What We Learned- Defining Poverty

What Poverty IS:
•Generational poverty: poverty for two generations or longer (Payne, 1996)
•Situational poverty: Situational, shorter in time and caused by a circumstance (i.e. recent job loss) (Payne, 1996)
•POVERTY can be: "The extent to which an individual does without resources (financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, knolwedge of middle-class hidden rules, role models)" (Payne, 1996). A person who doesn't have their basic need fulfilled such as: food, housing, healthcare, childcare and education (Child Trends, 2009).
•Can be a frame of mind or set of values/norms - even if an individual has an increase in income, they still may continue holding the same values and norms as they had during the childhood poverty (Payne, 1996)
•The government defines poverty using a standard called the poverty line. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2009), the poverty line is as follows:
- Family of one: $10,830
- Family of two: $14,570
- Family of three: $18,310
- Family of four: $22,050 (NCCP, 2009)
•Despite the federal poverty line that has been set, most researcher agree that the national poverty lines are well below what people need to fulfill their basic needs. In fact, according to the NCCP (2009), families typically need twice the income in order to provide for basic needs.


MYTHS ABOUT POVERTY:
•Poverty is a minority issue - in fact, in 2006, 14% of Caucasian children lived in poverty (7,908,000 children) (Payne, 1996)
•Poor people have babies to get more welfare (the Welfare Mamas)
•Education is available and accessible to everyone. Everyone knows that education is the way out of poverty.
•Poverty is specific to urban populations. In fact, in 2005, the number of poor people living in suburbs became larger than the those living in cities by at least 1 million.


Links for more information:
http://www.nccp.org/
http://www.childrensdefense.org/
http://www.childtrends.org/
http://tlcprojects.org/NEAT/poverty1.html (Interactive Module on Poverty)
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/0,,menuPK:336998~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:336992,00.html
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

•Link to Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty: (highly recommended!)
http://www.ahaprocess.com/store/Family_Framework.html

What We Learned- General and Specific to Illinois

NATIONAL STATISTICS:
• In 2008, 1 out of 5 children are living in poverty – which equates to 14.1 million children (19% of children under age of 18) (Census 2008, Children’s Defense Fund).
•In 2008, 2 out of 9 children under the age of 5 were living in poverty – which equates to 4.6 million (22.2% of children under the age of 5) (Census 2008, Children’s Defense Fund)
•In 2008, based on the federal poverty line:
o1 out of 3 African American children under the age of 18 were living in poverty (3.9 million, 34.7%)

o3 out of 10 Latino children under the age of 18 were living in poverty (5 million, 30.6%)
o1 out of 11 Caucasian children under the age of 18 were living in poverty (4.2 million, 9.5%)

•From 2000 to 2008: Poverty increased by 2.5 million children (21.4%) to reach 14.1 million. Extreme poverty increased by more than 1.6 million children (35.5%) to reach 6.3 million (Children’s Defense Fund)
•7 out of 10 children living in poverty come from working families where one parent works full or part time for at least part of the year (Children’s Defense Fund)

(From ChildTrends.org)


ILLINOIS STATISTICS:
•In 2007-2008, 38% of African-American children and 22% of Latino children in Illinois were below poverty level, compared with 9% of both white children and Asian children (Voices for Illinois Children, 2010).
•Illinois’ child poverty rate gradually increased from 15% at the beginning of the decade to 17% in 2008. In 2007-2008, ten counties — mostly in southern Illinois — had child poverty rates above 25 percent. Among the ten largest cities, the highest child poverty rates were in Rockford (34%), Chicago (31%), and Peoria (27%) (Voices for Illinois Children, 2010).
•Based on patterns of past recessions, the nationwide child poverty rate is projected to exceed 24% in 2012, higher than at any time since the early 1960s. If trends in Illinois follow these projections, child poverty in the state can be expected to reach about 22% (over 650,000 children) (Voices of Illinois Children, 2010).


For more information:
http://www.voices4kids.org/issues/policyagenda.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsOU5TmCvVE

Recommended Readings:
Kotlowitz, A. (1991). There are no children here: The story of two boys growing up in the other America. New York, NY: Anchor Books.

Boger, J & Wegner, J. (1996). Race and poverty, and American cities. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

What We Learned- General Issues

• Children living in poverty are at higher risks juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and the economic dependency upon their low income parent or parents (Wikepedia)
• The poverty rate for Illinois children under age 6 is 20% — the highest for any age group. Poverty affects these children at a time when they are experiencing important milestones in physical, cognitive, and social and emotional development (Voices for Illinois Children, 2010).
• Low income children often live in single-parent homes where stress can result from arbitrary discipline and reduce positive family interactions (Armstrong, 2010)
• High mobility rates can decrease success in school (changing schools, falling behind in the curriculum and not making positive friendships) (Armstrong, 2010)
• Poor inner-city youths are seven times more likely to be the victims of child abuse or neglect than are children of high social and economic status (Renchler, 1993, as cited in Payne, 2006)
• Children in poverty display fewer positive behaviors (such as compliance) than their non-impoverished peers (Child Trends Research Brief, 2009)
• Long term poverty in children in associated with feelings of anxiety, unhappiness, and dependence. Current poverty is associated with acting out, disobedience, and aggression (Child Trends Research Brief, 2009)
• Poverty may influence child development through at least five pathways: (1) child health and nutrition,(2) parent mental health and affective interactions,(3) provision of a stimulating home environment,(4)school and child care quality, and (5) neighbor-hood conditions. (Brady-Smith, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2003)
• Children living in poverty often suffer the following health consequences, and therefore require interventions that deal with good nutrition and health care (Armstrong, 2010):

oPoor diet - vitamin deficiencies, which can cause long-lasting neurological deficits
oLead Poisoning – can affect brain functioning
oAsthma

For more information:
Armstrong, A. (2010). Myths of poverty: Realities for students. The Illinois School Board Journal, 77, 49-53.

What We Learned - Risk and Protective Factors

RISK FACTORS:
•Single parents (Although in suburban and rural areas, the majority of low-income children have married parents). NCCP
•Level of parental education (88% of children in poverty have a parent that has less than a H.S. diploma & over 50% of children have parents that have a H.S. degree) (NCCP)
•At the end of 2009, 14% of all children nationwide lived in families with an unemployed parent. In Illinois, this figure would represent more than 400,000 children (Voice for Illinois Children, 2010).
•Having immigrant parents (58% of children in poverty have parents who are immigrants compared to 35% of children whose parents were born in the U.S.) NCCP
•Children in poverty are at higher risk for severe and chronic economic, academic, and social development hardship (NCCP).

PROTECTIVE FACTORS:
•Children and families that receive support in the form of early education services (i.e. education on parenting skills) are more able to provide for their children. (NCCP)
•Securing child care for working parents (research has shown a positive relationship among child care subsidies with long-term parent employment and financial well-being of parents, NCCP).
•Two things that help move out of poverty and education and relationships with other people (Payne, 2006)
•Four reasons one leaves poverty are: It’s too painful to stay, a vision or goal, a key relationship, or a special talent or skill (Payne, 2006)

For more information:
http://www.voices4kids.org
http://nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html

What We Learned - Issues in Schools

•Children in poverty tend to come from home environments that are less cognitively stimulating, resulting in lower cognitive and academic attainment (Child Trends Research Summary, 2009)
•Chronic stress due to family poverty is associated with decreased working memory in children (Child Trends Research Summary, 2009)
•Poor health and social behavior due to poverty impacts educational achievement (Child Trends Research Summary, 2009)
•Children in poverty are at higher risk for severe and chronic economic, academic, and social development hardship (NCCP).
•Children living in poverty are at a higher risk than other children for retention in their grade, special placements during the school’s hours and even not completing their high school education (Wikipedia)
•Children who exhibit or show risk of developmental delays in the first three years of life are at higher risk of school failure, mental health problems, and other conditions that limit their life opportunities (NCCP)
•Children whose families go from being above poverty to below poverty have lower reading scores than children whose families were never poor (Child Trends Research Summary, 2009)
•Schools operate from middle class norms and rules, which often differ from the norms and rules of impoverished families. In order for students to be successful, they need to be taught these hidden rules and norms (Payne, 2006)
•Many children have not had exposure to the type of language that is used on state tests such as the SAT and ACT. This language, referred to as “formal register” is the standard sentence syntax and word choice of school and work. Writing is also difficult for these students, who do not know the formal sentence structures. Because of this, formal register language needs to be taught directly and explicitly. (Payne, 2006)
•Intelligence tests measure “acquired information”. Students who have not had exposure to information are not going to be able to respond to these types of questions. Therefore, these tests are biased against children from poverty (Payne, 2006)
•Children from poverty are 1.4 times as likely to be identified as having a learning disability in elementary or high school than their non-poor counterparts (Brady-Smith, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2003)

Videos on Poverty in U.S. Schools:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpwIlULpXw&feature=fvw

http://video.kcts9.org/video/1478144706

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zl19CbBzFw



Links for more information:

http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_04_07_RB_ChildreninPoverty.pdf

What We Learned - Federal Programs

• There are many federally funded programs that are available for families/children in poverty. Some of the most popular ones are reviewed below.
  
  •Project Head Start – Initiated in 1965, this program was designed to provide low income students an opportunity to catch up with their middle class peers. This program, which serves children 3 to 5, is a national school readiness program that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. Through this increased exposure to things such as academic language and early academic skills, children are better prepared to enter school. The program also addresses social emotional needs that are specific to children from impoverished homes and communities. Parents participation and education is also a component of the program.
  
  oResearch in 2010, has shown that children and families receiving Head Start were positively impacted on every measure of children’s preschool experiences. These measures were: cognitive outcomes, social-emotional outcomes, health outcomes, and parenting outcomes.
  oFor more findings on Head Start Impact Study: Final Report of January 2010, review document below) http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/46/87/2e.pdf
  
  •Project Early Head Start – Initiated in 1995, this program is a community-based program for low-income families with infants and toddlers and pregnant women. The mission of the program is to:1. Promote prenatal outcomes for pregnant women 2. Enhance the development of very young children (0-3yrs old). 3. To promote healthy family functioning. This program includes intensive services that begin before the child is born and concentrates on enhancing the child's development and supporting the family during the critical first three years of the child's life. There are four cornerstones or areas of intended outcomes for Early Head Start (Administration for Children & Families; Office of Planning, Research, Evaluation, 2010):
  
  oChildren's development (including health, resiliency, social competence, and cognitive and language development);
  oFamily development (including parenting and relationships with children, the home environment and family functioning, family health, parent involvement, and economic self-sufficiency);
  oStaff development (including professional development and relationships with parents);
  oCommunity development (including enhanced child care quality, community collaboration, and integration of services to support families with young children).

• Research in 2006, demonstrated that there was broad pattern of effects for children and families who were in Early Head Start. Findings indicated that children’s cognitive, language, and social-emotional development were all enhanced by Early Head Start. Furthermore, parents who were in Early Head Start were found to be more supportive of children’s emotional, cognitive, and language development. The research also noted that there was an impact on parents’ reading to their children and improvement in self-sufficiency activities.

• Title I, a program that aims to ensure all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high- quality education and reach, at a minimal, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and State academic assessments. This program focuses on high-quality research based assessments and interventions that promote closing the achievement gap of minority and non-minority and low-income vs non-low-income students.
  
  oSuch programs that are funded by Title I are: Early Reading First, Reading First, Even Start, Improving Literacy through School Libraries, Education of Migratory Children, Prevention & Intervention programs who youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at risk.
  oA meta-analysis indicates that Title I has not fulfilled its expectations of closing the achievement gap; however, the results from this suggests that without the program it is likely that children severed over the last three decades would have fallen further behind academically (Borman & D’Agostino, 1995).

For more information:

http://www.ilheadstart.org/

http://www.nhsa.org/

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/

http://www.ehsnrc.org/AboutUs/index.htm

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg1.html

Recommended Readings:

Borman, G., D'Agostino, J. (1995). Title I and student achievement: A meta-analysis of 30 years of test results. Paper presented at the Annual Meetingn of the American Educational Research Association (San Francisco, CA, April 18-22, 1995).

Peters, B. (1998). The Head Start mother: Low-income mothers' empowerment through participation (children of poverty).

What We Learned - Specfic Interventions for Students From Poverty

TIER 1 INTERVENTIONS:

(The following are from Payne, 2006)
•Organizing a school-wide homework support club
•Utilizing a supplemental school-wide reading program that meets the needs of low-income students (with explicit instruction in vocabulary, etc.)
•Keeping students with the same teachers for more than one year in order to help develop positive adult relationships
•Teaching coping strategies as a whole, specific to issues of childhood poverty (anxiety)
•Provide parent training and contact through video so that parents who are not literate can still participate. This also reduces problems associated with access to transportation.
•Direct teaching of classroom survival skills – many students need explicit instruction regarding how to survive in an education setting. Examples could be Skills for School Success by Anita Archer or Skillstreaming, by Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein and Dr. Ellen McGinnis.

From Casel.org: (these programs are suitable for children from poverty because they address many of the social/emotional needs that are unique to this population)

•Caring School Community (Child Development Project) – K-6 program that focuses on strengthening student connections with building a school of community based on caring relationships.
•Know Your Body – health education curriculum focused on nutrition, exercise, safety, disease prevention, dental care, substance abuse, and violence prevention.
•Project ACHIEVE – Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Program focusing on school safety. Includes Stop and Think Social Skills curriculum. Intended to promote social skills, conflict resolution, and a positive school climate.
•I Can Problem Solve (ICPS)- Prevents anti-social behavior and promotes non-violent resolution of problems.

TIER 2 and 3 INTERVENTIONS

•Many of the interventions listed as Tier 1 can be used as Tier 2 or 3 interventions, depending on the severity of need at the building level. If only portions of your building are from impoverished areas, then interventions may be more appropriate at Tier 2 or 3. Otherwise, areas that have large populations of children living in poverty need to address these issues on a universal level.

Video on Literacy Programs:
http://multimedia.savethechildren.org/video/idol-gives-back/video-box-stc-idol-mckee-literacy-vignette_400x300.html

For more information:
•http://www.casel.org/programs/selecting/php
•http://www.ahaprocess.com/store/Family_Framework.html
•http://www.amazon.com/Changing-Odds-Children-Risk-Educational/dp/0807750484/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275771317&sr=8-3