Poverty and

EducationJudi Sipowicz, M.ED

Based on a review of the following works:

• Eric Jensen, Teaching with Poverty in Mind, 2010; • William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, Turning

High Poverty Schools Into High Performing Schools, 2012• Ruby Payne, Framework for Understanding Poverty, 2005• Gloria Ladson-Billings, The Dream Keepers, 2009• Grant Wiggins/ Jay McTighe, Understanding By Design, 2005

no

social justice

without

addressing

academic

achievement

There Can Be…

Poverty is rarely

about

lack of

intelligence or

ability

It is about not knowing:

• What the options/choices are;

• The hidden rules of the middle class;

• How to use resources to improve their lives.

Poverty

Generational: •At least two generations•Society owes me

Situational: • Divorce, death,

chronic illness• Pride, refusal to

take charity

Poverty and Culture

Look Different

In Every School & Community

Rural Suburban Urban

The Effects We See of Poverty In

School Have lots of excuses Don’t do homework Physically aggressive Like to entertain Partially complete assignments Only see parts of a page or parts of directions Not self-starters (no procedural self-talk) Don’t monitor their own behavior Laugh when disciplined Work ethic depends on if they like you Talks/write in a causal manner Unaware of middle class courtesies May dislike authority Talk back

Which oneactivates your “hot” buttonfast!

Data

Is Not

Destiny• Bad News -poor

students demonstrate significant cognitive lags. (Gottfried et all, 2003)

• Good news -Brains are designed to change!

Remember:

What We Need To Think

Differently

A Bedrock Belief:High performing , high

poverty schools are all about the kid’s needs,

and a “Whatever It Takes” mindset

to meet those needs.

Reject the Can’t Notions:

• that low income parents can’t adequately prepare children for school;

• that their children can’t perform school tasks at a reasonable level; (Comer, 1980)

• that these parents can’t be effective partners;

• that school people are not willing to develop the necessary approaches, interests, and skills needed for kids to succeed academically, socially, psychologically, and morally.

• Extensive use of National, State, & local standards to design curriculum/instruction/assess student work;

• Increased instruction time for reading & mathematics;

• Substantial investment in professional development for teachers;

• Monitor individual student performance and provide help to struggling students before they fall behind;

• Increase parental involvement.

Turning High Poverty Schools Into High Performing Schools

Tried and True Strategies

Use Activity To Boost Brain Power

It’s

What

You Do

and

For

How

Long

• High level of personalization-It is all about relationships!

• Commitment to education ensuring student mastery of content standards-Whatever it takes!

• Purposeful planning and instruction

• Frequent and specific feedback

Students Raised in Poverty Have…

… greater exposure to abuse, neglect, danger,

loss.

…Learned Helplessness/ Hopelessness

as an adaptive response to life’s conditions.

(Bolland, Lian, Formichella, 2005)

Students Raised in Poverty

Experience…

• Explicitly teach procedural self-talk.

• Use confidence building strategies.

• Explicitly teach skill sets in the order they are needed to be successful.

… a small

world view.

Students Raised in Poverty Have…

… experience stress that is cumulative.

It changes them!

Students Raised in Poverty…

Lower Their Stress

• Be real, if you struggled with something in school let them know how you made it past the struggles.

• Let them know that there is honor in the struggle and hard work.

• Introduce the word “yet” “You may not be good at this yet!!”

… low pattern recognition.

Students Raised in PovertyHave…

Did you know that:9x0=09x1=99x2=1+8=99x3=2+7=99x4=3+6=99x5=4+5=99x6=5+4=99x7=6+3=99x8=7+2=99x9=8+1=99x10=90

Make Patterns Explicit

… high levels of need for instant gratification.

Students Raised in Poverty Have…

… low level skills for planning or setting goals.

Students Raised in Poverty Have…

Goals

…low skills for making informed decisions.

Students Raised in Poverty Have…

… low organization skills.

Students Raised in Poverty Have…

Model Organization• Be prepared with

writing utensils, paper, and folder for finished work.

• Implement a regular instructional design for the lessons

• Give genuine and specific feedback for their work

Empower the Students• Explicitly teach how to:• Resolve conflict

peacefully;• Handle anger and

frustration;• Show responsibility and

restitution;• Demonstrate appropriate

social skills;• Engage in stress

reduction without alcohol or drugs.

Is it Kind?

Is it True? Promote honesty?

Is it absolutely necessary?

Do You Know Your Kids?

What is their view of:• Money• Language• Personality• Food• Clothing• Time• Education• The Future

Possessions People Things Unique Things, Legacies, Pedigree

Money To be used/shared, spent To be managed To be conserved, invested

Personality Is for entertainment, humor valued

For acquisition, stability, achievement

Financial, political connections

Social Emphasis

Include people you like Self governance, self-sufficient

For social inclusion

Food QuantityEquated with love

QualityLove and duty

PresentationStatus

Clothing Individual style expressing personality

Quality, norm acceptance, labels

Artistic sense, Designer

Time Here and now most important. Decisions based on survival

Futuristic. Decision based on future ramifications

Tradition, history, decorum

Education Abstract value, not realistic

Crucial-success-money

Tradition, maintain connections

Destiny Fate that cannot be altered

Choice changes things

Noblese oblige

Poverty Middle Class Wealthy

Poverty Middle Class Wealthy

Language Causal-Survival oriented

Formal-Negotiation

Formal-Networking

Family structure Mostly matriarchal Mostly Patriarchal Depends on who has money

Men’s Roles Lover-Fighter *Provider *Status

World View Local National International

Love & Acceptance

Conditional-who likes youAll we have is you and me & my needs come first.

Conditional-achievement

Conditional-social standing/connections

Driving Forces Survival, relationships, entertainment

Work, achievement

Financial, political, connections

Humor Regarding people & sex

Situations

* added

Social faux pas

* added

Culturally Competent

Teachers…

Characteristics ofCulturally Competent Teachers

Communicate that their class is a “family,” a

community of learnersWhen one does well, we all do well, when one fails, we all fail.

• Have an unwavering sense of moral responsibility.

• Plan for and communicate high

expectations for student achievement.

• Ensure that the classroom focus is on

instruction.

Treat students as competent learners

Regularly provide recognition (genuine & substantiated) of excellence both in class and out-of-

class .

• Academics are not used as punishment.

Gloria Ladson-Billings, The Dream Keepers, 2009

Characteristics ofCulturally Competent Teachers

Show passion for acquiring knowledge.

Demonstrate a connectedness

with all students.

Move students from what they know to what

they need to know.

Plan lessons to purposely and explicitly

build skill sets .

Facilitate connections to culture and individual

differences.

Help students understand and

participate in knowledge-building.

Gloria Ladson-Billings, The Dream Keepers, 2009

Make Every Minute ofof Academic Time Count

• Pre-teach to decrease re-teach.• Our goals and assessment for each lesson will be

crystal clear.o What do we want students to:

• Know• Be able to do• Understand…. • What will we do if they experience difficulty?• And……How will we know when they get there!

• Precise intervention given by the most qualified to those who are the most in need!

Increase Student

Engagement

Connect Learning To Real Life

Bernoulli’s Principle

Action Steps

Explicitly teach patterns and skills.Teach in themes (integrate content areas). Group like objectives into units with assessment up front. Identify core concepts, skills and essential questions.

Understanding By Design Grant Wiggins/ Jay McTighe

Explicitly Plan Guided Skill Sets

• How to plan a project (E.g. essay, report);

• Reading multiple complex texts;• Determining the central theme;• Developing a thesis statement;• Highlighting pertinent data;• Choosing quotes;• Organizing paragraph order;• Develop transition sentences/word

choice;• Develop a closing statement;• Editing & revision techniques;• Presentation strategies.

Sample:

Must Haves

Hope Building:

• Standards-based Curriculum - Aligned with Common Core and State standard

• Engaging Instruction – Aligned with Common Core and State Standards

• Arts, Athletics, and Advanced Placement

• Retooling Operating Systems

Teaching with Poverty In MindEric Jensen

2010