Strategies for Addressing Poverty in Schools

As poverty pervades American school districts, policies and procedures originally designed to help student progress may actually be hindering or excluding students from poverty. This article addresses three of these concerns, offering ideas for change and specific steps a teacher leader can do to facilitate these changes.

In a previous article, I analyzed several detrimental school procedures for students in poverty. The way our school conducts parent teacher conferences could potentially exclude rather than include. Offering conferences from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. every time limits parents' options. When parents work during second shift, have no transportation, have to fix dinner, or have no ability to read, they are excluded from the process. One aspect in our school's favor, however, is providing free child care. So what are some new ideas or solutions to the parent teacher schedule? First of all, since so many students qualify for a free and reduced lunch program, how about sending out a coupon for a "free dinner program" to all parents who attend, making dinner by donation only? This would be a great reason for parents to leave the safety of their own home and risk setting foot in an arena dripping with middle class hidden rules instead of their own. Secondly, make the schedule flexible. In other words, have one full day but with a later start for parent teacher conferences, like from noon to 8 p.m. This would replace one teaching day and would allow parents of all working shifts to attend. Not to mention, it would save the school from needing to provide teachers a "comp day", saving money in the process, and teachers could sleep in for a change. It also would prevent parents from requiring child care to cover two afternoons for their youngsters since messing up one day of work is better than two. Another strategy could be a bus program where one bus driver or administrator volunteers to pick up parents and drop them back off at a set time. Families could all ride in together to take advantage of the free dinner, too. It would be a sort of "educational festival" bringing the community together while educating parents about their children's progress. Combine this with carnival-like activities for the kids sponsored by youth groups and suddenly conferences could be a fun place to come! A teacher leader could help coordinate the booths, use a call system to contact parents verbally instead of in writing, and could promote sponsors for the event.

Another policy hindering students from poverty involves the use of standardized, formal voice assessments in determining credit in a high school course. While it is true that testing at the national and state levels require a comprehension of formal voice to demonstrate knowledge, school districts should better adapt to their student population. If a large percentage of students speak in an informal, round-about way of talking to get their points across, what truly is wrong with it? Teachers can still assess if a student understands a concept. Linearity should not be a requirement. If, however, a school district requires a student to pass yet another standardized, multiple-choice type test as an end of course requirement, it could be disastrous for students from poverty. Not only would students feel the added pressure to perform within a seemingly foreign language, but their knowledge would not be able to accurately be communicated. In other words, if a student could instead communicate understanding to a teacher via a project, story, or a whole host of other methods, then he or she could potentially succeed. The wall is in the format of the end of course assessment and its rigidity. Expecting every student to communicate in the same way is at the heart of the problem. Overcoming this will lead to a better success rate for students of poverty and a higher graduation rate as well. Teacher leaders will be required to communicate the importance of change, and model acceptance of receiving students' knowledge in new, unique ways.

Finally, a third area affecting students in poverty focuses on the old fashioned style of a quiet classroom. In the past, research indicated that quiet classrooms allowed students to focus better. While this is still true for a handful of students, most of this generation's students have changed. They have become so proficient at multi-tasking that only having one task is distracting in and of itself. When students have music going in the background, especially students from poverty, they feel more at ease. At home, students from poverty almost constantly have some sort of background noise to deal with. From noisy siblings, to constant stories, or television programs blaring, students are constantly bombarded with noise. The thing is, students adapt to the noise and the noise becomes part of their success at home. When the sounds are removed within a school setting, all of a sudden these students' coping mechanisms are removed as well. As such, removing .mp3 players or music from today's classrooms could be disastrous. If some students want it quiet, it would be. If students want to listen to .mp3 players during appropriate times and keep the volume low, it should be allowed. As a teacher leader, I usually allow .mp3 players to be listened to. However, debate has begun among staff and teachers which would ban .mp3 players. Unfortunately, this goes against a strategy which may in fact be helping students from poverty. I will do my best to stand up for my students who require some background noise to concentrate now that I know the benefits it could provide.

Notice that all of these strategies do not lower expectations of our students. They are simply ways a school can recognize challenges that our students in poverty have to overcome. These ideas work with students' strengths rather than trying to change or parent each individual without success. Hopefully using these strategies at our school will make students from poverty feel more successful and independent, helping them grow into well adjusted adults.