Running head: How do you Achieve Success in a School System that is Affected by

Generational Poverty?

How Do You Achieve Success in a School System that is Affected by Generational Poverty?

Sarah L. Terry

EDUC 641: Learning Theories and Instructional Models

James Madison University

Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 2

Introduction

Generational poverty is when at least two generations have been born into poverty, and it

is an obstacle for Lancaster County Public Schools. Children who are born into poverty tend to

struggle to be successful in school. Bradley and Corwyn (2002) stated that 40% of children who

are living in poverty, generational or likewise, have weaknesses in at least two areas, including

language and emotional responsiveness. According to Jensen (2009, p 38) “Many children raised

in poverty enter school a step behind their well-off peers.” This poses a significant problem for

school systems with high rates of low socioeconomic students. However, poverty should not be

the determining factor for a child’s success in school. With the right personnel and the proper

strategies, any child, regardless of his or her socioeconomic status, can be successful in school.

Instructional Performance Standards

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) states that all school systems, regardless

of their percentage of low-socioeconomic students or students with disabilities, must have a 70%

pass rate in history, math and science and a 75% pass rate in reading (which includes writing)

(VDOE, 2015). They do not take into account that these blanket, base percentages are the same

for schools that consist of nothing but upper class, wealthy, working families versus schools that

are 95% free and reduced lunch. Every child has the ability to succeed based on his or her level

of intelligence; however, the VDOE also states that children who have qualified for special

educational services based on intelligence tests are required to perform the same as their grade

level peers. Take these below grade level students, pair them with low-socioeconomic status, tell

them that they have to perform the same as students who have traditionally stable home lives and

few concerns about where their next meal may come from outside of school, and the difference

in achievement can be starke. School systems that fall into this forner category will struggle to
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 3

succeed.

School Statistics

Lancaster County Public Schools (LCPS) is one of those struggling school systems.

In the 2017-2018 school year, there were 1,154 students in grades Pre-K through 12. The

student population consisted of 54.9% African American, 37.7% Caucasian, 4.5% identifying

with two or more races, 1.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian and 0.3% Native Hawaiian. 60.7%

of the student body is economically disadvantaged and 12.9% of the total population is labeled as

needing special education services. According to Standards of Learning (SOL) test results in the

2016-2017 school year (2017-2018 test results have not been made official yet) reading

performance division wide was at 69%, math had a 64% pass rate, history had a 75% pass rate

and science had a 67% pass rate. With the state requirement coming in at 70% for math, history

and science and at 75% for reading, LCPS was falling behind. These division wide scores left

each of the three schools in the district in poor accreditation status. Lancaster Primary School,

grades Pre-K through 3, had the status of “Partially Accredited:Warned”. Lancaster Middle

School, grades 4 -8, had the status of “Accreditation Denied”. Lancaster High School, grades 9-

12, had the status of “Partially Accredited: Reconstituted School”.

Problem

Children who are products of generational poverty still have a desire to succeed and

please their teachers, but sadly, some lose that desire quickly when positive behaviors aren’t

reinforced or modeled at home. Teachers often encounter students who come to school eager to

learn in the early, primary years. These children yearn to make their teachers happy, but they

struggle to conform to the classroom environment. Many children who have no structure at home

come into a classroom and have difficulties staying seated, using their “inside voice” and
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 4

showing respect to peers and other adults in the school setting. These children don’t see these

behaviors at home, therefore they find it arduous to emulate these behaviors at school. This is

where the concept of mirror neurons factors in. Mirror neurons are cells located in the brain that

become active when we carry out a particular action or watch someone else carry out that same

action. (Melina, 2010). Children of poverty are see the way adults at home act inappropriately

and disrespect authority. These behaviors are inadvertently, almost subconsciously, learned at

home. This creates a problem when the children come to school.

Solutions

In order to combat this, a school system needs to start with good, strong educators.

According to Kati Haycock, “Good teachers - and counselors and social workers and school

principals - matter. They matter a lot to kids of all sorts. But they especially matter to kids of

color and kids who are growing up in poverty.” (Haycock, 2012). Cynthia Johnson states that,

“Too often the consequences of poverty eat away at what children can do academically.”

(Johnson, 2013). The first step to bridging the gap is for school systems to recruit and retain

good teachers. Children, regardless of economic stature, yearn for love, attention, positive

reinforcement, structure and knowledge. A teacher, the person who spends almost eight hours

with the child every day for 180 days, is the perfect person to provide this for them. This is

especially true when they don’t experience any of this at home. Educators in a school system

with a high percentage of low socioeconomic students need to be very aware of these needs.

Creating a nurturing, loving, supportive classroom with an environment where students feel safe

to learn and explore will also go a long way to help bridge the gap.

In the article, “Leading Learning for Children From Poverty” Johnson states that “Six

effective practices can help students from poverty to succeed.” Her six effective practices are:
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 5

connecting, validating, educating, responding, leading and succeeding

She goes on to elaborate on each of the practices stating that teachers should:

● Establish a caring and believing environment.

● Get to know each student’s name.

● Identify students’ learning styles.

● Allow students to “tell” their story.

● Teach with confidence.

● Establish high, consistent expectations and practices.

● Make reading the default curriculum.

● Use data to inform instructional changes.

● Create student-centered and culturally responsive lessons.

● Establish an environment where every child is accepted and nothing less than the best is

tolerated.

● Find the positive in every child and every situation.

● Provide opportunities for educators to learn more about children who live in poverty.

Learning about the child, finding out about his or her interests, and even learning the child’s

name, seem minor compared to the overall purpose of education. However, these small things

can help a child see that the teacher is interested in them, wants to get to know them and respects

and values them as a person. Considering that a lot of children of poverty don’t get this type of

adult interaction when they’re at home, this is a very important first step in building a positive

relationship with the child. When educators make little effort to get to know their students, they

are often met with hardships in their classrooms. It’s also crucial to set high expectations for all

students, not just children of poverty. Clear, concise rules, procedures and expectations help set
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 6

up a structure within the classroom that will make all children feel safe to learn and make

mistakes without experiencing unnecessary consequences.

Johnson (2013) states that schools should, “Use data to inform instructional changes.”

Many school systems have created systems for gathering and sharing data on their students.

LCPS uses an elaborate Google Sheet filled with every piece of data that can be collected on

every child, ranging from ethnicity to discipline to standardized test scores to quarterly grades.

This data is discussed at length every week to help find a way to get every child to learn and feel

successful. This is a practice that helps all children, but is extremely important for children of

poverty. Collecting data on students helps the instructors pinpoint deficient areas in a child’s

education. Furthermore, by sharing this data with a student, they gain a personal buy-in with

their growth. It may only be a number on paper, but the improvements a student can make from

one quarter or semester to the next can bolster their confidence in their intelligence and the

teacher who is working to help them.

Johnson (2013) also lists that educators should, “Create student-centered and culturally

responsive lessons” and school systems should “Provide opportunities for educators to learn

more about children who live in poverty.” It’s paramount that educators find a way to make their

lessons culturally relevant. Educators must take into account the fact that children of poverty are

typically not read to as infants and toddlers and they have rarely if ever left the community in

which they live. The lack of these types of experiences is a detriment to a student’s prior

knowledge. Bors and Macleod (1996) explained that’ “Research also indicates that individuals’

prior knowledge predicts both the rate of learning and retention scores for factual learning,

general topics, and word meanings.” Gredler (2009) goes on to summarize this by saying, “In

other words, the extent of prior knowledge has serious implications for learning.” Prior
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 7

knowledge is key to the understanding and retention of information. Educators working in low

socioeconomic school systems will need to work diligently to find their students prior knowledge

and build upon it. They may even discover that there will be times where the teacher has to start

to build the framework themselves because children of poverty won’t have the experiences

needed to create prior knowledge.

Robert Gagne’s outlined the Nine Phases of Learning to help break down the learning

process. Educators of children in generational poverty should become familiar with these nine

“steps.”

1. Gaining attention (reception)

2. Informing learners of the objective (expectancy)

3. Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval)

4. Presenting the stimulus (selective perception)

5. Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding)

6. Eliciting performance (responding)

7. Providing feedback (reinforcement)

8. Assessing performance (retrieval)

9. Enhancing retention and transfer (generalization).

Utilizing this process in the classroom would help teachers reach all students, not just

children of poverty. Gagne, Briggs & Wager (1992) stated that, “These events should satisfy or

provide the necessary conditions for learning and serve as the basis for designing instruction and

selecting appropriate media.” Gagne’s Nine Phases of Learning can be applied to any subject and

any grade level, thus making it very versatile and important in all classes. Using these Nine

Phases would further help bridge the gap for children of poverty.
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 8

Another important factor in helping all students succeed, not just children living in

poverty, is using a spiral curriculum. According to Harden (1999, p 141), “A spiral curriculum is

one in which there is an iterative revisiting of topics, subjects or themes throughout the course. A

spiral curriculum is not simply the repetition of a topic taught. It requires also the deepening of

it, with each successive encounter building on the previous one.” Children living in poverty do

not always receive a lot of help at home, either after school with homework or during the

summer where a lot of information can be lost from the previous year’s instruction. Providing a

daily warm-up that consists of a review of previously taught material as well as reinforces

current material would be an excellent way to start implementing a spiral review in any

classroom. If a teacher takes the time to teach, reteach, and revisit information throughout the

year during the school day, all children will be more successful.

Research suggests that children with low socioeconomic status who participate in an

early childhood intervention program have a higher likelihood of success. According to a study

conducted by Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, and Mann (2001, 05), participating in an early

intervention program for low-income students helped them to be more successful adults. These

results were found after a 15 year follow up was conducted on low-income minority children

who attended early childhood programs in the mid 1980s in Chicago. In 2015, Lancaster County

Public Schools started a three-year-old program. Maintaining this program should help produce

the same results as the Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, and Mann study.

School systems need to determine the educational approach that they will be taking to

help these students to succeed. “Social constructivism believes that all knowledge is

transactional and socially constructed. Personal constructivism considers all knowledge to be

personally constructed.” (Edgar, 2012). Gredler (2009, p 26) states three concerns about
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 9

constructivism: “1) collaborative learning may be inappropriate for some learning 2) low-ability

learners and those from other cultures may face difficulties in the learning process, and 3)

burdens are placed on the classroom teachers.” If a school system consists of a large percentage

of low socioeconomic students, it would be negligent to depend on social or personal

constructivism. It’s also important to note that the pressure on the educator will increase with this

type of approach. This would not be ideal for schools systems that are struggling to retain good

teachers. Social constructs should therefore be addressed in schools with a high percentage of

students with low socioeconomic status from an early age. LCPS instituted a 3-year-old program

which has led to higher lexile scores in the younger grades.

Albert Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory, “stresses the importance of observational

learning, imitation and modeling.” Gredler (2009). Educators of children of poverty need to be

familiar with this theory. According to Bandura, children have been watching and learning their

entire lives. They have been modeling and imitating the behaviors they’ve been witnessing at

home. Many of these behaviors are not school or age appropriate. Educators need to be aware of

this and anticipate it as their students come to them each year. Anticipating poor behaviors and

the inability to function in the classroom would go a long way to preventing behavioral outbursts

and would help build positive, well-functioning relationships; if a teacher can understand the

“why” of an action, an overreaction may not occur.

One very important step in bridging the gap for children of poverty is creating a school

system that fosters a sense of pride. Divisions with a high percentage of low socioeconomic

students should strive to make their schools a place that children want to be. They should find

ways to give the students a sense of ownership in the buildings themselves. School systems

should allow students to have input on paint colors, classroom layouts, and hallway displays.
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 10

Once they are able to see their own personal impact in the classrooms and on the building itself,

they’ll be less likely to be destructive of school property. School systems should also allow the

students to help come up with discipline plans and consequences. There should be limits to the

amount of influence they would have on school or division-wide policies, but again, giving them

a sense of ownership in their school will help them be more likely to conform to school rules and

procedures.

School systems should work to create an environment where the parents feel welcome as

well. Many parents had bad experiences with school and with teachers when they were young.

It’s important to show parents, who are also affected by generational poverty, that school is a

great place to be, and that it has most likely changed since they were there. Having parent-

student events, both during the school day and after school hours, where parents and their

children can gather in a non-threatening, non-academic setting would help foster positive

feelings about the school. Events such as “Muffins for Moms”, “Donuts for Dads”,

Grandparents’ Day, and Family Fun Nights would bring the parents and their children together in

a positive, friendly environment, helping to further a sense of community and a sense of pride in

the school system.

Offering extra-curricular and non-academic after school activities is important as well.

Students should feel as though their school is more than just a place that gives them homework

and makes them take tests. They should feel that their school is part of their community, and it’s

a place where they can come to not only learn academics, but learn social interaction, participate

in athletics - both competitive and intramural, create art and music, and spend time with their

friends. In the meantime, they are creating a school that they can be proud of and a place that

they want to be during and after school hours.

Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 11

Implementation Performance Standards

Lancaster County Public Schools does have a fairly extensive policy manual. Some slight

changes would need to be made to those policies in order to help some of these plans come to

fruition. Currently, building level administrators, in conjunction with the school board, determine

rules, procedures, and consequences for discipline issues. Allowing the students to have input on

these matters would go against that policy. Adding more after school activities would require

staff to be on hand after contract hours. Currently, teachers who sponsor extra-curricular

activities receive a monetary stipend. Budgetary adjustments would need to be made to cover the

added expense of teachers and staff members who would be supervising students.

The addition of the three-year-old program at Lancaster Primary School has been

instrumental in getting the younger students accustomed to the school setting and helping them

to adjust and accept a schedule. In the spring of 2018, LCPS received a large cut to their budget

that nearly brought an end to the program due to lack of funding. Funding for these early

intervention programs is crucial and is another hurdle that needs to be cleared for this plan to be

successful.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is seemingly impossible to put an end to generational poverty.

However, that shouldn’t be the determining factor for a child’s success in school. All children

can succeed, regardless of their economic status and a school’s need to recognize and prepare for

that. Finding and retaining compassionate, exuberant, intelligent teachers is an important first

step in any schools system’s success, but it's especially important in schools with a high

percentage of low socioeconomic students. Making sure that educators relate to and respect all

children in the classroom is very important. Teachers need to create a warm, welcoming,
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 12

nurturing, structured, safe environment in their classrooms. They need to be prepared to accept

all children and to hold all of their students, rich and poor alike, to a set of high standards. School

systems need to prepare their teachers for the struggles they will face while teaching children of

poverty through inservice training and professional development. School divisions should make

their teachers aware of cognitive and behaviorist approaches that will help them create lesson

plans that will meet the needs of all learners. Finally, divisions need to create a sense of

ownership and community within their schools. Finding ways to give the students a sense of

ownership in the buildings and ways to make the parents feel important and welcome will go a

long way to closing the chasm left by poverty.

References

A. (n.d.). Chapter 1. Understanding the Nature of Poverty. Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/understanding-the-nature-of-

poverty.aspx

The Benefits of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.globalpartnership.org/education/the-benefits-of-education

Bors, D. A., & Macleod, C. M. (1996). Individual Differences in Memory. Memory, 411-441.

doi:10.1016/b978-012102570-0/50014-8

Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002, 02). Socioeconomic Status and Child Development.

Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 371-399.

doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233
Achieving Success Despite Generational Poverty 13

B. (n.d.). Education is "the key" to ending poverty. Retrieved from

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/education-is-the-key-to-ending-poverty/

Gredler, M. (2009). Learning and instruction: Theory into practice. Addison-Wesley.

Harden, R. (1999, 01). What is a spiral curriculum? Medical Teacher, 21(2), 141-143.

doi:10.1080/01421599979752

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https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kati-haycock/good-teachers-create-the-_b_1543698.html

Home Page - Virginia School Quality Profiles. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://schoolquality.virginia.gov/

Jensen, E. (2010). Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids' brains and what

schools can do about it. ASCD.

Last Updated March 31st, 2018 11:14 pm. (n.d.). Conditions of Learning (Robert Gagne).

Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/conditions-learning/

Melina, R. (2010, April 16). Mirror Neurons Allow Us to Understand Each Other. Retrieved

from https://www.livescience.com/11002-mirror-neurons-understand.html

Reynolds, A. J., Temple, J. A., Robertson, D. L., & Mann, E. A. (2001, 05). Long-term Effects

of an Early Childhood Intervention on Educational Achievement and Juvenile Arrest.

Jama, 285(18), 2339. doi:10.1001/jama.285.18.2339

Virginia Department of Education. (n.d.). Standards of Learning (SOL) & Testing. Retrieved

from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/index.shtml