels.

Our outcomes were winners and losers.

Successful Students(On Winning Streaks)

Confident Optimistic – Expect positive results Desire success Self-Analysis in failure High level of effort Risk takers

Failing Students (On Losing Streaks)

Frustrated and Angry Pessimistic Hopelessness Self-Criticism in failure Waning effort (denial or cover up) Fear of Risk Taking Defensiveness

Provide an Opportunity

Previously, if a student gave up in hopelessness and stopped trying, it was the student’s problem – not the teacher’s or the school’s problem.

Society realized that merely sorting students no longer met our education needs. Losing

streaks and giving up were no longer options, at least with

respect to standards.

Something changed:

Society said . . .

LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND!

MAKE SURE LEARNING OCCURS!

PROMOTE THE SUCCESS OF ALL STUDENTS!

Core Beliefs

Maintain high and rigorous standards of learning for all students

Hold schools, teachers, students accountable for the information and skills to be learned

NCLB

CHALLENGES

Challenges

High Mobility

Student Motivation

School Readiness

Parental Involvement

High-Mobility

Housing Problems Searching for work Running from problems

Abusive relationships Criminal records Financial responsibility Child Protective Services

Doubling Up

Implications of High Mobility

Test Scores

Consistency of Instruction

Reduce sense of belonging

Reduce academic attachment

Student Motivation

Driving Forces

SURIVIVAL

RELATIONSHIPS

ENJOYMENT / ENTERTAINENT

Emotional Trauma

Nutrition

Value of Education

Implications of Student Motivation

Classrooms should be high in challenge and low in threat.

Intensive teaching and learning is best done in groups of six or fewer children.

Thirty minutes of intensive, close-up teaching is as valuable as several hours of whole group instruction.

Eye contact with the teacher keeps the brain focused on the task at hand.

Cooperative and shared decision making promotes a community of learners.

Feed your learners!

Building Relationships

Call on everyone in the room Provide individual help Give “wait” time Ask guiding questions as

clues to the right answer Ask questions that require

more thought Tell students whether their

answers are right or wrong Give specific praise Give reasons for praise

Accept the feelings of students

Listen Get within an arm’s reach

each day Be courteous She personal interest and

give compliments Appropriately touch student

School Readiness

Children from poverty start out in life at a disadvantage. Little or no pre-natal care

Poor Quality Day Care

Lack Experience Being read to Playing on home computers Visiting zoos and museums Interacting with caring adults

Positive Social Interactions

Implications of School Readiness

Early Intervention

Early Childhood Education Programs

Positive Relationships with Adults

Support Systems

Open Doors

Parental Involvement

Barriers to Parental Involvement Time

Child Care

Transportation

Negative Personal Experiences with School

Types of Parents

1. Career-Oriented

2. Very Involved in School Activities

3. Single Parent Working Two Jobs

4. Immigrant Parents with Language Issues

5. Parents with Overwhelming Personal Issues

6. Surrogate Parents

7. Children who are their own Parent

Implications of Parental Involvement Phone Systems – Let the parents talk! Welcoming Greeting Use humor (not sarcasm): Can you poke fun at

yourself? Deliver bad news through a story Offer a cup of coffee Use an adult voice Be personally strong Use videos to convey important information Don’t accept behaviors from adults that you don’t

accept from students.

Instructional Strategies

How do the characteristics of poverty surface at school? Disorganized Many excuses Physically Aggressive Does not complete

assignments and other tasks

Likes to entertain classmates

Cannot monitor behavior

Laughs when discipline / or shrugs it off

Does not know or use middle class courtesies

Dislikes or distrusts authority figures

Talks back and are extremely participatory

No procedural self-talk

Success in School

Requires students to learn two sets of hidden rules

Requires students to utilize resources

Requires students to translate the abstract to the concrete

Abstract vs. Concrete thinking

School requires students to translate the abstract to the concrete.

Let’s build bridges that close the gap between the abstract and the concrete.

Mental Models

Mental Models are how the mind holds abstract information

Mental Models “collapse” the amount of time it takes to teach / learn something

Mental Models serve as graphic organizers and provide a blueprint for understanding

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need

Another Way of Seeing Anchors

PA Academic Standards

Assessment Anchors

A Graphic Organizer

PA Academic Standards

Reporting Categories

Assessment Anchors

Descriptors

Eligible Content

Test Development Process

Grade Level Expectations

Achievement or Performance Levels

State Content Standards

Test

Response to Intervention

Open-Ended Response Questions

Turn the Question around

Answer the question

Give specific number of details

Ultimate Goal

Teachers use mental models to explain and teach complex ideas.

Teachers guide students in creating mental models

Students develop their own effective, personal mental models.

Questioning Strategies

“Without strong questioning skills, we are just passengers on someone else's tour bus. We may be on the highway, but someone else is doing the driving.”

4 Types of Questions

"Right there" questions (text explicit). These are literal questions where the answer is in the text itself.

Think and search" questions (text implicit). The answer is implicit in the text but the student must synthesize, infer, or summarize to find the answer. Think and search questions tend to be more open-ended without set answers.

"

"

"A reader with no questions might just as well abandon the book."

"Reader and author" questions (text implicit or experience-based). The answer needs the reader to combine his or her own experiences with what the text states, i.e., the knowledge presented by the author.

On my own" questions (text implicit or experience-based). The reader needs to generate the answer from his or her prior knowledge. The reader may not need to read the text to answer, but the answer would certainly be shaped differently after reading the text.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Question 1

Which word best describes Edison’s reaction when his first phonograph worked?

A. boastful

B. surprised

C. inspired

D. reserved

B.1.1.1

Question 2

The passage is mostly organized by

A. cause and effect.

B. sequence of events

C. problem and solution

D. comparison and contrast

B.3.3.1

Question 3

Based on the passage, readers can conclude that telegraphs were

A. machines that transmitted sound.

B. invented after the phonograph.

C. machines that recorded sound.

D. made using large brass horns.

A.1.3.1 or A.2.3.1

Question 4

What does the word skeptical mean as used in the passage?

A. unkind

B. neutral

C. doubtful

D. recorded

A.1.2.2 or A.2.2.2

Question 5

Which sentence best summarizes the effect Dick Fosbury had on his sport?

A. “But Fosbury easily made the qualifying jumps to advance to

the next day’s final round.”

B. “He began to experiment during practice sessions, bending

various ways as he jumped.”

C. “Today it is rare to find a successful high jumper anywhere who

doesn’t use the flop style.”

D. “But Fosbury worked hard at his high jumping and began to lift

weights to increase his strength.”

A.1.5.1 or A.2.5.1

Question 6

According to the passage, the O’Brien home was not destroyed at the turn of the century because

A. a secret passageway was found in the library.

B. the family had wealth and political influence.

C. a tree was found in the backyard of the home.

D. The home had historical and architectural value.

A.1.4.1 or A.2.4.1

Question 7

Which of these sentences indicates that the passage is written from a first-person point of view?

A. “When local officials arrived for an appraisal, they discovered that the house had a backyard, which is forbidden by zoning restrictions.”

B. “In the yard was a live tree – an oke was what Mom called it.”

C. “On the way back, Mom and Dad were silent, and I read through one of the brochures the guide had passed out.”

D. “It had none of the marble gloss or steely sheen of modern buildings, but was rather a dull white color, with the paint peeling in

places.

B.2.2.1

Question 8

Read the following sentence from the passage.

“You could see details more intricate than in any manmade plant.”

Which of these words is an antonym of intricate?

A. simple

B. modern

C. colorful

D. precise

A.1.1.2

Question 9

What is the purpose of the passage?

A. to explain how to paint the morning

B. to describe the colors used to paint the morning

C. to show that it takes time to paint the morning

D. to tell a story about a girl trying to paint the morning

A.1.6.1 or A.2.6.1

Question 10

Which of these is an opinion?

A. “Nearly all diamonds are colorless.”

B. “Most businesses no longer buy costly natural diamonds.”

C. “The beautiful blue Hope diamond brings bad luck to its owner.”

D. “Diamonds are measured by their weight in carats.”

B.3.1.1

Question 11

Read the following sentence from the passage.

“The chemical companies were sure to go after her and try to discredit her findings.”

What does the word discredit mean?

A. to delay

B. to make fun of

C. to support

D. to cast doubt upon

A.1.2.1 or A.2.2.1

Question 12

Read the following lines from the poem.

“as though their minds were on fire

with the flower of one perfect idea”

These lines suggest that the goldfinches

A. knew what they had to do

B. looked like perfect flowers

C. used flowers to build their nests

D. were still growing and learning

B.2.1.1

Question 13

The two passages are alike because they both

A. are about similar subject matter.

B. are written in the same literary style.

C. contain only the opinions of the author.

D. try to convince the reader to get braces.

B.1.1.2

Question 14

The question that begins each section is most likely intended to

A. convey a sense of perplexity.

B. grab the reader’s attention.

C. convince the reader that racing is unsafe.

D. cast doubt on the excitement of racing.

B.3.3.2

Question 15

According to the chart, “Where New Smokers Come From,” which statement is true of high school seniors?

A.The smoking rate hit an all-time low in 1990.

B.Only about 20 percent smoked in 1984.

C.Seniors usually smoked for only thirty days.

D.Smoking increased after 1992.

B.3.3.3

Question 16

As used in the passage, what does the word pound mean?

A. a unit of currency

B. a lost dog’s home

C. to hit with force

D. a weight

A.1.1.1 or A.2.1.1

Question 17

As used in the passage, the word trademark most likely means

A. a lesson learned.

B. a distinguishing characteristic.

C. a business transaction.

D. a challenging obstacle.

A.2.1.2

Question 18

Based on their actions, how could the Austin family be described? Use at least two examples from the passage to support your answer.

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________B.1.1.1 and A.1.3.2

Question 19

In “You Want Flies with That?,” which step should be completed right after gluing tissue paper on the container?

A. cutting a frog’s head out of poster board

B. gluing the frog’s head onto the body

C. brushing water and glue over the paper

D. cutting holes in the bottom of the container

B.3.3.4

Question 20

Which of the following from the editorial is an example of illogical thinking?

A. “If all students dress alike, they will think alike, too.

B. “Students my age want to express themselves.”

C. “I am a students, and it is clear to me that students cannot be

forced to wear uniforms.”

D. “If I like a certain band, I wear a tee-shirt with its name.”

B.3.2.1

Final Thoughts

“Poverty is a feeling of deprivation that leads to a sense of inadequacy.”

“Poverty breeds loss of dignity and self-respect.”

'Poverty is really the lack of freedom to have or to do basic things that you value.”

“Poverty is the extent to which a person goes without resources.”

The Bottom Line

EDUCATION

RELATIONSHIPS

Thank You!