LITERACY IS CRITICAL
of these well deserving students are held back from incredible opportunities to grow because of lack of funding or lack of resources . This should not happen .
But why is it happening ? Why is this a problem ?
More than 16 million children are growing up in poverty , meaning that 22 % of all children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level of $ 23,550 a year . Research has shown that children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism and dropout rates than those coming from middle class or higher .
Now how does this affect the classroom , and how can we address it as educators ?
Lacking a Strong Foundation
For our students , children who grow up in low socioeconomic conditions typically have a smaller vocabulary than middle or higher-class children do , which increases the risk for academic failure . Much of this attributes to lack of exposure . Whether the words are spoken or read , low socioeconomic households will in most cases not be able to provide their child with that elementary foundation . In the classroom , this lack of exposure can impact various lesson plans and achievement for both the teacher and the student . To resolve this type of problem , educators should try and incorporate vocabulary practice on a daily basis . More exposure to new and unique words can enrich the student in successful ways .
Student-Teacher Relationships
Many teachers , especially new teachers to the field , find many students in low-income areas to be behaviorally difficult and inattentive to the work . It is easy to blame the student , but we need to understand their background and their stories . One reason why many students seem unmotivated toward schoolwork is a lack of hope or optimism related to their outside problems . Low socioeconomic students often deal with problems bigger than themselves . Whether they are financial hardships or absent guardians , these types of negative problems can take a toll on the mentality of the student , causing them to act in a very brash and hasty way .
Disruptive home relationships often create mistrust in students . Feelings toward parent or guardian figures that have often failed students at home can be projected onto adults at the school . Classroom misbehaviors are likely to increase because of these at-home instabilities . One thing a teacher can do to aid the situation is to build a relationship with the student . Establishing a relationship with the student can benefit you as well as the overall classroom . In addition , providing positive reinforcement can give the child the necessary confidence to perform on an academic basis . Understanding , listening , and talking with a child can provide you a strong advantage , especially later down the line .
Performance on Assessments
Studies have shown that children from lower socioeconomic background often perform below those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds on state exams . Many students coming from specific communities are found to struggle with core subjects such as reading , math , science , etc . In addition , many of the schools that the students attend lack the necessary resources and teachers to provide them the foundation to develop these core skills . A school can help nullify this problem by strategically analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each of their students . By having this type of data , a teacher is able to break down lessons so that their students can be successful .
There are no easy solutions . We must be willing to admit there is a problem and openly discuss the issue . Government cannot solve all of our problems . Poverty must be challenged community by community , neighborhood by neighborhood , classroom by classroom and home by home . Together we can inspire , and we can identify needs and marshal resources to meet the challenge . Together we can defeat the issue of poverty .
LITERACY IS CRITICAL
Government spending is often portrayed as a freight train “ quickly running out of track .” And there is some truth to that statement . There is not an endless supply of money to fund every good idea that comes along , and we must acknowledge that problem . Fiscal responsibility is a must .
That is why spending on priority issues like public education is important . You can spend $ 9,000 a year for a child to receive a quality education , or you can spend $ 40,000 a year to incarcerate an adult in some communities .
That is a harsh reality . You have read the statistics enough to know that there is an undeniable