1. EFFECTS OF
POVERTY
ON
SCHOOL AGE
CHILDREN
Deleasa Do
Course:

2. Introduction:
 When speaking of poverty, it will in
the context of and terms of
economics and/or socio-economics.
 Public education system’s social
structure that generally has not
changed over time.
 Effects of poverty on children and
family and, ultimately education.
 How the Culture of Poverty myth
supports the policy debate.

3. Terms to Know
 Social Structure/Structure
 What it is not:
 Not synonymous with culture
 Although all cultures have social structure to varies degrees.
 What it is:
 Social Structure is the relationships between different entities or groups in
relatively stable patterns of relationship … grouped into structurally related
groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings, or purposes.
 Child Poverty
 Families or orphans being raised with limited, or in some cases
absent, state resources. Children that fail to meet the minimum
acceptable standard of life for the nation where that child lives are said
to be poor.
 Culture of Poverty
 The view that the poor have a different value system that contribute to
their poverty.
 Coined by Oscar Lewis, 196. It is said that later in his life he recanted, but
died before he republished his work. Supported by Ruby Payne (Aha)

4. Structural Causes of Poverty
 Geographers, sociologists, [anthropologists]and historians have studied and
uncovered structural causes of poverty and related discrimination and
segregation:
 Suburban sprawl as a means to avoid residential and school integration; federal
public policies that encouraged suburbanization [contributing to] structural causes of
discrimination, segregation, and the concentration of poverty (Lassiter).
 Racial inequality in employment: local labor markets affecting blacks and whites
differently, differing rates of participation and thus income. Structural factors affecting
labor market participation, such as ethnic/racial divisions of labor and discrimination in
employment, wages, and occupational structure (Ellis and Odland).
 Racial and ethnic segregation interact with structural socioeconomic changes: urban
decentralization, the shift from manufacturing to service industries, and growing
income inequality) to determine “the spatial concentration of poverty” … isolating the
poor “ … especially severe for African Americans already highly segregated by race
(Massey and Fischer). Segregation and socioeconomic status strongly determined
Academic preparation.
 Discrimination in the housing market and other structural changes in social and
economic conditions prevents access economic, social, and educational opportunities
(Ellis, Wright, and Parks).
 High levels of segregation leads to concentrated poverty, results in higher levels of
family stress because of the violence and disorder in segregated neighborhoods.
Students often respond by devoting more time to family; thus, their academic
achievement suffers (Charles, Dinwiddie, and Massey).

5. Years a Child can live in
Poverty

6. Groski’s speaks with Teacher
Janet
 Teacher Janet: "I love these kids. I adore
them. But my hope is fading."
 Groski:"Why's that?"
 Teacher Janet: "They're smart. I know they're
smart, but . . . They don't care about school.
They're unmotivated. And their parents—I'm
lucky if two or three of them show up for
conferences. No wonder the kids are
unprepared to learn."

7. Gorski’s and Rogalsky’s
Analysis
 Teacher Janet is determined to create an environment in which
each student reaches his or her full potential. Despite overflowing
with good intentions, Janet has bought into the most common and
dangerous myths about poverty.
 The "culture of poverty" myth—the idea that poor people share
more or less monolithic and predictable beliefs, values, and
behaviors.
 The educational system will not improve if there are still millions of
teachers and administrators buying into the idea of the culture of
poverty.
 Ruby Payne (Aha) claims to want to eradicate class inequalities that
pervade U.S. schools [by] by “fixing” the poor … teaching them the
“hidden rules” of the middle class, rather than focusing on systemic
economic, political, and social issues (Gorski 2006).
 Educators need to be informed about the structural causes of
poverty … (Rogalsky, Jennifer). [Teachers] need reach a deeper
understanding of class and poverty (Grosky).

8. Quote by Stephen Krashen
 There is no evidence that school itself needs
to change dramatically. There is no evidence
that teachers these days are worse than they
were in the past, that parents these days are
more irresponsible than they were in the
past, or that students these days are lazier
than they were in the past.

9. From Krashen
Poverty Stressors / A
Proposal
 It's never a good idea to make a proposal in education without
 More likely to suffer from "food insecurity," talking about how to pay for it and Krashen has a suggestion:
which means slower language  Drop all standardized testing, with the exception of one
test, an improved NAEP. For those who argue that we need
development as well as behavioral. national standardized tests, we already have an instrument
for this, the NAEP.
 More likely to lack medical insurance or  The available evidence indicates that the massive amount of
standardized testing currently done does not do any good
have high co-payments, which means less and may be doing real harm.
medical care, and more childhood illness  Increased testing does not improve achievement.
and absenteeism, which of course  The NAEP is administered to small groups who each take a
portion of the test every few years. Results are extrapolated
negatively impacts school achievement. to estimate how the larger groups would score. No "test
prep" is done, as the tests are zero stakes. Our efforts
should be to improve the NAEP, not start all over again, and
 Poor schools are more likely to have no go through years of expensive fine-tuning with new
instruments.
school nurse or have a high ratio of nurses  If we are interested in a general picture of how children are
to students. doing, this is the way to do it. If we are interested in finding
out about a patient's health, we only need to look at a small
sample of their blood, not all of it.
 More likely to live in high-pollution  High school grades were a better predictor of college success and
areas, with more exposure to that adding SAT scores did not improve the odds of college
success.
mercury, lead, PCB's (polychlorinated  The judgments of professionals who are with children every day is
biphenyls) and smog, all of which influence more valid than a test created by distant strangers.
health and learning, and often impact  Moreover, teacher evaluations are "multiple measures," are
closely aligned with the curriculum, cover a variety of subjects, and
behavior. are "value-added," that is, they take improvement into
consideration.
 Have little access to books at home and in  Finally, the money saved by vastly reducing standardized testing
can be invested in improving libraries in high poverty areas: If we
their communities, with less access to do this, we will be investing in solving the problem, not just
measuring it.
good public libraries and bookstores.
 More likely to attend schools with poorly

10. U.S.A vs. Everyone Else
 The main evidence that our schools have failed is
the fact that American students have not done
especially well on international tests of math and
science.
 Studies show, however, that American students
from well-funded schools who come from high
income families outscore nearly all other countries
on these kinds of tests.
 The mediocre overall scores are because the
United States has a very high percentage of
children in poverty, over 20%, compared to
Denmark's 3%

11. College Attendance
US Americans comparatively have more access and
opportunities to attend college.

12. Conclusion
 If given a choice, one would be hard pressed
to find any parent how would choose to raise
their children in poverty and all that entails.
 In the United States, all children from 6-19 (21
if disabled) have a right to a free public
education.
 All students have due process of the law.
 No child can be denied an education based on
any criteria.
 This cannot be said for other “competitive”
countries!

13.  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_So
ciology/Social_Structure
 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00
221340903344953
 www.questia.com Questia, a part of
Gale, Cengage Learning.
 http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_chi_p
oveconomy-child-poverty
 http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_ice.