Revised poverty and learning
- 1. SPECIALIZATION: LEADERSHIP OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS POVERTY AND LEARNING: DEALING WITH EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGE An AIU Individual Project by Michael Smalls
- 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 • Are not able to achieve their expectations
- 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 • To identify promising solutions to the issue • To recommend future directions for research on the subject
- 7. SUMMARY OF CONTENT • Low socioeconomic status • Rural locations • Indigenous populations • Students with disabilities • Racial minorities • Immigrants 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 • Disability
- 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 • Alternative schools • Targeted interventions
- 13. IMPROVING SCHOOLS 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.
- 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. • Domhoff, G.W. (2013). Wealth, income, and power. Who Rules America?
- 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. • Fulwood, S. (24 September 2013). Race and beyond: Why economic disadvantage becomes educational disadvantage. Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress.
- 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. • Rapple, B.A. (1994). Payment by results: An example of assessment in elementary education from nineteenth century Britain. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2(1): 1-21.
- 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. • Long-term effects of educational disadvantage. (2013). Poverty and health in the United States. OUP.
- 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 Justice.
- 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.