How Poverty Affects Education

By: Kearsten Rice

Introduction to Poverty in Education

When we begin to talk about the monetary issues that the schools in the United States experience, we tend to investigate how the schools are funded. It is not uncommon to have students in every school that experience the effects of poverty. This lesson focuses on the students and families who experience the effects of poverty and the emotional, physical, and academic obstacles that these students face.

Learning Targets

1.) Identify the barriers that students living in poverty face.

2.) Explain how poverty affects a student's academic performance.

3.) Describe the correlation between poverty and brain development.

Did you know?

Over 51% of the students that attend public schools are considered low income.

What are some of the barriers that students living in poverty face?

One thing that students living in poverty lack is parent/family involvement. The working conditions that the parents of the student’s are facing affect their parental involvement in school (Heymann, 2010). Due to these parents and family members working much harder and longer days, they are unable to attend any of the school functions available. With that being said, students who are facing these barriers also face different barriers at home. Poverty decreases a child’s readiness for school through aspects of health, home life, schooling and neighborhoods (Ferguson et al, 2007).

How does poverty affect a student’s academic performance?

Through intensive research and studies that have been conducted, we have seen that there are multitude of reasons as to how poverty affects a student’s academic performance. Poverty is a trickle down effect that poses issues for all of the students and their families who experience it. One of the first parts of that trickle down effect we have uncovered is that poverty affects student health. When children experience hunger on a daily basis, they are subject to misbehavior due to lack of focus. It is much harder for someone to engage and learn while they are lacking proper nutrients. When a student loses focus they begin to do things like act out or not do their work, leading to lower academic scores.

What is the correlation between poverty and brain development?

As we look closer into the effects of poverty we tend to focus on all of the things we can physically see in the classroom. What we have found thus far is that the effects of poverty affect brain activity, therefore affecting brain development. One thing that a student who is affected by poverty has is higher levels of stress. Stress affects the executive functions of a developing brain and also affects how the brain regulates emotions and attention. Executive function is essential for self-regulation and school readiness (Blair & Raver, 2016).

Here is a helpful video that puts the above ideas into perspective.

Academically

Academically, we know that students living in poverty tend to have lower academic performance. Poverty shrinks parts of the brain essential for memory, planning, and decision-making (Rocheleau, 2019). This makes anything from reading a small passage to writing a sentence a difficult task for these students.

Medically

There is a steady decline in student health that stems from poverty. Their is a food insufficiency caused by poverty, meaning that the students and their families weren’t eating enough. Food-insufficient children were significantly more likely to have poorer health status (Alaimo et al, 2001). When children experience hunger on a daily basis, they are subject to misbehavior due to lack of focus.

Socially

Students who are effected by poverty tend to lack standard social skills. The students living in poverty have a harder time trying to socialize with the other students. One of the effects of poverty is social withdrawal.

What can you do to help the students living in poverty?

What can we do to help the students living in poverty.mp4

In Closing

Poverty reduces attentiveness, curiosity and motivation (Child Fund, 2021). These negative effects over time make the students begin to lose their love for learning and school in general. What I hope to keep learning from this research is the different ways we can help our students who are going through these experiences. Students living in poverty are just like other children, but they can encounter limitations and barriers that make it harder to learn (Harmon, 2019) My end goal is to learn the best way to support any student who is affected by poverty. I think that as educators this should always be something that we are focused on. Many students are going to face more obstacles and it is up to us to provide the help that they need to get over those obstacles.

Q1.) What can educators do to help students living in poverty?

A.) Ignore them.

B.) They can create a positive learning environment.

C.) Allow for them figure it out on their own.

D.) Give them more assignments to distract them from their worries.

Q2.) Students living in poverty experience high levels of stress. What process of the brain is effected by this stress?

A.) Sleep Functions

B.) Language Functions

C.) Executive Functions

B.) Motor Functions

References

Alaimo, K., Olson, C. M., Frongillo Jr, E. A., & Briefel, R. R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and health in US preschool and school-aged children. American journal of public health, 91(5), 781.

Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2016). Poverty, stress, and brain development: New directions for prevention and intervention. Academic pediatrics, 16(3), S30-S36.

Child Fund. (2021). Statistics on Underprivileged Children in the World. Retrieved from https://www.childfund.org/Content/NewsDetail/2147489206

Ferguson, H., Bovaird, S., & Mueller, M. (2007). The impact of poverty on educational outcomes for children. Paediatrics & child health, 12(8), 701–706. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/12.8.701

Harmon, W. (2019, July 29). 5 Concrete Ways to Help Students Living in Poverty. Retrieved from https://theartofeducation.edu/2018/09/11/5-concrete-ways-to-help-students-living-in-poverty/

Heymann, J. (2000). What happens during and after school: Conditions faced by working parents living in poverty and their school-aged children. Journal of Children and Poverty, 6(1), 5-20.

Rocheleau, J. (2019). How Poverty Shapes a Child's Mind and Brain. Retrieved September 26th, 2021, from https://www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/law-economics-and-ethics/2019/how-poverty-shapes-a-childs-mind- -brain-101419

MC Answers: Q1.) B, Q2.) C

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