Jo Boone

Sofia Dimitriou

What Classroom
Teachers Should
Know About
Poverty

Defining Poverty
Government defines it as certain income

levels. Statistics reflect people on assistance.

What about working poor? Two or three jobs!

What is poverty in one geographic region can

be almost middle class in another.

New displaced and homeless are now in

poverty, but not included in statistics.

Education Demographic
achievement mirrors local poverty
Poverty, race, and schooling are very highly

correlated with location.

African-Americans are the most racially
segregated, but segregation is declining.
Second most segregated group is Latino. No
changes to ratio of segregation.
Overall, neighborhoods are more integrated.
Most children in same economic status.
School racial composition affects academic,
social, and economic outcomes.

Percent of Children in Poverty

Caucasian Children in Poverty

African-American Children in Poverty

Latino Children in Poverty

Childhood Poverty 15 Year Trend

Other Poverty Issues

Children of immigrants 22% of poverty cases
Immigrant rates are increasing
New Poverty Group:

Great Recession Homeless

ot included in research
ifferent issues in classroom
ay manifest learning issues
n different patterns

More Poverty Issues

Poverty limits school achievement but effect

of actual income does not affect number of

years of school completed
Extra-familial environments begin to matter

as much or more for children than family

conditions once children reach school age
School related achievement depends on both

ability and behavior

Adverse Childhood Experiences Model

Death
Early
Death
Disease, Disability,
and Social Problems
Adoption of
Health Risk Behaviors
Social, Emotional, and
Cognitive Impairment

Conception

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Poverty Effect on School Children

Poverty associated with delayed language

development and other cognitive skills

Lower literacy rates and poor numeracy skills
Higher rates of behavioral and emotional

disorders
Higher percentage of students in Special

Education and/or needing support services

Poverty Effects on Cognitive Development

Short attention span because thinking about food
Lower academic support poor quality school
Low motivation to learn always thinking about

something else
High dropout rate because think they are not smart
enough
Developmental delays because of poor nutrition
or not enough support
Learning disabilities
Illiteracy and low achievement in schools
Little participation in extracurricular activities
Duration of poverty affecting cognitive development

Behavior Disorders
Chronic stress disorder

o safe-haven or
stress reducing
outlets
xposure to violence
in neighborhood or
home
o caring or
dependable adult
Greater impulsivity

cting before gaining

permission
Poor short-term memory

orgetting what to do
next

Emotional Keyboard

Taught

Hardwired

Humility
Forgiveness
Empathy
Optimism
Compassion

Sadness
Joy
Disgust
Anger
Surprise
Fear

Taught
Sympathy
Patience
Shame
Cooperation
Gratitude

Education Impact
The relationship between income and schooling
appears to be related to a number of
confounding factors such as:
parental education

family structure
neighborhood characteristics
Many families in poverty dont take the time to
have conversations. They have arguments.
Result: Students cant learn appropriate social skills
outside of school.

Lack of Parent Involvement

Dont get involved in school functions or

activities
Dont contact school about academic
concerns
Dont attend parent-teacher conferences
Children in poverty are more likely to lack
(and need) a caring, dependable adult in their
lives. Teachers may be only adult offering any
support

A Common Problem with Poorer Students

High tardy rates and high absenteeism

Attendance problems often indicate

negative parent attitudes towards
school
Parents may actually discourage
participation in school

Challenges for failing public schools

extreme socioeconomic

stratification
high population of poor children
legacy of underfunded schools

in urban and rural communities

What can a teacher do?

How well and how quickly we help kids adapt to
school forecasts long-term school outcomes
How do we create the SMARTER KIDS?

Stuff more content? This doesnt work!

Children need more capacity.

Academic Operating system for the brain

Ability and motivation to defer gratification and

make sustained effort for long term goals

Auditory, visual, and tactile processing skills
Attention skills that enable students to engage,
focus, and disengage when needed
Short-term and working memory capacity
Sequencing skills (knowing the order of a
process)
Champion mind-set and confidence
These skills form a foundation for school success and
can give students the capacity to override the
adverse risk factors of poverty

Ways to change IQ
Home environments and living

conditions
Quality of nutrition
Early childhood experiences and early
educational intervention
Amount and duration of schooling
A good teacher for three to five years would
eliminate the average gap between
economic groups and between ethnic groups

Children need a Fluid IQ

Students need the ability to rapidly adjust

their strategies and thought processes from

one context to another
ex. Child is taught how to cross the street.
They may use this knowledge with their bike
or skateboard, or in a new neighborhood.
A method of teaching this is with graphic

organizers, etc. Adjusting their knowledge to

another context.

Brain processes can be improved

through variety of activities
Physical activity - produces new brain

cells helping with learning, mood, and

memory
Arts improve attention, sequencing,
processing and cognitive skills
Computer aided instruction and
programs increase attention and
improve working memory within weeks!

Experienced-based brain changes

Video games develops attention skills
Intensive language training evokes measurable

physical changes in auditory brain maps

Spatial navigation abilities correlate with the
brain area responsible for explicit learning and
memory
Learning music results in improved attention,
sequencing, and processing
Learning new skills increases brain speed

Previous skills help students

Focus on.
Capture
Process
Evaluate and prioritize.
Manipulate..
Apply.
Present.

. Information in a meaningful way

Practical intelligence
Students with practical intelligence are able to
self-assess and self-correct during learning
process, not afterward
Knowing why
Knowing self
Knowing differences
Knowing process
Revisiting

Quality enrichment programs

Improve language fluency, IQ, and other

cognitive processes
Reduce school problems and academic failure in
both elementary and high school
Improve social, academic, and emotional
intelligence when implemented in early
childhood
The quality and duration of interventions along with
smaller, customized, age-appropriate activities
that continue over time is needed.
They can take four to six years

Visible or measurable enrichment results

Improved reading, verbal, writing

and tutoring skills

Better overall school performance
Stronger interest in class material
Higher grades
Improved attendance

What does not work.

Focusing only on basics (drill and kill)
Maintaining order through show of force
Eliminating or reducing time for arts,

sports, and PE
Increasing and intensifying classroom
discipline
Decreasing interaction among students
Delivering top-down lectures

High performing schools dont make

these mistakes
Overdoing pep talks and hot air
Planning endlessly
Putting kids first, staff last
Creating climate of fear
Measuring improvement solely

through test scores

Treating symptoms, not causes
Counting on big wins, quickly

How to Achieve Classroom Success

Match curriculum and instruction to standards
Turn standards into meaningful units
Pre-assess students background knowledge

(at least a week before the lesson)

Adjust pre-planned lesson plans
Practice hope building learned optimism

changes brain chemistry

must be pervasive and felt by all
hopeful kids try harder, persist longer, get better grades

Remove learned helplessness and feelings of

inadequacy. (Prevents passivity and feelings of

lack of control over circumstances (as early as 1 st
grade)

How to Achieve Classroom Success (cont.)

Arts, athletics, and AP
Dont dumb-down or pace slower for students with less
background knowledge
The arts build attention and processing skills (sequencing and
manipulation of procedures and data), strengthens memory
skills, and builds life-long transferable skills (reading)
Performance arts foster emotional intelligence and help with
social status and friends
Arts has stronger impact for students in poverty than other
groups
Mastering music skills alters the brain
Athletics reduces stress and improves behavior
Mastering motor skills helps students in poverty improve
cognitive systems through sensory platforms

How to create Hope

Daily affirmations
Asking to hear students hopes and offering reinforcements of those

hopes
Telling students why they can succeed
Providing needed academic resources (paper, pencils, computer
time)
Helping students to set goals and build goal-setting skills
Telling true stories of hope about people to whom students can
relate
Offering help, encouragement, and caring when needed
Teaching life skills in small daily chunks
Avoid complaining about students deficits. If they dont have it,
teach it!
Treating all the kids in your class as gifted
Building academic, emotional, and social assets in students

Engagement Strategies
Switch up social groups
Incorporate movement
Ask more questions (avoid rhetorical ones!)
Appreciate and acknowledge every

response
Use energizers and demonstrations
Be passionate about subject draws
students into emotional drama of content

Schools that work do these things

Standards to design curriculum and assess

student work and evaluate teachers

Lengthen instruction time in reading
Spend more on professional development
Engage parents in their childrens
education
Monitor student progress and get extra
help for those who need it

FYI
Students score higher on reading tests when

teachers felt able to use a variety of

assessment tools
Gains in vocabulary and comprehension skills

when teachers gave them reading material a

paragraph or longer in length,
and reading in core subject areas,
and use of computers, workbooks and skill
sheets

Eight Kentucky High-Performing

High-Poverty Elementary Schools
High expectations
Focused instruction and assessment
Positive school climate
Teachers believed all students could learn and were

willing to work to make it happen

Consistent use of varied and individualized assessments
allowing staff to pinpoint learning needs and address them
Teachers aligned throughout the school what was taught
and what students outcomes were expected
Bottom line: high expectation learning needs got need
attention not the socioeconomic status of students

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.

2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Hanushek, E. A. (2010). How well do we understand achievement gaps?

pp. 512, National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)
(http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc272c.pdf)
Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does
to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do about It. ASCD
Manning, J. P., & Gaudelli, W. (2006). What Teacher Educators Should
Know about Poverty and Special Education. Teacher Education and
Special Education, Volume 29(4), 236-243
http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/
http://ddmt.vaniercollege.qc.ca/~s0330431/ece/effects.htm
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_New_Research_High/
http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2827/information_show.htm?
doc_id=72167
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http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/prdyc/ch7.html