Children in Poverty: The long term academic effects of poverty in childhood

 Introduction

Poverty is an issue that more and more of our nation’s children are coming face to face with. The price that children of poverty must pay is unbelievably high.

Some of the factors related to poverty that may place a child at-risk for academic failure are: very young, single or low educational level parents; unemployment; abuse and neglect; substance abuse; dangerous neighborhoods; homelessness; mobility; and exposure to inadequate or inappropriate educational experiences.

History of poverty in the US

The federal government measures poverty by the numbers. In 2005, the federal "poverty line" was set at $16,090 for a family of three and $19,350 for a family of four. If a family makes less than those amounts of money in a year, it is officially classified as poor.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 12.7 percent of all Americans were living in poverty in 2004. That equates to more than 37 million people--more than the population of California, the most populous state. What's more, the 2004 poverty figure represents an increase of 1.1 million from 2003, the fourth straight increase since 2000.

Poverty in the United States is not evenly distributed. It is worse for children and teens than for adults. In 2004, 17.8 percent of U.S. children and teens lived in poverty, compared with 11.3 percent of those between ages 18 and 64.
Poverty is also worse among African Americans and Hispanic Americans. In 2004, 24.7 percent of African Americans lived in poverty, as did 21.9 percent of Hispanic Americans. The poverty rate was 9.8 percent for Asian Americans and 8.6 percent for non-Hispanic whites.
Poverty is more prevalent in some parts of the country than in others. In 2004, 14.1 percent of people in the South were living in poverty, compared with 11.6 percent for both the Northeast and the Midwest and 12.6 percent for the West. Poverty in the United States today has many faces.

How Poverty Feels

Of course, poverty means more than just not having enough money. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development recently interviewed people with low incomes about how being poor feels. Here are some responses:
"Not enough food, unable to buy medicine."
"It means that each and every day is a struggle. It means you have no voice. It means you're treated differently and unfairly."
"I worry about money a lot, running out of food, our broken car, lack of health insurance for my son."
"Overdrawing bank accounts, getting kicked out of homes for not being able to pay rent."
"No food. No shelter. No hope."

Background on effects of poverty

The temporal intensity of poverty was classified into five categories: never-poor; always-poor; poor-earlier; poor-later; and transitory-poverty. Family configuration status was classified by both temporal characteristics and number of marital transitions: intact-family; short-term-single; long-term-single; short-term-remarried; long-term-remarried; and multiple-marital-transitions. Results revealed that when maternal education and early childhood behavior were controlled, poverty had an effect on both academic failure and extreme delinquency. This effect was independent of family configuration status. Although they both significantly predicted extreme delinquency on their own, academic failure and parental supervision did not mediate the relationship between poverty and delinquency.
 

Overview of developmental/social emotional effects teachers see in the classroom.

The rise in the number of children in poverty has contributed to making classrooms more diverse than ever before. This, indeed, makes both teaching and learning more challenging. This issue can remain a challenge for teachers, as opposed to becoming a problem, if focus is placed on student learning as opposed to teaching.

The effects which rise due to these conditions are, school attendance is often irregular. Transfer to a new school becomes the norm. Aside from the differences from the general school population due to other aspects of their poverty, mobility compounds the difficulty these children have making friends. They may behave hostilely or be totally withdrawn due to past attempts to make friends. With regard to both the academic and social aspects of school, they may figure, “Why bother? I’m just going to move again.” They also often come to school with no records from their previous schools; and it may be difficult for schools to track the records down. Teachers have no idea what these students have learned. It is challenging for schools to place these children in classrooms and get them additional services they may need. Even if placement is successful, these children will likely move again within the school year. It is also challenging to help these students to learn at least something of value while they remain in our classrooms.

2. The risk factors for children

Family factors:

1. Parents mental and physical health

Parenting is a critical process affecting many developmental outcomes for children living in poverty. Parent ability is weakened by living in poverty conditions and by the emotional and psychological stress associated with living in poverty (Kaiser and Delaney, 1996).Some times Parents are so stressed that they get very angry and will most likely take their anger out on the children or their partner. It is very common though to mistake children who get mistreated in poor families and children who get mistreated in families with high incomes.

Children living in poverty are more likely to be born with birth defects, die as young babies or children, have many health problems, have decayed and unfilled teeth, etc.

Association between adolescent parenting and childhood poverty

Because the parent-child relationship is the primary context for early behavioral, social and cognitive development, negative effects on parents due to poverty factors in turn have a negative effect on the development of the child. Children rely on their parents to mediate their environment, respond to their needs and provide emotional stimulation and support. If, because of poverty related stresses, the parent does not do this, the child’s development could be delayed or be otherwise negatively affected (Kaiser and Delaney, 1996).

 Influence of drugs and alcohol

“According to the research, before the age of 18, approximately one in four children is exposed to family alcoholism or addiction Research indicates that children are less likely to drink when their parents are involved with them. Parent drinking behaviors and favorable attitudes about drinking have been associated with adolescents initiating and continuing drinking. (How Does Alcohol Affect the World of a Child?, 2005)

2. Parenting styles

Among poor parents, parenting style is more punitive and coercive and less consistent (Kaiser and Delaney, 1996). Overall, parental support and involvement in school activities is lower. This does not necessarily indicate a lack of interest. It reflects issues related to poverty such as time (especially if they work shifts or more than one job), availability and affordability of child care and/or transportation, as well as possible negative personal experiences between the parent and his or her own school when growing up (Kaiser and Delaney, 1996).
  
B. Childs mental and physical health

Child poverty has many effects on children, and this may be caused by many different factors. A child’s physical domain is affected by things such as malnutrition, lack of money for new clothes, lack of water use, etc. Children in poverty stricken areas are most of the time very thin. Children living in poverty are more likely to be born with birth defects, die as young babies or children, have many health problems, have decayed and unfilled teeth, etc.

Serious physical disabilities, grade repetition, and learning disabilities are more prevalent among children who were low birth weight as infants, as are lower levels of intelligence and of math and reading achievement. Low birth weight is also the key risk factor for infant mortality (especially death within the first 28 days of life), which is a widely accepted indicator of the health and well-being of children.

Although health is itself an outcome, it can also be viewed as a pathway by which poverty influences other child outcomes, such as cognitive ability and school achievement. As discussed previously, poor children experience increased rates of low birth weight and elevated blood lead levels when compared with nonpoor children. These conditions have, in turn, been associated with reduced IQ and other measures of cognitive functioning in young children and, in the case of low birth weight, with increased rates of learning disabilities, grade retention, and school dropout in older children and youths.

The lack of emotional nurturing can lead to feelings of alienation, inadequacy, depression and anxiety. Aggressive or impulsive behavior and social withdrawal can also result. Emotional security and self-esteem are often lacking. There is a craving for attention and a need to belong (Ciaccio, 2000; Brophy, 2000). The characteristics that are lacking in the poverty environment are those that help foster effective learning and academic success. Emotional draining and negative self-status can literally zap the motivation to learn out of children.

C.Differences by Race and Ethnicity

American society has always been enriched by its waves of immigrants. John Kennedy observed how Alexis de Tocqueville saw the United States as "a society of immigrants, each of whom had begun life anew, on an equal footing. This was the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers ..." In 2004, the Census Bureau predicted that in the year 2050 minority groups would comprise one-half of the total American population of 420 million.  Hispanics will comprise roughly one-quarter of the population, blacks 15%, and Asians 8%.

As the proportion of Americans increasingly becomes Hispanic, black and Asian, inequalities grow.  According to the Pew Hispanic Center's 2004 "The Wealth of Hispanic Households: 1996 to 2002" study, "the median net worth of Hispanic households in 2002 was $7,932. This was only nine percent of $88,651, the median wealth of non-Hispanic White households at the same time. The net worth of Non-Hispanic Blacks was only $5,988. Thus, the wealth of Latino and Black households is less than one-tenth the wealth of White households even though Census data show their income is two-thirds again as high."

D.Educational issues for at-risk students -

The term at-risk refers to children who are likely to fail in school or in life because of their life’s social circumstances. It does not appear that any one single factor places a child at-risk

Increase risk of delays/ need for special education programs

Behaviors

Poor children often have a feeling of helplessness, low self-esteem and may be fatigued. Thus, when their brains downshift they will not go any further than addressing survival needs. New information and experiences will be shut out. Attention will be affected because the brain keeps repeating thoughts or unresolved emotional issues. Additionally, cortisol, a stress hormone, will be in abundance; and the result will be emotional volatility. Downshifting can also cause behaviors such as vigilance and resistance or defiance. Students under these conditions can only learn in concrete ways, not abstract ways. This needs to be considered when planning lessons and when considering classroom management (Caine, 2000).

Social emotional issues

Children from poverty start out in life at a disadvantage. Their mothers may have no or inadequate pre-natal care. They may have insufficient early health care. If the parents are fortunate to have jobs, affordable day care may be of poor quality (Slavin, 1998). Additionally, poor children do not have the same kind of experiences that children of other social classes do. The experiences they miss out on are those that could help in the development of skills and academic achievement. Some examples would be the use of home computers; visits to zoos and museums; attendance at pre-school programs; availability of literature and educational reading materials; interaction with educated, literate and well-spoken adults; and being read to by a parent.

Social skills

Through exercises designed to help these children identify what is important to them, we can begin to help them develop conation. Personal reflection, through the use of a journal, can be a very effective tool for this purpose. Periodic journal reflection on what they think their lives would be like if money and time were not limiting factors and what they think they would do in the future can also be helpful to students. Inquiry learning can help to foster the development of conation, focusing on skills such as problem solving, fact finding, probing, organizing, reforming, adapting, improvising, revising, constructing and envisioning.

Lack of parental support

Parents exhibit less capacity to be supportive and consistent in their parenting, provide less vocal and emotional stimulation, are less responsive to their children’s needs and model less sophisticated language.

3. Effective programs to support children growing up in poverty
  
Cooperative learning and shared decision making can help to build a sense of community and foster development of relationships, both student-teacher and student-student relationships. This can help students of poverty to develop a sense of belonging and a sense of connectedness to their school (Kovalik and Olsen, 1998). Helping students to find ways to handle strong emotions productively can help them to deal with emotions such as anger, fear, hurt and tension in their daily life experiences and relationships. If students can deal with these emotions effectively, they will be free to learn. Brain based research supports the constructivist theory of learning: students build understandings based on prior knowledge and experiences. Intellectual development is gradual and dependent on external stimulation. If there is deprivation, as may be the case for children of poverty, their intellectual development will likely be delayed.

A. Food stamps
  Program that allows low income people to buy food at a low cost.

B. Head Start
Program to help children in poor neighborhoods gain the skills necessary to start school which will enable their growth and development in best way.
  
C. Benefit / effectiveness of interventions for children in poverty
Research shows that most parents, regardless of their socio-economic status, love their children and want them to succeed. Many of these parents need to learn strategies that can help them cope and help their children get a chance at breaking the cycle of poverty (McGee, 1996). 
Classroom environments that are safe and trusting can enhance learning. Environments should be high in challenge and low in threat. An atmosphere of relaxed alertness should be maintained. The living environment of many poor children is high-stress, so one of our immediate concerns should be to keep the stress level and perceived threat in the classroom at a low level. Fear and threat can cause the brain to downshift. Downshifting is biological response that focuses solely on survival needs. Poor children often have a feeling of helplessness, low self-esteem and may be fatigued.
     Parent need to be aware of the emotional needs of our students. If children are lacking in emotional and intellectual development, they may have difficulty with language development. Difficulty with language development may prevent a child from developing higher order thinking skills that eventually lead to independent problem solving. This will make it difficult for them to learn and develop several of Gardner’s multiple intelligences. In order to help motivate students, teachers can use a teaching style that engages all or most of the students, with the goal of exciting students about learning.

3. Conclusion
 
A.Adaptations for teachers

Teachers can inform parents of simple, time-efficient ways to help their children at home. Activities involving parents with their children can be scheduled such as family math, science, reading or technology nights. Teachers can provide literature and articles for parents to read on parenting issues. Teachers and schools can schedule conferences and activities at school during convenient times for parents. Child-care and activities can be provided for children while conferences are held. Meetings and activities can also be held at community centers or locations more accessible to families without transportation. One author mentioned the importance of providing food at meetings and activities when homeless families are involved. However, this sounds like a good idea when any families of poverty are involved (McGee, 1996).

Teachers should keep parents informed of what is going on in the classroom and encourage parents to talk to their children about school. A monthly calendar of topics and activities can help parents to discuss topics both as they approach and after they have been studied. We can encourage parents to read with their children or have their children read to them. A class trip to the local public library where every student signs up to receive a library card is a great opportunity for children to get excited about literacy. Parents can then receive mailings from the library as to free activities for children and adults that can help to develop literacy and technology skills and give parents an opportunity to spend time with their children. Libraries can also provide parents with resources for finding employment and writing resumes.

A. Consequences / possible solutions for poverty among children.

Poverty should not be an excuse for us to expect less from our students. They indeed come to us with numerous issues and challenges that interfere with their learning. We need to focus on their learning, find ways to help them overcome these challenges and gain the most they can from their education. Their education is likely their one chance to break the poverty cycle and escape. Just because they are poor doesn’t mean they cannot succeed. It is actually one of the best reasons for them to succeed.

Reference

• 2004 Income poverty and health insurance estimates from the current population survey ,Charles Nelson Assistant Division Chief, August 30, 2005

• Child development and family income by Paul Gregg, Susan Harkness and Stephen Machin, is published for the Foundation

• Ascher, C. 1998. Improving school-home connection for low-income urban parents. ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, NY, NY.

• Bandura, A. 2001.  Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective.  Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1-26.  WilsonWeb July 11, 2001

• Garbarino, J.  1997.  Educating children in a socially toxic environment.  Educational Leadership, 54, 12-16. WilsonWeb July 10, 2001.

• The Effects of Poverty on Teaching and Learning, Karen M. Pellino