Impact of Poverty on Education

1
Impact of Poverty on Education

• Marcia Melton
• EDCI 6300
• Summer, 2007

2
Introduction

• The United States has about 74.5 million
  children. Even though our county is one of the
  worlds 24 wealthiest countrys, the United
  States has the highest child poverty rate.
  (UNICEF, 2007)
• Twenty percent of children are from poverty.
  (Payne, 2001) (Jenson, 2007)
• Forty percent live in low-income families.
  (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2006)
• It is easy to see that public education is
  greatly impacted by these children who may come
  to school lacking fundamental resources that in
  turn affect their learning.

3
Overview

• Impact of Poverty on Learning
• Payne
• Marzano
• Hart and Risley
• Implications for Educators
• Conclusion

4
Impact of Poverty on Learning

• Poverty effects student learning in many ways.
  Jenson (2007) notes that poverty results in brain
  changes from several factors nutritional
  deficits, lack of emotional support,
  stress/distress, health issues, cognitive
  stimulation, and safety issues.

5
Paynes Definition of Poverty

• The extent to which an individual does with out
  resources. (Payne, A Framework for Poverty, 2001)

6
Resources Include

• Financial-often used to define poverty levels,
  financial resources does not explain the
  differences in success with which individuals
  leave poverty.
• Emotional-perseverance, persistence, stamina and
  control of emotions
• Mental-the ability to process information
• Spiritual-believing in a divine purpose and
  guidance

7
Resources Continued

• Physical-having physical health
• Support Systems-friends and family
• Relationships/Role Models-having access to an
  appropriate and nurturing adult
  No significant learning
  occurs without a significant relationship. Dr.
  James Comer (1995)
• Knowledge of the Hidden Rules-these exist in
  poverty, middle class and in wealth. They are the
  understandings that cue members of the group.

8
Marzanos Findings

• High Correlation between poverty and academic
  success
• Students from low economic status had much higher
  failing rates, 63 to 85 percent higher

9
Hart and Risley

• Welfare children experience 500 affirmatives and
  1,100 prohibitions per week
• Working class children experience 1,200
  affirmatives and 700 prohibitions per week

10
Hart and Risley Continued

• They also found that young children from poverty
  families have about 70 percent of the vocabulary
  of the same aged child in a working-class family
  and about 45 percent of the vocabulary of a child
  from a professional family.

11
Implications for Educators

• Declarative Knowledge-what the learner knows or
  understands
• Procedural Knowledge-what the learner is able to
  do
• Dimensions of Learning, Marzano and Pickering
  (1997)

12
Declarative Knowledge
13
Procedural Knowledge
14
The Importance of Mental Models

• Students come to school with a background of
  existing information or their own mental models.
• Background information impacts a students
  ability to process and store information.

15
Six Principals for Building Background Knowledge
(Marzano, 2004)

• background knowledge is stored in bimodal packets
• the process of storing experiences in permanent
  memory can be enhanced
• background knowledge is multidimensional and its
  value is contextual
• even surface-level background knowledge is useful
• background knowledge manifests itself as
  vocabulary knowledge
• virtual experiences can enhance background
  knowledge

16
Most Important Mental Model for Poverty Students
(Payne, 2002)

• Students need to understand Time
• Includes past, present and future
• Constructing a mental model for time is critical
  for understanding cause, effect, consequence and
  sequence
• Students who do not have a mental model for time
  can not plan

17
Drawbacks to Mental Models

• Learners often have preconceived (and often
  inaccurate) conceptions of mental models.
  (Driscoll, 2005, p. 209)
• Learners often build on prior knowledge that may
  be incorrect and inconsistent.
  (Jenson, 2005, p. 47)

18
Summary

• Most educators come from middle class backgrounds
  with middle class values therefore it may be
  difficult for them to understand that poverty may
  bring on a culture and value system much
  different than theirs. (Payne, 2001)
• What is important to note is that poverty alone
  should not be used to track or label students. It
  should only serve to understand the diversity of
  their students in the same way one might
  understand English limited learners or other
  students in their classrooms. (Nieto Bode,
  2008)
• Using the teaching strategies discussed here is
  beneficial for all students including those from
  backgrounds of poverty.

19
Remember

• People develop feelings that they are liked,
  wanted, acceptable, and able from having been
  liked, wanted, accepted, and from having been
  successful. (Combs, 1982)

20
Web Sites
21
National Center for Children of Poverty

• http//www.nccp.org/
• This site includes many statistics about children
  in poverty. It also includes research
  information, projects, state profiles and
  publications. Very useful information for policy
  makers, educators and parents.

22
Article about Ruby Payne, Framework for Poverty

• New York Times http//www.parsintl.com/14328.pdf
• This article provides basic information about the
  research and writings of Ruby Payne. It provides
  an overview of the concepts provided in her
  writings and workshops as well as examples
  educators can relate to.

23
Make Poverty History

• http//www.makepovertyhistory.org/schools/index.sh
  tml
• This website takes a global look at poverty with
  lesson plans for teachers to use with students.
  It also provides links to other resources such as
  Save the Children and WaterAid. While based in
  the United Kingdom, the global look at
  information makes the website useful to all
  educators.

24
Poverty USA

• http//www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/edcenter/i
  ndex.shtml
• At this website you will find a great
  presentation about poverty. Go to the URL above,
  find site resources, and click on take a tour of
  Poverty USA. Units are available for different
  grade levels. While Catholic based, the
  information is great for educators in the public
  school setting.

25
Education-a Way out of Poverty

• www.sida.se/shared/jsp/download.jsp?fEdd12.pdfa
  2792
• The information at this site is a PDF file of
  research presentations at the Poverty Conference,
  2001. Sida, Swedish Internatinal Development
  Cooperation Agency, invited international
  researchers to present and then compiled the
  information in a document to help create an
  awareness of the effects of poverty and the
  social and education implications.

26
Print Resources
27
Works by Marzano

• Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background
  knowledge for academic achievement. Alexandria,
  VA Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development
• Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J. Pollock, J. E.
  (2001). Classroom instruction that works.
  Alexandria, VA, Association for Supervision and
  Curriculum Development.
• Marzano, R. J. Pickering, D. J. (1997).
  Dimensions of learning. (2nd ed.). Alexandria,VA,
  Association for Supervision and Curriculum.
• These publications give educators background
  information about learning theories and how that
  relates to the classroom.
• Dimensions of Learning outlines five types of
  thinking Attitudes and Perceptions, How We
  Acquire and Integrate Knowledge, How We Extend
  and Refine Knowledge, How to Use Knowledge
  Meaningfully and How We Form Habits of the Mind.
  Each section of the book has classroom example to
  help lead educators to understand practical
  applications.
• Building Background Knowledge gives the educator
  a perspective about the value of vocabulary in
  school achievement. Six steps are given to help
  with effective vocabulary instruction.
• Classroom Instruction That Works examines
  research that looks at teaching strategies that
  most impact student learning. Note taking, group
  work and using graphic organizers plus other
  strategies are discussed and researched. The
  material is organized so that educators see the
  relationship between the research and how that
  relates to the classroom.

28
Works by Payne

• Payne, R. K. (2001). A framework for
  understanding poverty. Highlands, TX aha
  Process, Inc.
• Payne, R.K. (2002). Understanding learning, the
  how, the why, the what. Highlands, TX aha!
  Process, Inc.
• Ruby Paynes work focuses on the differences of
  values in the economic classes of people. While
  specifically designed to inform educators how to
  relate to students of low economic status,
  specific strategies are discussed on how
  educators can make learning significant to all
  students.
• A Framework for Understanding Poverty gives case
  studies of individuals and engages the reader to
  explore what resources does this individual have
  or lack that impacts their success. The
  importance of creating relationships is also
  discussed.
• Understanding Learning, the How, the Why, the
  What is a resource guide for teachers that takes
  the information presented in A Framework for
  Understanding Poverty and gives educators
  practical ready to use ideas. The first three
  chapters are a refresher course in the CPI model
  of learning theory. Payne then provides the
  teacher a handbook of easy to follow strategies
  to engage students.

29
Others

• Combs, A. W. (1982). A personal approach to
  teaching beliefs that make a difference. Boston
  Allyn Bacon.
• Comer, J. (1995) Lecture given at Education
  Service Center, Region IV. Houston, TX.
• Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning
  for instruction. Pearson Education, Inc.
• Jenson, E. (2005) Teaching with the brain in
  mind. Alexandria, VA Association for Supervision
  and Curriculum.
• Jenson, E. (2007). www.jensonlearning.com.
• National Centre for Children in Poverty. (2006)
  Basic facts about low-income children birth to
  age 18.
• Nieto, S. Bode, P. (2008) Affirming diversity
  the sociopolitical context of multicultural
  education (5th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
• UNICEF. (2007) Child poverty in perspective an
  overview of child well-being in rich countries.
  Innocenti Report Card. No. 7. Florence, Italy.