Childhood poverty and the impact on academic performance

AP Seminar

2023

Word Count:2145
Introduction

Alexis Williamson & Bradley Witzel (2016) are professors who major in special

education, counseling, Leadership, and educational studies.They state that “almost half of the

2.2 billion children that live in the world are living in poverty.” Education has existed since the

beginning of ancient civilization and has then played an important role in our society. Most

children who are exposed to poverty do not have access to basic education or are not exposed

to quality education. Not being able to discover basic education can lead children in poverty to

be stuck where they are as they begin to age, leading the next generation to experience the

same lifestyle. Caroline Ratcliff (2015) is an economist and senior fellow at the Urban Institute

who specializes in the poverty and building fields summarizes that most parents that never

finished high school’s children also did not finish high school. In today's society, receiving

fundamental education is of great importance but also having the right tools during your

schooling years can be very significant. Rahill (2016), conducted a study on leaders from the

Haitian community who survived the flooding. He stated that “young men are heads of

themselves, of 120 students who were at our school, 20 returned from rural areas, not even a

bell or chalk; no seats to receive parents or professors, all scholastic equipment, notebooks- all

gone.” Schools will be more influential and can cause the student to be more motivated to learn

in class when they are equipped with what they need. With that being said, childhood poverty

can greatly impact a child's academic performance by taking a mental toll or a physical toll.

Low income parents can experience financial hardships

Low-income parents are not financially able to afford educational tools for their children

that are going to school. Although this may not be seen as bad, when low-income parents are

faced with money problems they cannot sign their kids up to go to extracurricular activities which

could potentially cause a halt in the students’ ability to excel faster in schools and also be able

to understand what they are learning in class. Sabrina Tavernise (2012), graduated from

Columbia University and is a journalist that writes for the New York Times paper. She is also a
co-host on the Times Daily she concluded that “one reason for the growing gap in achievement,

researchers say, could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in

their children (in weekend sports, ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall involvement

in their children’s schools), while lower-income families.” Tavernise further promotes that

wealthy families' children have already moved ahead in school with about “400 more hours than

poor-income children on literacy activities.” The absence of learning tools can take a toll on a

child but the quality of the child's school influences their potential to achieve school success.

Poverty-stricken parents are usually not able to move to schools that are as effective for

their children to reach academic success. Impoverished parents can shift to poor neighborhoods

which in turn might lead the child to school to schools that are underperforming and not well

funded. Ronald Edmonds (1979), an educator, explorer of school research, and author

concluded that “in comparison to classrooms in lower-achieving schools, classrooms in

higher-achieving schools provided more evidence of student monitoring process, student effort,

happier children, and an atmosphere conducive to learning.” Students that receive more

attention in school are better able to concentrate on what they learn in class and understand

important information provided by the teachers. Ben Jacob & Jens Ludwig (2008), professors of

education and economist that focus on social policy and education also implies that

“high-poverty schools are under-performing because teachers and administrators are not

working hard enough, they are not working toward the right goal, or they have good local

knowledge about what would work best but they are not able to implement these ideas because

of centralized author.” Schools that are impoverished are less likely to have students that are

academically successful throughout their learning years. The schools might impact the students

greatly, but the educators can also influence the child's academic skills.

Parents that are low-paid can impact the motivation a child has when they are going to

school. Lack of motivation in school can affect students by causing them to disengage with the

other students and teachers in their classroom. Low-paid families can also decrease their child's
motivation when they face constant stress at home, sudden life changes, and decreased

support from their family in their academic life. Gigi Lam (2014), an assistant professor affiliated

with the Department of Sociology whose main interests are migration and population policy says

that “as a corollary, impoverished parents are depressed, learned helplessness, have low

self-esteem and lack goals and motivation to get rid of poverty….this expectation is associated

with the students with low ability in terms of school attendance, attitude, learning motivation,

study effort and academic result.” Parents can impact the way a child feels about school but

educators can also play an important role in the students’ motivation to do well in school.

Teachers can impact the academic performance of children

Ineffective teachers can decrease a student's academic performance. Unsuccessful

teachers can cause the classroom to experience major setbacks in class than with effective

teachers. They can also create learning gaps between the students making some students see

a decrease in their academic success. Teachers' lack of desire to teach or lack of knowledge on

the subject can negatively affect a child's learning. Elaine Mangiante (2011) is a corresponding

author at the University of Rhode Island as she specializes in education and students from ages

10-16 she stated that “students assigned to ineffective teachers over the course of several years

demonstrate significantly lower academic achievement than those students who are assigned to

several highly effective teachers in a row indicating that teacher effects on students are both

additive and cumulative.” Ineffective teachers can be everywhere but impoverished families are

more likely to encounter these types of teachers as Susan Moore Johnson et al. (2004), a

former high school teacher and administrator that studies teacher policy concluded that poor

achieving students and also low-performing students will encounter more teachers who are not

well educated or are not experienced enough to teach. Having teachers who are

underperforming can lead to students receiving lower grades and test scores than average.

Teachers can even place children into socioeconomic status leading them to favor one child

over the other. Teachers dividing the rich and the poor children might see poor children as
people who do not care for education and learning which in the long term can impact the

student gravely. Amy Auwarter and Mara Aruguete (2008), a teacher at the Eugene Elementary

School in Mexico, Missouri and, a professor at Lincoln University say that “if teachers believe

that SES is a strong predictor of academic outcome, they may perceive that their efforts in the

classroom will have little or no influence on poor children.” If teachers believe that their teaching

will not influence children in poverty and that their academics are already determined by how

much money they have, they will begin to pay less attention to the child which can decrease

their success in their academic life. In short, poorly educated teachers can greatly affect a

child's school success but some can also have no effect on how well the child does in school.

Low achieving teachers however, might not be the reason as to why poor students are being

negatively affected in their education as studies show that teachers that are hired into

poverty-stricken schools are as equally effective as those who are not poverty-stricken

(Isenberg et al., 2016). The child must also be willing to learn in order for the teacher to be

proven effective.

Solutions to improve children academic performance

Providing rewards for children can play an important role in improving a child's academic

skills. Giving rewards to students to children might not seem like a smart thing to do but

awarding students in need with money when they do well can motivate them to do better in

school. Alexandra Usher and Nancy Kober (2012) are both workers at the Center for education

policy who research student motivation and their success in school. They state that “some

schools… have sought to motivate students to work harder by providing them with money or

other rewards. Examples include programs that give cash to students for earning good grades,

reading books, demonstrating good attendance, or higher scores on an important exam…”

Implementing these programs in schools can prompt children to reach a higher standard in their

academics.
 Giving free school supplies and books to children in their schooling years can greatly

improve their school life. When exposed to quality educational tools, focusing on school will be

much easier. Dorothy Lange (1987), a photographer who saw and witnessed the hungry and

desperate migrant mother. The picture she took indicates that the mother and her children are

living in an impoverished area and do not have access to educational resources that could

benefit the children. Even though the parent might not be able to afford educational books for

their child, providing free books and supplies to the family can help the child to be caught up in

school even though they are living in poverty. In a study done by Rahill, most people living in

Haiti did not even finish high school. This could be because of many reasons but providing the

children living in Haiti with free supplies instead of buying them on their own can help them

improve and get better degrees in school.

Providing financial aid can help improve underprivileged children that are going to

college. Children can be able to improve their school life without having to worry about money

problems. Bridget Long (2010), a professor of education at Harvard Graduate School of

Education stated that “researchers have long thought that financial aid is important to supporting

college success, and there have been a number of studies that have analyzed the relationship

between financial aid and persistence.” College students in need will have a higher chance of

succeeding in college and become more motivated to do well in school.

Being in poverty does not negatively impact academic achievement

Impoverished children can improve their school performance if they obtain a different

mindset about their families economic status. Chelsea Cheang (2018) is a social worker at

AWWA Ltd she specializes in watching children from the ages 2-6. She said that “all children’s

narratives about their aspirations was that their motivation to do well was closely linked to their

desire to give their families’ a better life…Although the children were aware of their family's

impoverished financial situation, all said that they did not see their families as poor.” Even

though children might have a mindset that they are not impoverished they can still not be able to
reach their full potential in their academics due to them not being able to access quality school

tools. Poverty does not always mean the child will not be able to reach academic achievement

on their own. Through diligence and self motivation, impoverished children might be able to rise

up by themselves without the need of educational tools. Christon Arthur (2000), a Chief

Academic Officer at Andrews University says that “diligence…have tremendous implications for

breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and academic failure. Students from economically

disadvantaged homes can break that cycle by becoming more diligent and thereby improving

their academic performance.” Students becoming more diligent in their studies can prompt them

to push through even when they experience circumstances that could cause problems in their

daily lives.

Conclusion

I believe we should provide children in need with school supplies to help them achieve

greater academic performance. Making these programs or making the already existing

programs more effective can improve students' school life by making it easier for them to access

educational sources to help them move further in their academic life. Providing electronics can

help students access different educational sites and videos to be able to study more effectively.

Even though these programs can be very beneficial, funding for them will be very costly. For

example, giving laptops to thousands of students will cost a lot of money. Funding lots of

impoverished schools to give school supplies to hundreds of children may not seem very

realistic. It can also be hard to track down every family that most likely might need this extra

help as some poor kids might not disclose their families’ income (Mathews, 2013). However,

implementing these programs can have consequences in which some families may lie about

their income to gain these free supplies. Children are the future of the country, so aiding in their

success in schools will also help in making the world a better place.
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