When the alarm sounds on
a weekday morning for children across America, some will wake up to a warm home
with breakfast cereal in the cupboard, milk in the refrigerator, and supportive
parents ready to get the child off to the bus stop. Other children will wake to a hungry stomach
that won’t be remedied, dirty articles of clothing to don for school, and a sad disposition as they face another day in their class as a “have not.” As teachers of this country’s youth, we are
bound to have a mix of these two types of children in our classroom each year. Unfortunately, some teachers will have a
disproportionate number of students who fit the latter description of a school
day morning. What can teachers do to
meet the disproportionate needs of children in poverty while still providing
them with a rigorous education worthy of the new Common Core standards? That’s what this website is designed to help
you resolve within your classroom. As
Jensen (2009) stated, “Poverty calls
for key information and smarter strategies, not resignation and despair” (“Understanding
the Nature of Poverty,” para.2).
Poverty
Poverty in the United States is
determined by household size and monthly income. According to the US Census Bureau, “In 2012, the official poverty rate
was 15.0 percent. There were 46.5 million people in poverty” (2013). What’s more is that “The poverty rate in 2012 for children under age 18 was 21.8 percent” (US Census Bureau, 2013). This means that the percentage of youth in
poverty was higher than the national poverty rate. (It is important to note here that perceptions of
poverty could vary geographically since different areas have different costs of
living.) At this time, “we can identify
six types of poverty: situational, generational, absolute, relative, urban, and
rural” (Jensen, 2009, “What is Poverty,” para.1). As you can imagine, this reality impacts all
facets of students’ lives including their learning and performance at
school.
In order to help with this reality facing schools, the Unites
States government has worked to provide some relief for schools enduring the burden
that comes with educating students from low-income families. Title I is a program established under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed in 1965. The goal of the initiative was to decrease
the achievement gap by allocating funds to schools with a high percentage of
students from low-income families.
Funding is distributed with a higher priority being given to underachieving
schools. Schools can be designated as
Title I schools if at least 40% of the school’s students are from homes who
qualify as “low-income” in line with the US Census’ definition of low-income.
In
my own experience teaching in a Title I school with a large percentage of the
student population coming from homes at or below the poverty level, I have seen
the distinct impact poverty has on the students. With 72% of the students at my school
receiving free and reduced priced lunches last year, I have experience teaching
in a classroom with more than half of my class suffering from the pervasive effects
of poverty. The student composition of
my classroom impacts everything from the manner in which I cultivate my
classroom community, to the kinds of classroom celebration we have, to projects I
assign to my class and everything in between.
I
have discovered though experience that the students from poverty-stricken homes
are at a disadvantage and their learning can suffer. This can be due to decreased nutrition or
exposure to stressors in the home. Most
notably, students from lower socioeconomic standings are touched by poor
nutrition, a lack of sleep, and a low occurrence of parental support,
especially when it comes to school functions, extracurricular activities, and
academics. For example, it is very
difficult to get into contact with the parents of the students I teach each
year. They often do not attend their
child’s once yearly musical performance or even come to parent teacher conferences. Another systemic issue I have experienced is
high rates of absenteeism and tardiness.
In fact, I have not had a day with perfect attendance this entire school
and that is not uncommon across the school.
With
all this data and information inundating us about the symbiotic relationship
between school performance and wealth, or lack thereof, it can feel daunting at
times to do our job as teachers. Instead
of feeling hopeless, educators can still be effective in the classroom. Too often we hear that US schools are
reported as having poor test scores in relation to other industrialized
countries. However, according to Krashen (2014), “…when we control for the
effects of poverty, American students rank near the top of the world…Our overall
scores are unspectacular because of our high rate of child poverty (more than
23 percent), the second-highest among all industrialized countries” (p.37). So, what we can do to maintain high
expectations in the classroom, but still meet the needs of all of our students,
even those who come to school without their essential needs being met at
home? The “Teaching Strategies” section
of this site will alert you to easy and effective ways to do just those things.
