The US Census Bureau sets an income threshold (Enwefa, Enwefa, & Jennings, 2006), if the income a family or individual brings in does not meet that threshold that individual or family is seen as being in poverty (Engle & Black, 2008). As many people know living below that threshold and being in poverty comes with many added struggles besides the obvious struggle, lack of income. Along with poverty comes chronic stress for the family as well as children (Engle & Black, 2008), health risks, health care that is seen as being inadequate (Enwefa, Enwefa, & Jennings, 2006). This paper will look at how poverty affects children and his or her functioning in school. As well as a look at other possible factors, such as the educational system, that could contribute to an influx of students being served through special education. Children living in poverty experience a different environment compared to their fellow peers who are in a higher socioeconomic class. The environment around them can often be unsafe (Thompson, 2012) due to drug activity, gang violence, unsafe or unsanitary living conditions; as well as experiencing an inadequate or unbalanced diet (Thompson, 2012). These environmental conditions are noted to having an impact on a child resulting in lower cognitive abilities, lower academic performance, and an increase in behavior problems (Engle & Black, 2008) (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2012), all of which are standards a teacher uses to refer students for special education. When parents and children deal with these types of environments, the parents are often struggling with the issues of drugs and violence, either around them or personally, which leads to the parent being absent ... ... middle of paper ... ...liance: www.equalityallianceatasu.org Junkin, V. (2013, January 28). Maryland does not see a link between poverty and special education. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from Special Ed Post: http://specialedpost.com/2013/01/28/maryland-does-not-see-a-link-between-poverty-and-speical-education/ Ladd, H. (2012). Education and poverty: Confronting the evidence. Journal of Polcy Analysis and Management, 31(2), 203-227. Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier, M., & Maczuga, S. (2012, December). Are minority children disproportionately represented in early intervention and early childhood special education? Educational Researcher, 41(9), 339-351. Thompson, V. (2012). Relationship between poverty & special education placement. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from Global Post: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/relationship-between-poverty-special-education-placement-8309.html
Among the predominant explanations offered for the existence of disproportionate ethnic representation in special education is the influence of poverty or socioeconomic disadvantage on the academic readiness of minority students. The National Research Council (NRC) reported on research that was conducted and concluded with a “definitive yes” that there are “biological and social/contextual contributors to early development that differ by race and that leave students differentially prepared to meet the cognitive and behavioral demands of schooling” (Skiba, et al. 131). The NRC suggested that the effects of a number of biological and social factors could be included under the broader heading of poverty. The relationship between disproportionality and poverty
The Southern Education Foundation Study contends poverty is the greatest barrier in obtaining an education (Strauss, 2013). Unfortunately, the education system is not as equal as we presume it to be, as there is a significant discrepancy in the education system between high-poverty schools versus privileged schools. Students in high-poverty schools face many more handicaps in acquiring an education. One such disadvantage is underqualified teachers (Carl, 2013). This means privileged schools are monopolizing all the highly qualified teachers, while high-poverty schools are stuck with inadequate, unmotivated teachers— making students’ success at such schools much more difficult. Additionally in these high-poverty schools, there is not much emphasis
The United States generally looks at education as a path to success but the people with the longest road towards success are not getting enough education. In the years before kindergarten, children form their basic thinking skills and children who don't learn these at home fall behind everyone else. In most cases children in poverty do not achieve these skills to the extent of middle-class children from their environment at home. When poor children enter school they are generally a year and a half behind the language abilities of their middle-class peers. Already children of poverty are behind in their ...
Laden, Greg. "Children from Low-income Families at Educational Disadvantage." Science Blog. N.p., 26 Dec. 2008. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.
Losen, D. and Orfield, G., ed. (2002). Racial Inequality in Special Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
In order to understand the educational gap, it is first important to understand the effects of poverty on students of lower socio-economic backgrounds. A significant part of the education function is socioeconomic background of a student. Studies show that 30-50% of behavior is genetic and 50-70% is explained by one’s environment (ASCD). If behaviors are a predominant result of environmental factors then it is important to see the difference between the environment of low SES students and that of affluent students. Many factors must be accounted for when looking at behavior. Lower SES students face daily overwhelming challenges that are different from affluent students. There are four risk factors in particular that affect children in poverty and those are: emotional and social challenges; acute and chronic stressors; cognitive lags; and health and safety issues.
In recent research studies have shown that there are several factors of a child’s academic performance, such as parental time commitment and family economic status. I want to understand whether family economic status impacts a child’s academic performance. My hypothesis is that there is a correlation between children academic outcomes and family economic status. It is significant to research because the correlation between family economic status and a child’s academic performance demonstrate the detrimental impact on children from low economic families. Children are important because they are the future leaders. Many children will become nation leaders or lawyers while others may become doctors who will nurture the next generation. The most apparent issue concerning children form low income families today is low academic performance. Every aspect of a child’s life determines whether or not they will succeed. Therefore, we should be very concern and involved. The correlation of both aspects hinders children from low economic families. The importance of answering the research question allows us to determine whether or not there is a difference between children from low income families and children from high income families.
Education is now more important than it has ever been. Because it is the law that every child receives an education, most people believe that all children are getting an equal education. But, that is not the truth; low-income children are receiving poorer quality education than middle-class children. These children also experience racial inequality, and they live in an unbreakable low-income cycle, all of which are things that have an effect of the quality of education a child is receiving. As stated by Brooks and Duncan (1997), "How does the relative lack of income influence children 's day-to-day lives? It is through inadequate nutrition; fewer learning experiences; instability of residence; lower quality of schools;
Poverty affects a child’s educational outcomes beginning in the earliest years of life, both directly and indirectly. School readiness has been recognized as playing a unique role in escape from poverty in the United States and increasingly in developing countries. The driving forces in poverty are Survival, relationships, and entertainment. These are critical elements that make up the poverty alleviation strategy. This essay reviews the interventions needed to improve school readiness of children in poverty, and provides recommendations for helping them further their driving forces.
Being born into an economically disadvantaged family causes dilemmas before the kid is even born. According to Gulick, “Economically disadvantaged students have it tougher before they are born because they have less prenatal care if any at all” (1). Because the babies do not even have the care they need before they are born they end up being born with things that aren’t good. “Children born into poverty have lower birth weights, and many suffer from hunger and poor nutrition. When the youth suffer from poor nutrition and low birth rates it causes many complications for the hospital staff, the babies family, and causes stress on whoever pays the medical bill because the baby possible has to stay at the hospital longer. Once the kid is born the dilemmas go on and on. So how does being economically disadvantage affect people?
Often the only way to get out of poverty is to get an education that can provide them with a job that meets their income needs. If a child’s school achievement is affected by poverty, they have a higher chance of dropping out and continuing poverty in their generation. Effects of school achievement are measured by if the child has repeated a grade, suspended or expelled, and/or dropped out before graduating. Many children that live in poverty will repeat a grade due to limit educational tools to provide them with practice at home. If the child has behavior problem, then they may be expelled for acting out or misbehaving, this affects their learning because they are not in class learning. The percentage of children living poverty that are affected by school achievement outcomes are 2-3 times greater than children not living in poverty. Emotional or behavior outcomes are measured by tantrums, outbursts and aggression, which persist beyond the normal age range expected. Poor children suffer from emotional and/or behavior outcomes more often than children living in non-poverty. Many of these effects are displayed at school and at home, occasionally in public places such as the mall, and cause lots of disturbances such as violence. Emotional problems also include internal problems such as anxiety and depression, which can cause the child to disassociate themselves from social opportunities. These children are often thought
Childhood poverty has increased to its highest point in 20 years (Holland, 2014) and become a major concern and issue in the United States. Since 2007-2009 poverty has increased 2.3 percentage points for white children and 6.4 percentage points for Hispanics (Lopez, & Velasco, 2011). The Children’s defense fund states that 1in5 children in America are poor. This increase is putting millions of children at an increased risk of injury or death (Holland, 2014). The U.S. has been fighting the war on poverty for over fifty years and there has not been much progress. Besides health, poverty affects many other aspects of a child’s life and development, but it especially affects their cognitive and education ability. The educational and cognitive gaps
There are many different factors that affect education. One such factor is, socioeconomic status. Children who attend school in a wealthier community receive a better education than those students in poor communities. In poor communities, student’s education is not only affected by a lack of resources, but also from teaching methods and philosophies. Urban and poor schools’ students do not receive as equal of an education as their more affluent and suburban counterparts do.
Living in poverty exposes children to disadvantages that influence many aspects in their life that are linked to their ability to do well in school. In the United States of America there are an estimated 16.4 million children under the age of 18 living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). “The longer a child lives in poverty, the lower the educational attainment” (Kerbo, 2012). Children who are raised in low-income households are at risk of failing out before graduating high school (Black & Engle, 2008). U.S. children living in poverty face obstacles that interfere with their educational achievement. Recognizing the problems of living in poverty can help people reduce the consequences that prevent children from reaching their educational potential.
Children that are in school that deal with low income have been stereotyped to be unqualified to get a proper education; are presumably unable to get the necessary tools that are needed to learn. For instance Ashly Garris said that, “poor children are automatically at a disadvantage when they enter schools because of this lack of resources” (Garris). Therefore it can be agreed that low-income students are unprepared to learn; falling behind from having insufficient supplies to study. Apart from that some people woul...