For our class

1. What Classroom
Teachers Should
Know About
Poverty
Antoine Thompson Poverty PD

2. Whenever you see Homer S.
please reflect on that
information using sticky note.
Directions

3. Defining Poverty
 Government defines it as certain income
levels. Statistics reflect people on
assistance.
 What is poverty in one geographic region can
be almost middle class in another.
 New displaced and homeless – are now in
poverty, but not included in statistics.

4. Education Connection – Demographic
achievement mirrors local poverty
 Poverty, race, and schooling are very highly
correlated with location. (For ex: Atlanta,
Charlotte, New Orleans)
 African-Americans are the most racially
segregated, but segregation is declining.
 Second most segregated group is Latino. No
changes to ratio of segregation.
 School racial composition affects academic,
social, and economic outcomes.

5. Overall Percent of Children in Poverty
Children and Poverty 2008
17%
83%
Poverty
Not Poverty
Children and Extreme Poverty 2008
8%
92%
Extreme Poverty
Not Extreme Poverty

6. Caucasian Children in Poverty
Caucasian Children and Poverty 2008
10%
90%
Poverty
Not Poverty
Caucasian Children and Extreme Poverty 2008
4%
96%
Extreme Poverty
Not Extreme Poverty

7. African-American Children in Poverty
African-American Children and Poverty 2008
33%
67%
Poverty
Not Poverty
African-American Children and Extreme Poverty 2008
17%
83%
Extreme Poverty
Not Extreme Poverty

8. Latino Children in Poverty
Latino Children and Poverty 2008
25%
75%
Poverty
Not Poverty
Latino Children and Extreme Poverty 2008
11%
89%
Extreme Poverty
Not Extreme Poverty

9. Childhood Poverty 15 Year Trend
0
5
10
15
20
1 2 3
Year
MillionsofChildren
Poverty Extreme Poverty

10. Other Poverty Issues
 Children of immigrants 22% of poverty cases
 Immigrant rates are increasing
 New Poverty Group:
Great Recession Homeless

11. More Poverty Issues
 Poverty limits school achievement but effect
of actual income does not affect number of
years of school completed
 Extra-familial environments begin to matter
as much or more for children than family
conditions once children reach school age
 School related achievement depends on both
ability and behavior

12. BIG IDEA: Poverty Effect on
School Children
 Poverty associated with delayed language
development and other cognitive skills
 Lower literacy rates and poor numeracy skills
 Higher rates of behavioral and emotional
disorders
 Higher percentage of students in Special
Education and/or needing support services

13. Behavior Disorders
 Chronic stress disorder
o
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stres
s
reduc
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outlet
s
xpos
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viole
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borho
od or
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14. Education Impact
The relationship between income and schooling
appears to be related to a number of
confounding factors such as:
 parental education
 family structure
 neighborhood characteristics
Many families in poverty don’t take the time to
have conversations. They have arguments.
Result: Students can’t learn appropriate social skills
outside of school.

15. Lack of Parent Involvement
 Don’t get involved in school functions or
activities
 Don’t contact school about academic
concerns
 Don’t attend parent-teacher
conferences
Children in poverty are more likely to lack
(and need) a caring, dependable adult in their
lives. Teachers may be only adult offering any
support

16. Challenges for failing public schools
extreme socioeconomic
stratification
high population of poor children
legacy of underfunded schools
in urban and rural communities

17. A Common Problem with Poorer Students
High tardy rates and high absenteeism
Attendance problems often indicate
negative parent attitudes towards
school
Parents may actually discourage
participation in school

18. What can a teacher do?
How well and how quickly we help kids adapt to
school forecasts long-term school outcomes
How do we create the “SCHOOL PROOF KIDS”?
Teaching to the Test ?
This doesn’t work!
HOPE is not a strategy!

19. Ways to change IQ
Home environments and living
conditions
Quality of nutrition
Early childhood experiences and early
educational intervention
Amount and duration of schooling
A good teacher for three to five years would
eliminate the average gap between
economic groups and between ethnic groups

20. One:Children need a Fluid IQ
 Students need the ability to rapidly adjust
their strategies and thought processes from
one context to another
ex. Child is taught how to cross the street.
They may use this knowledge with their bike
or skateboard, or in a new neighborhood.
 A method of teaching this is with graphic
organizers, etc. Adjusting their knowledge to
another context.

21. Two: Experienced-based brain
changes
 Video games – develops attention skills
 Intensive language training evokes
measurable physical changes in auditory
brain maps
 Spatial navigation abilities correlate with the
brain area responsible for explicit learning
and memory
 Learning music results in improved attention,
sequencing, and processing
 Learning new skills increases brain speed

22. Previous skills help students
 Focus on….
 Capture……
 Process……
 Evaluate and prioritize….
 Manipulate…..
 Apply….
 Present….
…. Information in a meaningful way

23. What does not work.
 Focusing only on basics (drill and kill)
 Maintaining order through show of force
 Eliminating or reducing time for arts,
sports, and PE
 Increasing and intensifying classroom
discipline
 Decreasing interaction among students
 Delivering top-down lectures

24. High performing schools don’t make
these mistakes
Overdoing pep talks and hot air
Planning endlessly
Putting kids first, staff last
Creating climate of fear
Measuring improvement solely
through test scores
Treating symptoms, not causes
Counting on big wins, quickly

25. How to Achieve Classroom Success
 Match curriculum and instruction to standards
 Turn standards into meaningful units
 Pre-assess students’ background knowledge
(at least a week before the lesson)
 Adjust pre-planned lesson plans
 Practice hope building – learned optimism
• changes brain chemistry
• must be pervasive and felt by all
• hopeful kids try harder, persist longer, get better grades
 Remove learned helplessness and feelings of
inadequacy. (Prevents passivity and feelings of
lack of control over circumstances (as early as 1st
grade)

26. How to create Hope
 Daily affirmations
 Asking to hear students’ hopes and offering reinforcements of those
hopes
 Telling students why they can succeed
 Providing needed academic resources (paper, pencils, computer
time)
 Helping students to set goals and build goal-setting skills
 Telling true stories of hope about people to whom students can
relate
 Offering help, encouragement, and caring when needed
 Teaching life skills in small daily chunks
 Avoid complaining about students’ deficits. If they don’t have it,
teach it!
 Treating all the kids in your class as gifted
 Building academic, emotional, and social assets in students

27. Engagement Strategies
 Switch up social groups
 Incorporate movement
 Ask more questions (avoid rhetorical ones!)
 Appreciate and acknowledge every
response
 Use energizers and demonstrations
 Be passionate about subject –draws
students into emotional drama of content

28. Schools that work do these things
 Standards to design curriculum and
assess student work and evaluate
teachers
 Lengthen instruction time in reading
 Spend more on professional
development
 Engage parents in their children’s
education
 Monitor student progress and get extra
help for those who need it

29. FYI……
 Students score higher on reading tests when
teachers felt able to use a variety of
assessment tools
 Gains in vocabulary and comprehension skills
when teachers gave them reading material a
paragraph or longer in length,
and reading in core subject areas,
and use of computers, workbooks and skill
sheets

30. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Hanushek, E. A. (2010). How well do we understand achievement gaps?
pp. 5–12, National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)
(http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc272c.pdf)
2. Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does
to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do about It. ASCD
3. Manning, J. P., & Gaudelli, W. (2006). What Teacher Educators Should
Know about Poverty and Special Education. Teacher Education and
Special Education, Volume 29(4), 236-243
4. http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/
5. http://ddmt.vaniercollege.qc.ca/~s0330431/ece/effects.htm
6. http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_New_Research_High/
7. http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2827/information_show.htm?
doc_id=72167
8. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/startearly/ch_3.html
9. http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/prdyc/ch7.html