Inquiry Presentation

Ashlyn Fitzgerald
Foundations of Education (ED122)
Dr. Wally Alexander
 Planned area of focus…

How does student’s home life affect their learning at school?

 Research Process

• Scholarly Articles
• Experienced Teacher’s Thoughts
• Jennifer Isbel – Second Grade Teacher
 Scholarly Article Findings
• “Early childhood maltreatment is associated with significantly lower academic outcomes,
even after we control for school, neighborhood, race and other key demographics.”(Jacob
and Ryan).
• “Students who lived with their married biological parents carried the highest average
combined grade point average (GPA) for English and Math (2.9). Those whose parents
never married or who lived with cohabiting adults, only one of whom was a natural parent,
had the lowest GPA (2.5). Slightly above that group were students living with stepparents,
divorced parents, or both unmarried biological parents (2.6).”(Fagan, Johnson, and
Butcher)
• “In most studies, parental education has been identified as the single strongest correlate of
children’s success in school, the number of years they attend school, and their success later
in life.”(Egalite)
 Jennifer Isbel’s Thoughts
• Kids understand body language and are aware of things beyond their control
and understanding.
• When she first started teaching, she used to have the mindset that kids
should leave their baggage at the door and just focus on learning and doing
the best they could at school
• She now understands that kids can't learn if they are worried and thinking
about home.
• She has noticed technology affecting school a great deal- “students use
technology too often at home to entertain themselves when they are not
getting attention.”
• Her final point was that learning at school needs to be done with a lot more
 Conclusion

• Students with a tough home life are going to have a more difficult time
succeeding in school
• Students need support both at home and in school to do well
• Students need to be able to effectively use their resources to succeed in
school