Helping the Children of Poverty Succeed in School

(Originally titled “How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement”)

In this helpful article in Educational Leadership, author Eric Jensen lists seven reasons children from low-income households find it more difficult to be engaged in school – and what educators can do:

• Health and nutrition – “Overall, poor people are less likely to exercise, get proper diagnoses, receive appropriate and prompt medical attention, or be prescribed appropriate medications or interventions,” says Jensen. There are more untreated ear infections, greater exposure to lead, a higher incidence of asthma, and less nutritious food – all of which affects attention, reasoning, memory, learning, and behavior. Action steps: Make sure students get breakfast, recess, physical education, games, movement, drama, and yoga, all of which boost the level of oxygen and glucose in the brain and fuel learning. “Never withhold recess from students for a disciplinary issue,” says Jensen; “there are countless other ways to let them know they behaved inappropriately.” 

• Vocabulary – Children from low-income homes hear 13 million total spoken words by age 4, compared to 46 million words heard by upper-income children. “This language difference is not subtle,” says Jensen; “it’s a mind-boggling, jaw-dropping cognitive chasm. A child’s vocabulary is part of the brain’s tool kit for learning, memory, and cognition. Words help children represent, manipulate, and reframe information.” Action steps: Vocabulary building must be a daily, relentless part of instruction, using multiple approaches to strengthen knowledge and understanding of well-chosen words.

• Effort – Unsophisticated educators often characterize poor children as “lazy,” but what they’re seeing is lost hope and incipient depression. “Students who show little or no effort are simply giving you feedback,” says Jensen. Action steps: “Effort can be taught, and strong teachers do this every day,” he says. Build relationships with students; introduce novelty, excitement, and competition into learning activities; make connections between the curriculum and students’ everyday lives; give more positive comments than negative; set high goals and motivate students to meet them; show them real-world success stories of adults who came from similar circumstances; and give daily feedback so students see that effort matters. 

• Hope and the growth mindset – One characteristic of poverty is learned helplessness. Another is a negative, “fixed” view of intelligence. Both sap motivation to try hard in school. Action steps: “Teach students that their brains can change and grow, that they can even raise their IQs,” says Jensen. “Don’t use comforting phrases that imply that even though a student isn’t good at something, he or she has ‘other’ strengths.” In addition, provide feedback that is prompt, actionable, and task-specific, spurring students to try hard. 

• Cognition – “Commonly, low-SES children show cognitive problems, including short attention spans, high levels of distractibility, difficulty monitoring the quality of their work, and difficulty generating new solutions to problems,” says Jensen. These deficits may lead students to act out or shut down. Action steps: “Like effort, cognitive capacity is teachable,” he says. “Focus on the core academic skills that students need the most.” These include how to organize, study, take notes, prioritize, remember key ideas, problem-solve, process, and build working memory. “This will take tons of encouragement, positive feedback, and persistence.” 

• Relationships – “When children’s early experiences are chaotic and one or both of the parents are absent, the developing brain often becomes insecure and stressed,” says Jensen. Stressed parents and caregivers are more often grumpy, and children can get twice as many reprimands as positive comments (compared to the 3:1 positive/negative ratio middle-class children typically receive). Poor parents are less likely to have the resources to deal with ADHD, dyslexia, or oppositional behavior. Action steps: Children from such homes need positive, caring adults in school – teachers and other staff members who get to know them well (family, hobbies, interests), are wise enough not to embarrass them in front of their peers, and teach them appropriate social and emotional responses – “When you think your teacher has overstepped his or her bounds, this is what you should say” and “This will keep you out of trouble with other adults.” 

• Distress – Acute, chronic stress is toxic, and children living in poverty have more than their share. “Distress affects brain development, academic success, and social competence,” says Jensen. “It also impairs behaviors; reduces attentional control; boosts impulsivity; and impairs working memory.” Common symptoms are in-your-face assertiveness or leave-me-alone passivity. “To the uninformed, the student may appear to be either out of control, showing an attitude, or lazy. But those behaviors are actually symptoms of stress disorders…” Action steps: If teachers address the real issue, the symptoms will diminish. Building strong relationships is the starting point. Getting students to articulate what is stressing them out is also helpful, as is teaching them coping skills – for example, an if-this-then-that strategy for solving problems. Making learning fun is key, as is giving students more control over learning – gradual release of responsibility – versus trying to control them. “Having a sense of control is the fundamental element that helps diminish the effects of chronic and acute stress,” says Jensen. 

“How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement” by Eric Jensen in Educational Leadership, May 2013 (Vol. 70, #8, p. 24-30), www.ascd.org; Jensen can be reached at info@jlcbrain.com. 

From the Marshall Memo #484