New Center Targets the ‘Toxic Impact of Poverty’ on Students

City Limits, a non-profit organization in New York City, recently published an article tackling the issue of the impact poverty has on students (see link below for article). Schools, such as Bank Street College, are investing millions of dollars to address this issue.  NYC, under the tutelage of Mayor Bill de Blasio, is aggressively focusing on Universal Pre-K (UPK) programs. But Bank Street and NYC's UPK programs are only addressing a segment of the population leaving out students 9 years of age and older.  Poverty has a great affect on student's learning and test scores will suffer as a result. 

Testing scores do not take into account external issues, such as poverty. I will never forget, when I first started teaching, a student apologizing for not getting his homework done because they were locked out of their apartment the night before. How can we expect a child with such obstacles to have success in school? This is not to say that some don't fight through it with success. They do and should be accoladed for their achievements, but the majority do not. 

Testing data does not accurately show whether a student is making gains, especially in schools that suffer high levels of poverty, crime, and homelessness. I've taught many students who were living in shelters and would come in exhausted because they were kept up all night from the screaming and fighting in a neighbor's unit. How can we expect them to perform well and absorb information the next day? Where they have homes, often they are cramped and there are no places in the apartment to go to for quiet study. 

Often teachers are planting seeds in our children especially in lower and middle schools.  Many times the growth takes time to mature but it will.  I've heard from many students once they've reached high school how all of a sudden things I taught them made sense.  Why should I get penalized for something that wasn't evident at this juncture but became evident later on? Did I not still help that child and provide them with the proper tools for learning?

We must focus on these issues if we truly want to see success in our schools.  We need to look at the whole picture and not just a detail of the scene.  Schools are quick to identify poor families so they can be compensated for free breakfast and free lunch programs. Great but why does it end there?

For the City Limits article, click here:  https://citylimits.org/2015/09/23/new-center-targets-the-toxic-impact-of-poverty-on-students/