Educational disadvantage occurs when some children benefit less from education than their peers due to characteristics outside their control. It is self-perpetuating, leading to lower lifetime income, employment and marriage opportunities. It causes a gap between skills and jobs, increases lower socioeconomic classes, and reduces purchasing power. The document reviews literature on the causes of and potential solutions to educational disadvantage, finding that short-term programs have limited effectiveness and that more long-term research is needed to identify the most effective solutions.

1. SPECIALIZATION: LEADERSHIP OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
POVERTY AND LEARNING: DEALING
WITH EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGE
An AIU Individual Project by
Michael Smalls

2. INTRODUCTION
Educational disadvantage is the situation where some
children gain fewer benefits from the education system
than their peers do because of characteristics that keep
them from fully utilizing their talents.

3. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Individuals with low educational attainment tend to have:
• Lower lifetime income
• Lower employment opportunities
• Poor marriage opportunities
• Damage to family structures
• Greater chances of incarceration

4. ECONOMIC STRESSES
Educational disadvantage is self-perpetuating and leads
to:
• A gap between skills and job openings
• Increased numbers in lower socioeconomic classes
• Lowered purchasing power because of low income
• Greater need for a social safety net
• Loss of talent

5. LOSS OF TALENT
Lost talent happens when
students who show signs of
early talent:
• Harbor educational
expectations that are short
of their aspirations
• Experience reduced
expectations over time
• Are not able to achieve
their expectations

6. APPROACH AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Objective: To conduct a critical review of the literature available
on the causes and possible solutions for educational
disadvantage.
Goals:
• To determine current findings on educational disadvantage
• To identify any gaps in the current literature
• To identify problems in research methodology
• To identify promising solutions to the issue
• To recommend future directions for research on the subject

7. SUMMARY OF CONTENT
• Low socioeconomic status
• Rural locations
• Indigenous populations
• Students with disabilities
• Racial minorities
• Immigrants
What groups are most affected?

8. WHAT ARE LIKELY CAUSES?
• Socioeconomic background
• Racial, ethnic or immigrant status
• Environmental and social responses to deprivation
• Dropping out of school
• Foster Care
• Disability

9. LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL
DISADVANTAGE
• Health
• Single parenthood
• Racial inequalities
• Damage to whole families

10. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
There are number of competing views on the origins of
educational disadvantage.
• Pathological views
• Transmitted deprivation
• Home-based factors
• School factors
• Structural views

11. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
• Smaller schools
• Parental involvement
• Short-term programs
• Improving schools
• Teacher accountability
Smaller schools may help. Low income parents should become more
involved in their children’s schools.

12. SHORT-TERM PROGRAMS
Short term programs have limited effectiveness.
• Pedagogies for girls or boys
• Reading interventions
• Phonetics training
• E-learning
• New discipline plans
• Alternative schools
• Targeted interventions

13. IMPROVING SCHOOLS
Improving schools also has a limited effect.

14. TEACHER ACCOUNTABILITY
Increasing teacher accountability for test scores can result in teaching-to-the-test
and narrowed curriculums.

15. IMPACT ON LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
More research is needed on
what solutions work best
over the long term to
improve educational
outcomes. Initial review of
the literature suggests that
many of the solutions
currently being
implemented are short-term
fixes and need to be
reassessed.

16. EVERYONE PAYS FOR FAILING SCHOOLS
Because educational
disadvantage is such a
complex and shifting
problem, continual research
is necessary to assess the
quality of proposed solutions.
Use of well-designed
research in formulating
solutions will reduce both
costs and damage to
children’s lives over the long
term.

17. REFERENCES
• APC. (2012). Schools Workforce: Reducing educational
disadvantage. Canberra, AU: Australian Productivity
Commission.
• Cook C. (22 February 2012). The social mobility
challenge for school reformers. BBC News.
• Domhoff, G.W. (2013). Wealth, income, and power. Who
Rules America?

18. REFERENCES
• Felner, R.D., Brand, S., DuBois, D.L., Adan, A.M., Mulhall, P.F. &
Evans, E.G. (1995). Socioeconomic disadvantage, proximal
environmental experiences, and socio-emotional and academic
adjustment in early adolescence: Investigation of a mediated
effects model. Child Development, 66: 774–792. doi:
10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00905.x
• Fox News. (28 April 2014) High school graduation rates jump 15%
among Hispanics, total reaches 80%. Fox News Latino.
• Fulwood, S. (24 September 2013). Race and beyond: Why
economic disadvantage becomes educational disadvantage.
Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress.

19. REFERENCES
• Hango, D. (December 2007). Parental investment in childhood and
educational qualifications: Can greater parental involvement mediate the
effects of socioeconomic disadvantage? Social Science Research, 36(4):
1371–1390.
• Hanson, S.L. (July 1994). Lost talent: Unrealized educational aspirations
and expectations among U.S. youths. Sociology of Education, 67(3): 159-
183.
• Huang, G. & Howley, C. (Winter 1993) Mitigating disadvantage: Effects of
small-scale schooling on student achievement in Alaska. Journal of
Research in Rural Education, 9(3): 137-149.
• Rapple, B.A. (1994). Payment by results: An example of assessment in
elementary education from nineteenth century Britain. Education Policy
Analysis Archives, 2(1): 1-21.

20. REFERENCES
• Spicker, P. (2014). An introduction to social policy.
Aberdeen, SCT: Robert Gordon University.
• Walsemann, K.M., Geronimus, A.T. & Gee, G. C. (March
2008). Accumulating disadvantage over the life course.
Research on Aging, 30(2): 169-199. doi:
10.1177/0164027507311149

21. IMAGES
• Educational disadvantage. (2012). Yale study finds black boys
at educational disadvantage. Ebony Magazine.
• Loss of talent. (2012). Heritage Foundation report: "Nearly
75% of poor families in the United States are headed by
single parents." National Organization for Marriage.
• What groups are most affected? (2007). Mobility of Native
American students can pose challenges to achievement.
Education Week.
• Long-term effects of educational disadvantage. (2013).
Poverty and health in the United States. OUP.

22. IMAGES
• Short term programs. (2012). Percentage of students in
grades K-12 whose parents reported attending school events,
volunteering or serving on a committee by parental education
level, 2012. Childtrends.
• Improving schools. (2012). The social mobility challenge for
school reformers. BBC News.
• Teacher accountability. (2013). Teaching to the test. Shared
Justice.

23. IMAGES
• Impact on education. (2013). Michelle Rhee: More
mediocrity for American education. Time.
• Everyone Pays for Failing Schools. (2011). The cost of
Pennsylvania’s education failures. Commonwealth
Foundation.