Helping students succeed in spite of hardships.

1. Poverty and student achievement Domingo Garcia 2011

2. Major cultural groups Social class Gender Nationality Race/ethnicity Religion Exceptionality/ nonexceptionality

3. Why culture matters Knowledge of groups and how they interact and intersect can help us understand student behavior and probable learning styles. This information can help the teacher develop appropriate techniques and apply effective methods to increase odds of student success and knowledge acquisition, retention, and application.

4. Influence of social class on student achievement Berliner (2009) elaborates on six out-of-school factors (OSF’s) that affect the health and learning opportunities of children in poverty. They are: low birth weight and non-genetic prenatal influences on children; inadequate medical, dental, and vision care; food insecurity; environmental pollutants; family relations and family stress; and neighborhood characteristics.

5. Effects of Out-of-school factors on students in poverty “These OSFs are related to a host of poverty-induced physical, sociological, and psychological problems that children often bring to school, ranging from neurological damage and attention disorders to excessive absenteeism, linguistic underdevelopment, and oppositional behavior” (Berliner, 2009)

6. Further effects of osf’s on achievement Food insecurity leads to lack of nutrition which leads to impaired language development and behavioral problems. Environmental pollutants impact health and a lack of medical attention leads to more illness and absenteeism which affects school achievement. One neighborhood characteristic of those living in poverty is lessened access to books at home and their communities. Krashen (2010) elaborates that less access to books means lower reading achievement.

7. So now what? It seems almost impossible for children in high poverty schools to succeed seeing that there is almost no way schools can influence the out-of-school factors. Or is there?

8. behaviors practiced by teachers and leaders in high poverty-high success schools Focus on academic achievement Clear curriculum choices Frequent assessment of student progress Multiple opportunities for improvement An emphasis on nonfiction writing Collaborative scoring of student work Reeves, D. B. (2009). Uncovering the “secrets” of high poverty, high success schools.

9. Success is not a lottery We cannot blame students for the hand they have been dealt. Success is a choice, there is no luck involved. As educators it is our duty to empower children to see the choices available to them and motivate them to select the ones that stand to make the most difference in their lives.

10. references Cody, A. (2010, May 10). Stephen Krashen: Children need food, healthcare and books. Not new standards and tests. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in dialogue/2010/05/stephen_krashen_fix_poverty_an.html Reeves, D. B. (2009). Uncovering the “secrets” of high poverty, high success schools. Retrieved from http://www.teachersofcolor.com/2009/04/uncovering-the-secrets-of-high-poverty- high-success-school Berliner, D. C. (2009). Poverty and potential: Out of school factors and school success. Retrieved from http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/poverty-and-potential