Effects of Poverty on Education

ED 607

Syllabus

Course Description

Effects of Poverty on Education considers the impact of poverty on academic achievement. Course content includes effective ways teachers may empower students to overcome the barriers to learning that results from enduring the impact of poverty. The course emphasis is to develop a minimal, error-free, instructional system classroom teachers may use to teach all disadvantaged students.

The purpose of this course is to provide classroom teachers and school administrators the knowledge, strategies, and skills to challenge the barrier of poverty. To achieve this purpose, course process and content will draw upon the course text, "A Framework for Understanding Poverty," by Ruby K. Payne. In addition, equal emphasis will be upon the sociology of American schools and the cultural "trap" of poverty. We may provide many innovative and effective strategies to advance school reform, but if we do not address the impact of school sociology on academic achievement, school reform will be compromised. The innovative feature of this course is bringing together the framework for understanding poverty and the sociology (social context) that traps so many bright and capable students in a self-fulfilling dead-end. By joining these two aspects of poverty, teachers and school administrators will have the knowledge base and skills to effectively challenge barriers of impoverishment.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

Differentiate the difference between internal and external poverty.
Use gained knowledge to develop ways to determine the time and extent of poverty being endured by their students.
Gain insights into the role of language in academic achievement.
Identify the hidden rules of social class position.
Analyze ways to improve academic achievement for students enduring poverty.
Initiate the development of a framework for understanding poverty.
Complete a mid-term review.
Initiate a pedagogy for children from poverty.
Consider affective education necessary to build meaningful relationships with students from poverty.
Identify the components of an instructional system and submit a plan-of-action to remove the barriers of poverty

Time Requirements

This course is offered over a period of 15 weeks. Modules are completed over the 15-week period pending length of assignments per week.

Skill and Hardware Requirements

Students may use either a Macintosh computer or a PC with Windows 2000 or higher. Students should possess basic word processing skills and have Internet access as well as an active email account. Students also are expected to have a basic knowledge of how to use a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, etc.

Course Materials

The required text for this course is "A Framework for Understanding Poverty," by Ruby K. Payne. The textbook and course materials provided.

Course Outline

Module One: Internal/External Poverty

Contents:

The student will contrast internal and external poverty.
The student will determine the effect of time on the issue of poverty.

Module Two: Applying Knowledge to "Real" Problems

Contents:

The student will assess direction of classroom instruction based on time and extent of his/her students’ poverty levels.

Module Three: The Role of Language and Story

Contents:

The student will assess the relationships between the perceptual field and language development.
The student will evaluate the relationship between language development and academic achievement.

Module Four: Responsive Pedagogy and Hidden Rules

Contents:

The student will evaluate “hidden” rules among social classes.
The student will develop methods for overcoming barriers created by poverty that utilize his/her students’ background experiences.

Module Five: Improving Academic Performance

Contents:

The student will discuss how cognitive deficiencies, prerequisite status, and pace become barriers to academic achievement.

Module Six: Mid-Term Review and Composing a Framework for Understanding Poverty

Contents:

The student will develop a framework for understanding the impact of poverty on student achievement.

Module Seven: A Pedagogy for Children from Poverty

Contents:

The student will formulate a pedagogy applicable to students from poverty.

Module Eight: Building Meaningful Relationships

Contents:

The student will construct techniques to create meaningful relationships with students from poverty.

Module Nine: Closing the Achievement Gap Between Students from Poverty and Middle Class Students

Contents:

The student will discuss the essential components of an instructional system and how they relate to students from poverty

Module Ten: Synthesis and Technology

Contents:

The student will evaluate Computer Assisted Instruction

Course Requirements:

Forum Postings 10 points.
Module Reflections 63 points.
Module Ten Plan of Action 27 points.

Forum Activities – You are encouraged to post items in the Forum. The text of several modules will suggest items to post. Please respond to items posted. You receive 10 points for posting and interacting with your classmates in the Forum.
Reflections – At the conclusion of each module are specific assignments. You are expected to complete all assignments. Directions on how to complete each assignment is provided in Module One.
Final Integration Project – The Module Ten Assignment is to develop a plan-of-action for your classroom and/or school to remove the barriers of poverty that result in low academic achievement among students enduring poverty. The criteria for evaluation of your plan-of-action is your strategy for using knowledge gained in this course to the real problems you experience in your classroom.

Grades

100-93 - A
92-85 - B
84-77 - C

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by the Teacher Education University catalog and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Bibliography

Allen, Vernon. (1970). Psychological Factors in Poverty. Chicago: Markum Publishing Company.

Bloom, Benjamin (1976). Human Characteristics and School Learning. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Bruner, James S. (1973). The Relevance of Education, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Coleman, J.C. & Coleman, J.S. (1980). The Nature of Adolescence. London and New York: Methuen.

Connell, R.W. (1994). Poverty and Education. Harvard Educational Review. Vol. 64, No. 2, Summer.

Cossman, Richard (1996). The Evolution of Educational Computer Software, Education, Vol. 116.

Cropley, Arthur J. (2003). Creativity in Education & Learning: A Guide for Teachers and Educators, Sterling, VA; Kogan Page.

Danzinger, Sheldon H., Sandefur, Gary D., & Weinberg, Daniel H. (Eds.). (1994). Confronting Poverty: Prescriptions for Change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Davison, Mark L. et. al., (2004). When Do Children Fall Behind? What Can Be Done? Phi Delta Kappan, June, 2004, p. 752-761.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. (2001). Nickel and Dimed. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Elliott, J.R. (1999). Social Isolation and Labor Market Insulation: Network and Neighborhood Effects on Less Educated Urban Workers. Sociol. Q. 40(2): 199-216.

DeParle, Jason (2004). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare. Viking Press.

Feagans, Lynne, & Farran, Dale C. editors. (1982). The Language of Children Reared in Poverty: Implications for Evaluation and Intervention. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Fletcher-Flinn, C.M. and Gravatt, B. (1995). The Efficacy of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI); A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 12, 219-242.

Gans, Herbert J. (1995). The War Against the Poor. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Garcia, R.L. (1991). Teaching in a Pluralistic Society: Concepts, Models, and Strategies. New York: Harper Collins.

Garmezy, Norman. (1991). Resiliency and vulnerability to adverse development outcomes associated with poverty. American Behavioral Scientist. Volume 34. Number 4. March/April.

Goleman, Daniel (1994). Emotional Intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Gordon Rouse, Kimberly. (1998). Resilience from poverty and stress. Human Development Bulletin. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Extension. Spring.

Hart, Betty, and Risely, Todd R. (1999). Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Henderson, Nan. (1996). Resiliency in Schools: Making It Happen for Students and Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Herrnstein, R.J., and Murray (1994). The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. New York: Free Press.

Jencks, C. (1992). Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Jencks, C. and Peterson, P. (1991). The Urban Underclass. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute.

Jensen, A.R. (1973). Educability and Group Differences. London: Methuen.

Jensen, A.R. (1974). “Ethnicity and Scholastic Achievement” Psychological Reports, 34, 659-668.

Joos, Martin. (1967). The styles of the five clocks. Language and Cultural Diversity in American Education. 1972. Abrahams, R.D., & Troike, R.C. (Eds.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Miller, K. and Zener, E.Z. (1987). Teacher Effectiveness Training Workbook, Solana Beach, CA. Effectiveness Training, Inc.

National Center for Education Statistics (2002). Digest of Educational Statistics 2001. Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office.

Newman, Katherine S. (1999). No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City. New York, NY: A Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf.

Olson, Krista, & Pavetti, LaDonna. (1996). Personal and family challenges to the successful transition from welfare to work. Washington, DC: The Urban Institue. May 17.

Orshansky, Mollie. (1977). The Measure of Poverty. Washington, DC: Department of Health Education and Welfare. HE 1.2: P. 86/paper 1.

Pavetti, LaDonna. (1997). Moving up, moving out or going nowhere? A study of the employment patterns of young women. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. July.

Payne, Ruby K. (1998). The Framework for Understanding Poverty (Revised Edition). Baytown, TX: aha! Process.

Pedulla, Joseph J. State Mandated Testing – What Do Teachers Think? Educational Leadership, Vol. 61, No. 3, Nov. 2003, pp.42-49.

Quinn, Daniel. (1999). Beyond Civilization: Humanity’s Next Great Adventure. New York, NY: Harmony Books.

Reed, S. and Sautter, R.C. (1990). Children of Poverty: The Status of 12 Million Americans. Phi Delta Kappan 71(10), K1-K12.

Schank, Roger C. (1990). Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

So, Alvin Y. Ethnic and Language Minority. Urban Educator, Vol. 22, No. 1, April, 1987.

Spencer, M. and Baskin, L. (1997). Microcomputers and Young Children. Urbana, IL: ERIC No. Ed 32729583.

Steinberg, Stephen. (1981, 1989). The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Stodolsky, S.S. and Lesser, G.S. Learning Patterns in the Disadvantaged. Harvard Educational Review, 1967, 37, 546-593.

Suskind, Ron. (1998). A Hope in the Unseen. New York, NY: Broadway Books.

Wilson, W.J. (1987). The Truly Disdavantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wolin, Steven, & Wolin, Sybil. (1993). The Resilient Self: How Survivors of Troubled Families Rise Above Adversity. New York, NY: Random House.

Wray, Matt, & Newitz, Annalee. (Eds.). (1997). White Trash: Race and Class in America. New York, NY: Routledge.

Web Sites addressing poverty issues:

Centers and Institutes

Teacher Education University reserves the right to adjust and adapt this syllabus as necessary.