3. In 2001 and shortly thereafter, the growth of
suburban poverty intersected that of urban, and
since then, the poverty of the suburbs has risen
faster than that of the city!
City versus Suburbs
3
4. Teacher
Evaluation
Privatization
Teacher Education and Training
Curriculum Development: Public versus Private
High Stakes Testing versus Genuine Assessments
Reform: What’s New?
Funding:: What A Local Tax Base Means
Poverty
Race and Inequality
Issues In Education
5. Researchers
at Columbia’s Teachers’ College (Rebell/Wolfe,
2011) tell us that “there is no general education crisis
in American education but there is a crisis of
poverty.”
Finland: Children in poverty=less than 5%
USA: children in poverty=22% and rising!
What
What
can we learn from “high performance
education systems” elsewhere?
do we know about the education systems of
the “high performing nations”?
The Impact of Poverty
6. The
Current State of Poverty in Baltimore
91,581 African-Americans
41,000 under 18 years
or 23.4%
of age
Baltimore total-123,956 or 20.1% of total
10.1% of those in poverty are employed
66,441 of the over-25 population are in
poverty and more than 75% of those are
high school grads or below
“White” and “Asian” poverty levels are 13.4
and 13.1% of those total populations
Statistics
7. The
2011 rate was 11.6 per cent (based on
threshold of $22,000 for a family of four)
This is up from 11.4 in 2010, and 9.9 in 2007.
Black population: 6% but 13% of poor; Asian
population is also 6% but 16% of the poor.
Whites are 83% of population but 64% of poor.
Massachusetts Poverty
7
8. The Situation in Lawrence, the “city of the
damned”………
A 1999 report issued by Merrimack College, entitled The
Community Context of Health in Lawrence, Massachusetts
provided extensive statistical evidence of the impact of poverty,
unemployment and decades old neglect on the city. What we
learn from that, now, is that things have become significantly
worse on virtually every indicator!
Home values: down 18% in five years/25% of public
school students below proficiency in English/34% live
under poverty line/median income fell 20% over five
years……………
Lawrence?
8
9. Facts About American Poverty
Family
of four=$21,834
“Basic Needs Budget”=$35,000
Poverty still equates in many ways to race
School budgets are tied to property taxes
75% of the nation’s schools report the need for major repairs
Most schools in bad shape are in 70%+ high poverty zones
High school grad rates are more than 15% lower in urban
districts
High school grad rates are much higher for whites
Children raised in poverty are six times more likely to drop out
In 2008 17 of the nation’s top fifty cities had graduation rates
less than 50% (Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis all less than
35%)
10. Situational:
created suddenly by crisis, natural disaster, sudden
loss. Often temporary.
Generational: passed on through two or more generations
Absolute: scarce resources in general, such as housing,
food/water, often also due to national or regional conditions
Relative: failure to meet average national standards
Urban: characterized by poor services, poor health, crime,
unemployment or underemployment, violence, overcrowding,
noise
Rural: this has been roughly five percent higher in the U.S than
urban poverty since records first kept in the 1960’s. Characterized
by travel issues, lack of access to services, disabilities, poor
housing, limited educational opportunities; is also generational
Urban-10-15%
Rural-15-20% Nationally 18%
and growing……..
Six Kinds of Poverty
11. Risks Related to Poverty
Pesticide agents
Neurotoxic agents
Income below poverty line (and
Inadequate schools
Nutritional deficits
Teen pregnancy
Deficient Pre-Natal care
Tobacco/Drug use (maternal)
Low parent education
Unsupportive home life
Incarceratation
often unreliable)
12. An Endless Cascade of
Consequences
40%
of children in poverty experience two or more
deficiencies in functioning by age three.
Children in poverty have less access to cultural
resources (library, museum), spend more time
watching television, have fewer books in the home,
are less likely to be read to, more likely to rely on
peers than adults for social and emotional support,
and are much more likely to have single-parent
homes.
Children in poverty have much more stress, fewer
stable relationships, get less positive
reinforcement, less homework help, and experience
more emotional imbalance.
13. We
seem to be hardwired for sadness, joy,
surprise, anger, disgust and fear. We are
taught humility, forgiveness, empathy,
optimism and compassion as well as
compassion, sympathy, shame, patience and
gratitude. In many cases, it is the school
that teaches these behaviors!
“…the
acute and chronic stress that children
raised in poverty experience leaves a
devastating imprint on their lives.”
Eric Jensen, Teaching With Poverty in Mind
Nature Versus Nurture (Again!)
14. Stress impairs behavior in many ways:
Links
to over 50% of absences
Impairs attention and concentration
Reduces cognition, memory, creativity
Impairs social skills and judgment
Reduces motivation, determination and effort
Increases likelihood of depression
Reduces growth of new brain cells
(Jensen-cited research studies)
Stress
15. Stress
Acting out;
Impatience;
Impulsivity;
Lack of “social graces”;
Limited range of behavior
responses;
Inappropriate emotional
reactions;
Lack of empathy and/or
sympathy
Diminished self-worth
Difficulty in trusting others
Memory issues
Mood swings
Can be more violent
Uncertainty about future
More health issues
Coping measures limited
Environment is unfriendly
16. Prefrontal/Executive:
complex creativity
Left perisylvian: the center for language skills
Medial temporal: storage system (memory, emotional
processing,
Hippocampus/amygdala)
Parietal/spatial cognition system: organize, sequence, visualize
Occipito-temporal/visual cognition system: recognize patterns,
visual mental imagery processes abstractions
Research
suggests significant differences in
systems between children in poverty and
those in better circumstances.
Brain Research
17. Research
conducted by Noble, Norman, Farah and
published in Developmental Science over a three year
period (2005-07) suggests the following:
In
categories such as language development, spatial
cognition, visual cognition, working memory, storage
memory and cognitive control, low-SES (socioeconomic status) children were significantly impeded in
their development compared to high-SES children.
“The growing human brain desperately
needs coherent, novel, challenging input, or
it will scale back its growth trajectory.”
(Jensen)
Brain Research (2)
18. Toys
Reliability/Consistency
Play
Dates
Art, Music, Drama
Books
Conversations
Nutritious Food
Regular medical/dental checks
Role models
Cultural stimuli
Great education
Hope, optimism, emotional security
Ideal Circumstances?
19. So we look elsewhere for the ways to supplement the lives of
our children. One of the places we do that is in schools.
Despite the gloomy forecast implicit in the evidence we already have,
it remains clear that intervention and enrichment can have a
positive ameliorative impact on learning, brain development and
intelligence. Child development and child psychological research over
the past ten years documents improvements, long-term, as a result
of improved educational environments.
Enrichment=wraparound services+lowered
stress levels+creative and challenging
curriculum+tutoring and “pull-out
services”+strong peer and adult mentoring
relationships+physical exercise and healthy
routines
(Definition of enrichment borrowed from Eric Jensen)
But Utopia Is Not Real….
20. Characteristics
of High Achievement, High Poverty
Schools
High expectations
“No excuses” culture
Caring adults
Emphasis on reading skills
Faculty collaboration
Shared mission and goals
Teacher appreciation for the role they play in
achievement
Data collection and use
Good curriculum
Teacher support
Culture/climate is right
Structure
What Is To Be Done?
21. Students
are more likely to:
Attend school more
regularly
Improve
academic
growth
Be less prone to
troubles outside
school
Better peer
relations
Mentoring
22. +
Maintain moderate vocal levels
Do what you say you’ll do
Change plans if need be
Say “please” and “thank you”
Admit mistakes, make amends
Be fair and consistent
Offer support, always
Reinforce what they do well
Show care for and about
Overdo the pep talks: “hot air”
syndrome
Plan endlessly but not implement
Put kids first and forget about staff
Climate of fear?
Measure improvement only by test
scores
Treat symptoms not causes
Use excuses
Too much, too soon? (reform)
23. ♥
Physical
Exercise
Performing
Arts
Discussion
and Debate
Varied
Class Activities (don’t tie them to seatwork!)
Collegial
work among teachers models teamwork for students!
What Works?
25. “Cultural
deficit ” is a convenient scapegoat for
school failure, the failure to grip the imagination
and the needs of students.
”A
common perception among both educators and the
public is that students {fail and} drop out of school
because of personal deficiencies or cultural deprivation………
This, in turn, implies that schools bear little responsibility
for students dropping out and therefore can take few
actions to reduce the number of dropouts.”
Cited
in Why Culture Counts, Tileston, Darling, (2008), Solution
Tree Press
The Role of Culture
26. Grant Wiggins/Jay McTighe in Understanding By Design
(2005) tell us that there are six guidelines for understanding.
In Why Culture Counts, the authors use that guide in the
following skills advice: students are led to complex thinking
by:
1.“The ability to explain the learning in the student’s own
words
2.The ability to interpret the learning
3.The ability to apply the learning in a context other than
the one in which it was learned
4.The ability to see things in perspective
5.The ability to empathize
6.The ability to know ourselves and be honest about that
appraisal.”
Understanding Across Culture
27. ■A
study completed in 2005 by the Institute for Research on
Poverty, showed that an increase in income can result in a clear
increase in math and reading scores
■A strong relationship with the community results in stronger
results and in better behavior
♠The United States ranks 20th in infant mortality amongst
industrialized “developed” countries
♠The U.S. has the worst single parent percentage (25%)
♠The U.S. is highest in income inequality (more than 35% of all
wealth in the hands of 1% of the population)
♠The U.S. had the highest poverty rate for single parent
households headed by female parent (5X the rate of married
couples)
►25% of those 17-24 years old were deemed unfit for military
service due to obesity!
20% of all our children now live in poverty (getting worse)
Relevant Information
28. ♫A University of California-Berkeley study (2008) showed that
prefrontal cortex functions were lower in high poverty children but
that this could be reversed with early “high intensity” interventions!
♫Art and Music programs add to the possibility of improving high
poverty student performance
♫High poverty children are exposed to 30 million less words, in total,
than middle class counterparts!
♫A Canadian study of poverty in 2007 (“Oh, Canada”) states that
“teachers can be critically important partners in improving student’s
life chances”.
♫A Center for American Progress study of the use of “extended time”
in schools found that there is no national guideline for longer school
time, no national research on how longer school days have helped
students, even though almost everyone agrees that “traditional
school times” are insufficient! (longer school days risk teacher
burnout and there is no research on this where schools have longer
days and annual calendars).
Relevant (2)
29. British Research
An intriguing study conducted with grants from Save The Children
and The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and published in 2007 came
to the following conclusions:
1. All costs associated with schools in high poverty areas should be
underwritten by the state;
2. Children are disconnecting from school by age ten!
3. Boys and girls tell us that they are routinely shouted at in high
poverty schools: this rarely happens in “advantaged” schools!
4. Teacher time is too often spent in crisis management. Schools in
“disadvantaged areas” need social workers and case workers to
deal with issues related to poverty, freeing teachers to plan and
manage lessons.
5. “It is clear that the possibility of a child experiencing an education
that is likely to produce a fully rounded individual, developed to his
or her full potential, is still dependent on parental income”.
Children in disadvantaged schools were much more likely to
believe they were “not smart enough” to do well on tests!
30. Role models
Supporters
Build relationships that matter
Support parents
Stimulate motivation
Teach accountability
Prepare well
Believe in student growth
Demonstrate teamwork
and last
Why Teachers Matter
31. Lack of preparation/support
Inability to maintain consistent
behavioral
standards
Don’t motivate
Not collegial
Don’t believe in students’ ability
Bias and prejudice
Personal inconsistency: lack of punctuality,
absenteeism
Wrong job!
Why Teachers Fail
32. Get help from colleagues
Plan ahead
Admit to difficulties
Develop one-on-one conferences
with
students and parents
Expect success from students
Don’t give up on them or yourself!
Teamwork is powerful
Motivate through materials and methods
Teach what you want from students
Your Support Systems?
33. Children living in poverty:
More likely to live in or near toxic waste sites
More likely to live in areas that do not meet Air Quality
Standards (EPA)
Have had more exposure to pesticides
Have greater exposure to lead
Have more exposure to cigarette smoke
Poor families move twice as often, and get evicted five
times as often
Children in poverty face 50 percent more street crossings
Poor children have much greater contact with aggressive
peers
Summary
33
34. Summary (2)
Poor communities experience more community violence
Safety concerns lead to added stress which undermines
academic performance
Stress levels anywhere form 35-50% higher
Food choices (diet, shopping availability) are affected by
high cortisol levels (cortisol is a chemical associated with
high poverty and stress levels)
Poverty demographics: suburbs reached similar levels in
2001, and have now surpassed urban populations!
Facts………….
34
