Children's Needs

This is the fourth of several articles on poverty and effective teaching. 

Teachers and schools provide an oasis of stability for children who live in poverty. Schools provide two, and in some places, all hot meals that these children get. Teachers may be the only adults these children have contact with that encourage them to read, learn and think. Yet often it is these impoverished children that wind up in an administrator’s office for some infraction or another (Jensen, 2009, p. 19).  Why? What can schools and teachers do to make learning something that these children strive for and expect from themselves? How can educators avoid losing these children to the streets where they are growing up?

This post focuses on the needs of children. 

                                                             Children's Needs

Children need people to believe in their ability to overcome adversity, prejudice and so-called societal norms.  Delpit (2012), though she was speaking specifically of African American students, says children need “warm demanders” teachers who have high expectations of their students; this is also true for any child that lives in a culture of poverty (p. 81). Children must be taught that failure is not acceptable. 

When children are small, if they have opportunities to expand their horizons beyond their current reality, it makes a difference to their academic achievement. Magnuson, et al., (2004) found that children who attended preschool entered kindergarten with higher reading and math skills, these skills stayed with them through first grade (p. 141). In addition they also found that students from low income families who attended these programs benefited the most because while in the programs they were exposed to more books and had a high quality of care giving (Magnuson, et al., 2004, p. 142). While their data is nearly ten years old, it still has relevance today because as Delpit (2012) stated: “There is no “achievement gap” at birth” (p. 5). As noted earlier in the literature reviewed for this blog, early intervention is essential for children who live in poverty.

Relationships need to be built between the school and parents as soon as possible. Prince, et al., (2006) argue that: “With the evidence available that indicates the relationship between poverty, child well-being, and high school success, it seems that taking care of the needs of our young citizens could possibly be a factor that would break this cycle of poverty” (p.26). Possible ways to build those relationships could include: family information nights, reaching out to pediatric care offices, touching base with family services officials, offering babysitting during voting, etc... These a just a few ways that schools can reach young, poor parents and their children. But, perhaps more importantly, how do we change the way that children see themselves?

Educators and parents need to partner in changing a child’s self-image. Children need to have their successes, even small ones, celebrated. Machtinger (2007) said that: “Low expectations and a deficit model — in which high-poverty students are judged incapable of meeting the demands of a challenging curriculum hinder efforts at improving achievement” (p. 4). Children need teachers to recognize and expect that all children can learn at high levels. Good differentiation takes into account that high levels are not the same for every child, but that does not mean that teachers should feel sorry for poor children.  These children need hope and aspirations. What else do children need to succeed?

Children and adolescents need to have content that is relevant to their interests and relates to their experience. Boykin and Noguera (2011) stated that: “…incorporating a child’s particular interests and background experiences in the problem context should result in a greater focus on relevant information, which in turn should enhance performance outcomes” (p. 93).  Delpit (2012) used student interest in hair design to create a curriculum that engaged students in science, history, math and art based on African American hair design (p. 21).  For students then, it is essential to be engaged in the learning process and that the content has contextual meaning.

In New England there is a booming immigrant population.  This is changing the way communities look and in some cases culture shock is causing friction. Boykin and Noguera (2011) state that while: “race, class and linguistic and cultural differences between students and teachers do not cause the achievement gap; however, they do contribute to its persistence and often complicate efforts to reduce or eliminate disparities in student learning outcomes” (p. 29). Could this be because immigrant parents have a different view of what schools do? Is it possible that they do not understand what their children need to be successful in an American school environment?  Or could this be because they do not have a firm grasp of the language, causing communication problems between themselves and their schools? Any of these could be reasons that success is difficult for children of immigrant families. Therefore children in districts with higher ethnic diversity and greater need for services also need teachers who understand what kind of gaps these conditions cause for teaching and learning.

 So what can teachers do to change the reality for these children? What is it that teachers need to know and do in order to create opportunities for success? What can schools and districts do to help teachers create these opportunities for children? These questions are considered in the next blog post.

References

Boykin, A. W., & Noguera, P. (2011). Creating the opportunity to learn: Moving from research to practice to close the achievement gap. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Delpit, L. (2012). Multiplication is for white people:  Raising expectations for other people's children. New York, NY: the New Press.

Machtinger, H. (2007). What do we know about high poverty schools? Summary of the high poverty schools conference at UNC-chapel hill. High School Journal, 90(3), 1-8.

Magnuson, K. A., Meyers, M. K., Ruhm, C. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2004). Inequality in preschool education and school readiness. American Educational Research Journal, 41(1), 115-157.

Prince, D., Pepper, K., & Brocato, K. (2006). The importance of making the well-being of children in poverty a priority. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(1), 21-28. doi:10.1007/s10643-006-0118-7