POVERTY AND STUDENT

ACHIEVEMENTDomingo Garcia

2011

MAJOR CULTURAL GROUPS Social class Gender Nationality

Race/ethnicity Religion Exceptionality/nonexceptionali

ty

WHY CULTURE MATTERS Knowledge of groups and how they

interact and intersect can help us understand student behavior and probable learning styles.

This information can help the teacher develop appropriate techniques and apply effective methods to increase odds of student success and knowledge acquisition, retention, and application.

INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL CLASS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Berliner (2009) elaborates on six out-of-

school factors (OSF’s) that affect the health and learning opportunities of children in poverty.

They are: low birth weight and non-genetic prenatal influences on children; inadequate medical, dental, and vision care; food insecurity; environmental pollutants; family relations and family stress; and neighborhood characteristics.

EFFECTS OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL FACTORS ON STUDENTS IN POVERTY

“These OSFs are related to a host of poverty-induced physical, sociological, and psychological problems that children often bring to school, ranging from neurological damage and attention disorders to excessive absenteeism, linguistic underdevelopment, and oppositional behavior” (Berliner, 2009)

FURTHER EFFECTS OF OSF’S ON ACHIEVEMENT Food insecurity leads to lack of nutrition

which leads to impaired language development and behavioral problems.

Environmental pollutants impact health and a lack of medical attention leads to more illness and absenteeism which affects school achievement.

One neighborhood characteristic of those living in poverty is lessened access to books at home and their communities. Krashen (2010) elaborates that less access to books means lower reading achievement.

SO NOW WHAT?

It seems almost impossible for children in high poverty schools to succeed seeing that there is almost no way schools can influence the out-of-school factors. Or is there?

BEHAVIORS PRACTICED BY TEACHERS AND LEADERS IN HIGH POVERTY-HIGH SUCCESS SCHOOLS

Focus on academic achievement

Clear curriculum choices

Frequent assessment of student progress

Multiple opportunities for improvement

An emphasis on nonfiction writing

Collaborative scoring of student work

Reeves, D. B. (2009). Uncovering the “secrets” of high poverty, high success schools.

SUCCESS IS NOT A LOTTERY We cannot blame students for the hand

they have been dealt. Success is a choice, there is no luck

involved. As educators it is our duty to empower children to see the choices available to them and motivate them to select the ones that stand to make the most difference in their lives.

REFERENCESCody, A. (2010, May 10). Stephen Krashen: Children need food, healthcare and books. Not

new

standards and tests. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in dialogue/2010/05/stephen_krashen_fix_poverty_an.html

Reeves, D. B. (2009). Uncovering the “secrets” of high poverty, high success schools. Retrieved from

http://www.teachersofcolor.com/2009/04/uncovering-the-secrets-of-high-poverty- high-success-school

Berliner, D. C. (2009). Poverty and potential: Out of school factors and school success. Retrieved from

http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/poverty-and-potential