RESOURCES AND
APPROACHES FOR POVERTY
LEVEL STUDENTS
Presentation Outline
• Introduction to Poverty
• Special Populations Students and Poverty
• Poverty Resources and Approaches
Poverty
Persons in
family/household
Poverty guideline
For families/households with more than 8
persons, add $4,060 for each additional person.
1
$11,670
2
15,730
3
19,790
4
23,850
5
27,910
6
31,970
7
36,030
8
40,090
Economically Disadvantaged
• There are 46.2 million United States citizens in poverty,
the largest number ever recorded since such estimates
started in 1959 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011).
• The amount of individuals in poverty has grown for three
consecutive years and is currently at 15.1% of the U.S.
population.
• 21% of all students in public schools are living below the
poverty line (NCES, 2012).
• Minority students are in poverty at a much higher rate
than their white counterparts: 37% of Black students, 34%
of Hispanic students, and 33% of Native
American/Alaskan Native are in poverty.
Women in Poverty
• More than 100 million of us live on or over the brink of poverty
•
•
•
•
or churn in and out of it – 70 percent of this group are women
and children (42 million women, 28 million kids)
Women are nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers in this
country.
More than 70 percent of low-wage workers get no paid sick
days at all.
Forty percent of all households with children under the age of
18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of
income.
American women are approximately half of all workers in this
country, but the average woman earns only 77 percent of what
the average man makes, and women of color earn even less.
(Shriver, 2014)
Illinois CTE Data
6 S2 Nontraditional Completion
Male
Female
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Pacific Islander
American Indian
Multiracial
2011
6620
5232
6324
2601
2363
311
10
51
192
2012
10,357
8741
11,364
3270
3598s
446
13
57
350
2013
9686
8251
11,756
2300
2978
436
16
51
400
Illinois CTE Data
6 S1 Nontraditional Participation
Limited English Proficiency
Students with Disabilities
Nontraditional
Economic Disadvantage
Single Parent
Displaced Homemaker
Migrant
2011
2989
21,729
162,763
62,892
204
119
53
2012
3128
21,961
166,491
65,940
482
426
34
2013
2231
19,989
152,114
58,705
114
0
71
2011
186
1761
11,596
5346
20
9
1
2012
256
2815
18,695
8002
36
29
3
2013
174
2462
16,765
6922
14
0
8
6 S2 Nontraditional Completion
Limited English Proficiency
Students with Disabilities
Nontraditional
Economic Disadvantage
Single Parent
Displaced Homemaker
Migrant
Special Populations Students
Poverty Contributors:
• Individuals with Disabilities
• Economically Disadvantaged
• Limited English Proficiency
• Nontraditional Fields
• Displaced Homemakers
• Single Parents
Disabilities
• The number of students receiving service for disabilities is over
6.5 million, equal to 13% of total public school enrollment.
(NCES, 2012)
• In 2009–10, 38% of all children receiving special education
services had specific learning disabilities, 22% had speech or
language impairments, and 11% had other health impairments.
• Students with disabilities such as intellectual disabilities,
emotional disturbances, developmental delay, and autism each
accounted for between 6 and 7% of children
• Students with multiple disabilities, hearing impairments,
orthopedic impairments, and visual impairments; traumatic
brain injury; and deaf-blindness each accounted for less than
2% (NCES, 2012)
Limited English Proficiency
• In 1990, the public school student population was White
(67.3%), Black (16.7%), and Hispanic (11.7%).
• In 2010, the ethnic makeup of students has shifted to
White (53.5%), Hispanic (23.3%), and Black (15%).
• Along with the racial changes, ELL students have
increased from 7.4% in 2000-2001 to 9.7% in 2009-2010.
Nontraditional
• Nontraditional occupations are defined as occupational
fields in which less than 25 percent of the workforce is
made up of a specific group
• Gender
• Race
Single Parent
• Unmarried or legally separated from a spouse; and
• Has a minor child or children from which the parent has
either custody or joint custody; or is pregnant.
Displaced homemaker
• An individual who has worked primarily without
remuneration to care for a home and a family, and for that
reason has diminished marketable skills;
• Has been dependent on the income of another family
member but is no longer supported by that income; or
• Is a parent whose youngest dependent child will become
ineligible to receive financial assistance.
Poor Children…
• Spend less time exploring the world and more time trying
•
•
•
•
to survive.
Have fewer and less-supportive networks.
Live in neighborhoods lower in social capital.
More likely to rely on their peers than adults for emotional
and social support.
More likely to come from single guardian homes with less
emotionally responsive parents.
The Seven Engagement Factors
• Health and nutrition
• Vocabulary
• Effort and Energy
• Mind-set
• Cognitive capacity
• Relationships
• Stress level
(Jensen, 2009)
Question 1
In your school setting, how do you identify poverty-level
student who are at-risk?
Most Significant Risk Factors
•Emotional and Social Challenges
•Acute and Chronic Stressors
•Cognitive Lags
•Health and Safety Issues
(Jensen, 2009)
Emotional and Social Challenges
• Action Steps
• Embody Respect to the students
• Embed social skills into each grade level to strengthen.
• Be inclusive by creating familial atmosphere by using inclusive
language (such as “our school”)
Acute and Chronic Stressors
• Action Steps
• Recognize the signs
• Student believes they have minimal control over stressors
• Student has now idea how long the stressor will last
• Student interoperates stressors getting worse.
• Alter the environment
• Allow in class time for homework or right after class
• Use cooperative structures; avoid top-down authoritative approach
• Help students blow off steam by incorporating physical activities (Walks,
relays, games, etc.)
Acute and Chronic Stressors
• Action steps
• Empower Students
• Introduce conflict resolution skills
• Teach students how to deal with anger
• Introduce responsibilities and value of restitution
• Teach students to set goals
• Role model how to solve real world problems
• Give students weekly “real world” live problems to solve
• Teach social skills
• Introduce stress reduction techniques.
Cognitive Lags
• Action Steps
• Build core skills
• Attention and focus
• Memory
• Sequencing and Processing
• Problem solving
• Perseverance
• Social Skills
• Hopefulness and self-esteem
• Pinpoint assessments on specific skills
• Provide hope and support
Health and Safety Issues
• Action steps
• Provide a physician on-site once a week
• Work with local pharmacy to provide medications
• Arrange for dentist to make school visits
• Educate the caregivers about school resources
• Provide tutors to help students “catch-up” missed work
• Improve awareness among staff about health-related issues
Question 2
What kinds of steps can you take school wide to address
these poverty risk factors?
Baruti Kafele
SHARE Factors
•Support the whole child
•Hard Data
•Accountability
•Relationship Building
•Enrichment mind-set
(Jensen, 2009)
Support the Whole Child
• Survey Student Needs
• Include Parents and provide adult support
• Develop Community Partnerships
Hard Data
• Develop criteria for the data you need (Survey the
following questions)
• Both generally and specifically, how are we doing?
• To what degree are we serving the needs of all students?
• What are we good at, and where do we need help?
• Gather only the data you need
• SCARF – specific, continuous, accurate, relevant and fast.
• Analyze and share the data
• Develop plans to share the data
Accountability
• Increase teacher’s control and authority
• Value your teachers
• Redesign staffing roles
Relationship Building
• Build relationships among staff
• Build relationships among students
• Build student-staff relationships
• avoid raising voice unless it is emergency
• do what you say you are going to do
• acknowledge a change
• Never demand… Always say please and thank you
• Own your mistakes
• Be consistent and fair to all (show no favoritism)
• Offer all the support you can
• Look for positive reinforcement opportunities
• Show care more than you show authority
Enrichment
• Create a strong environmental message (own your space
with vigilance)
• Create staff wide enrichment mind-set (enrich like crazy)
• Always look for one more enriching edge.
Question 3
• In your school setting, how do you engage students in
poverty?
Baruti Kafele
The Five Rules for Engagement
• Upgrade your attitude
• Build relationships and respect
• Get buy-in
• Embrace clarity
• Show your passion
(Jensen, 2013)
Specific Strategies
• Engage for positive climate
• Engage to build cognitive capacity
• Engage for motivation and effort
• Engage for deep understanding
• Engage for energy and focus
• Automate engagement
Four Actions for Successful
Implementation
• Get organized
• Engage with differentiation
• Know what to expect
• Break down the breakdowns
Special Populations in CTE Project
• Five Statewide Activities
• Performance Assessment and Accountability Training
• Website
• Professional Development
• Technical Assistance
• Innovation Initiatives Support
IllinoisCTE.org
Resources
Lessons
Contact us
• Chris Merrill – cpmerri@ilstu.edu
• Josh Brown – jbrown4@ilstu.edu
• Sally Arnett-Hartwick – sarnett@ilstu.edu
• Online – www.illinoiscte.org
• Telephone – 309-438-7862
• Facebook – Illinois CTE
• Twitter - @ILCTESpecPops
Resources
• Jensen, E (2013). Engaging students with poverty in
mind. ASCD: Alexandria, VA.
• Jensen, E (2009). Teaching with Poverty in Mind. ASCD:
Alexandria,VA.
• Kafele, B. (2013). Closing the Attitude Gap: How to Fire
Up Your Students to Strive for Success. ASCD: Alexandria
VA.
• Shriver, Maria (2014). The Shriver Report: A Woman’s
Nation Pushes Back from the Brink. Rosetta Books.