A realidade educacional do brasil quando da implantação da reforma do ensino
Poverty and learning_411
1. Specialization: Leadership of Educational Organizations
BY
Michael Smalls
Poverty and Learning: Dealing with
Educational Disadvantage
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
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
7. Summary of Content
• Low socioeconomic status
• Rural locations
• Indigenous populations
• Students with disabilities
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
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
13. Improving Schools
• Click to edit Master text styles
– Second level
– Third level
• Fourth level
– Fifth level
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.
• Click to edit Master text styles
– Second level
– Third level
• Fourth level
– Fifth level
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Notas do Editor
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. Education is important for children’s later chances in life. Education also produces well-educated citizens of a community, state or country who can make informed decisions on civic and political questions. Education provides intelligent and resourceful workers who can improve future of the community and country in which they live. It can provide for stronger families and a reduction of educational disadvantage for the next generation. However, inequalities built into the structure of society can damage children and limit their opportunities. Without support, many of these children fail to get an adequate education through lack of resources. Giving these children the tools they need for success is key in breaking the cycle of educational disadvantage. The question is how this can be done.
One of the most pressing problems in the 21st century economic outlook is how to best utilize the talent that is present in the population of a country to increase productivity and support economic activity. In the 1990s the “New Economy” promised to revitalize the US marketplace because of its creativity, innovation and technology. However, the early promises of the transition in the US from a manufacturing to a service-based economy have failed to materialize. Instead of improving the chances of the US lower and middle classes to achieve class mobility, the New Economy instead seemed to have led to an increasing skills gap and to a permanent reduction of the middle class because of increasing income disparity and stagnation of opportunity for lower socioeconomic classes. These changes lead to increases in socialism and a drain on economies in the US and other developed countries that have to support lower classes that are unable to earn a living wage. One of the key issues in perpetrating the skills and income gap is educational disadvantage. These economic conditions become structurally self-perpetrating, meaning that they need to be addressed and remedied by changes in both government and educational system policies (Domhoff, 2013).
Income inequality is one of the toughest issues related to the current economy. This has been an accelerating trend over the recent history of the US. Since 2009 nearly 95% of income gains have gone to the top 1% of the population. In the US the top 1% of the population currently owns 35% of all private wealth. About 20% of the population, including managerial and professional workers, owns 89% of the available wealth. This leaves only 11% of wealth for wage and salary workers who make up the middle and lower economic classes (Domhoff, 2013). The end result of this shift has been an increase in the number of people who fall into the lower socioeconomic classes. This is considered a cautionary change even by wealthy financiers, and various solutions have been proposed to remedy the loss of talent and resources that this situation imposes.
Researchers have found that lost talent through mismatch of expectations and aspirations can be based on gender, race and class (Hanson, 1994). Data from the longitudinal studies shows that loss of talent through reductions of expectations over time is significant. About 16% of youths are found to have expectations lower than their aspirations, and 27% report reduced expectations during their high school years. Of the three characteristics mentioned above, class was found to have the greatest and most consistent effect on lost talent. Membership in a lower socioeconomic class was found to nearly double the risk of lost talent.
Researchers that examined enrollments have found that only 3% of students at the 146 most-selective private and public colleges in the US are from the bottom socioeconomic quartile (Fulwood, 2013). Many highly qualified and gifted lower socioeconomic students never make application to prestigious colleges and universities because of perceptions of cost and poor quality of information on the college financial aid and application process, while upper class students with access to better information and connections apply successfully.
Currently the educational system in the US is failing to deal with the educational disadvantage of large numbers of students in the system, especially racial minorities, leading to poor academic achievement, drop outs, social and economic exclusion, decreased quality of life and high unemployment rates for these groups. This problem also involves an increased loss of talent for US businesses and manufacturers. For this reason, it is important to find workable solutions that will deal with the complex issues involved in educational disadvantage and lead to better outcomes for those affected. This research will help fill that gap.
Research has identified the most likely groups to suffer from educational disadvantage. This status may vary from region to region, but some characteristics remain the same. Likely persons to experience disadvantage in the educational system include those of low socioeconomic background, those from remote or rural locations, indigenous populations, students with disabilities or other special needs, racial minorities and immigrants facing a language barrier. Educational disadvantage may also have a gender, religious or sexual orientation basis (APC, 2012). Any characteristic that makes a student stand out as different and of socially lower status is likely to affect their ability to fit into the educational system and gain the same benefits as their more advantaged peers.
Research suggests that there are multiple causes of educational disadvantage and that these causes are complex and interrelated. For this reason, it is clear that identification and assessment of risk factors need to be implemented within a context of the family, the school and the larger community. A number of studies have attempted to identify these risk factors and what affect they have on educational disadvantage. Low family income status is the strongest predictor of poor educational performance. Minority racial, ethnic or immigrant status is also found to be a strong predictor. Dropping out of school reduces the chance that students will achieve further education. Foster care status and disability are also strong predictors of educational disadvantage. Risk factors for all groups have been found to come from environmental and social responses to the student’s state of deprivation (Felner et al., 1995).
Besides poor educational outcomes for individual students, the effects of educational disadvantage are often reflected in later life. For example, students who drop out of school or graduate with poor skills fare poorly in job markets, marriage opportunities and crime statistics. A number of studies suggest the importance of cumulative risk or advantage as potential predictors of health over a lifetime (Walsemann, Geronimus & Gee, 2008). These continued disadvantages tend to make the problem of educational disadvantage self-perpetrating.
Research has produced a number of opinions on the origins of educational disadvantage, including: 1) Pathological views, which relate to individual characteristics or behavior. Some authorities take the view that because intelligence is largely genetically determined, no amount of education will make a difference in achieved performance. 2) Transmitted deprivation, which holds that educational attainment is based on upbringing. Studies of intergenerational continuity have found that children of disadvantaged parents are not always subsequently disadvantaged. 3) Home based factors, which include material deprivation, affect schooling through lack of resources, lack of facilities (such as quiet space to study) and poor health. Environment and family size can also affect the degree of stimulation a child receives and the ensuing development. 4) School factors, which may contribute to disadvantage through failure of schools to respond to children’s needs. Typical problems include limited curriculum, low resources and low teacher expectations, which are reinforced by streaming, a restrictive examination system and high rates of teacher turnover. In spite of the importance of home background, good schools have been found to make a difference. 5) Structural views, which relate educational disadvantage to the structure of society. In this view poverty and class disadvantages are reflected in educational attainment through a combination of school and home factors (Spickler, 2014).
Researchers investigated whether school size reduces the effects of disadvantaged status on the achievement levels of individual students, controlling for school resources, school climate and student academic background. The results show that the average achievement score was lower for students in small schools than it was in large schools, but the negative effect of a disadvantaged background on student achievement was significantly less in small than in medium or large schools (Huang & Howley, 1993).
Another group of researchers investigated parental involvement in childhood education and found it was important for later well-being of the children since it let them know their parents were interested in their development. Results of this study suggested that parental involvement matters, but the effects vary depending on when economic hardship and involvement are measured, the type of parental involvement and the parent’s gender. Father interest in the child’s performance in school was found to be the greatest factor in improved achievement (Hango, 2007).
The results of education develop over a long-term, which makes evaluation of models and policy changes difficult. Because of political pressures, politicians have a tendency to want visible programs and quick fixes. This leads to policy that pushes short term approaches like pedagogies for girls or boys, phonetics training, reading interventions, e-learning, new discipline plans, alternative schools and performance pay for teachers. These policies range from real innovation to burdens on the system to profit-making schemes from educational services companies. However, these short-term programs have yet to make an appreciable difference in the quality of education. Although targeted one-on-one interventions have recently been heralded for increasing the US high school graduation rate (Fox News, 2014), but test scores remained flat. These reports have focused only on the number of graduates, and the question still remains about whether these individuals have the skills and ability to continue their education in the university setting, find good jobs or otherwise close the opportunity gap.
One common solution offered by proponents of better educational opportunities is improvement of schools. Researchers used data from the UK public schools to create graphics illustrating the relationship between socioeconomic class and academic performance. In this study the poor performance of lower socioeconomic students was found to be unrelated to the quality rating of the schools they attended. The UK government often uses “academy conversion” to improve failing schools, which involves replacing the management. This has been shown to improve student performance to a small extent Cook (2012). However, the data on social class and performance casts doubt about whether this will have the desired effect to improve social mobility of the lower socioeconomic class students.
Another current model for improving the performance of disadvantaged students is teacher accountability. Researchers examined historical precedents for accountability in education including “payment by results,” a program instituted in Welsh elementary schools from 1862 to 1897. The research focused on the market-driven, economic aspects of the program, analyzing how these affected the educational process. Under the system, an annual government grant was based on the evaluation of Her Majesty’s Inspector who conducted examinations of the school children. This was a narrow, restrictive system of educational accountability, based on the utilitarian beliefs of the time, and was eventually ended as ineffective (Rapple, 1994).
Solutions to reduce educational disadvantage in the US school system have to be on a scale that approximates the problem. The current direction of effort does not seem to be supported by the research, which means that more studies are necessary on what solutions work best over the long term to improve educational outcomes. This issue has a serious impact on the industry of education and especially on educational administration because administrators are most often in charge of how schools will handle educational disadvantage. They often bear the burden of policies and problems that come up with policy implementation. Therefore it is important for administrators to be aware of research and to contribute to the body of knowledge that is essential for them to use in carrying out their work.
Everyone pays for failing schools. It only makes sense to fund research that will focus on the issue of what solutions work best. This will reduce both the costs and damage to children’s lives over the long term.
