The Effects of Poverty on Teaching and
Learning
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by Karen M. Pellino
**What's All the Hype?**
Poverty is an issue that more and more of our nation’s
children are coming face to face with. The price that
children of poverty must pay is unbelievably high. Each
year, increasing numbers of children are entering schools
with needs from circumstances, such as poverty, that
schools are not prepared to meet. This paper will examine
the effects of poverty on teaching and learning. Poverty as
a risk factor will be discussed as will a number of the many
challenges that arise in teaching children of poverty.
Implications of brain-based research for curriculum reform
and adaptation will be presented.
The Concept of Being At-Risk
The term at-risk refers to children who are likely to
fail in school or in life because of their life’s social
circumstances. It does not appear that any one single
factor places a child at-risk. Rather, when more than one
factor is present, there is a compounding effect and the
likelihood for failure increases significantly. Poverty is
considered a major at-risk factor (Leroy & Symes, 2001).
Some of the factors related to poverty that may place a
child at-risk for academic failure are: very young, single or
low educational level parents; unemployment; abuse and
neglect; substance abuse; dangerous neighborhoods;
homelessness; mobility; and exposure to inadequate or
inappropriate educational experiences.
Being able to identify and understand children who are atrisk is critical if we are to support their growth and development. In
order to do this, warm and caring relationships need to be developed
between teachers and children. This will enable teachers to detect
any warning signs that may place children at-risk for failure,
interfering with their chances for success in school and life (Leroy &
Symes, 2001). Academic and behavioral problems can be indicators
of impending failure. Among such behaviors are: delay in language
development, delay in reading development, aggression, violence,
social withdrawal, substance abuse, irregular attendance, and
depression. Teachers may have difficulty reaching a student’s
parent or guardian. They may also find the student does not
complete assignments, does not study for tests, or does not come to
school prepared to learn because of poverty related circumstances
in the home environment. These children may be unable to
concentrate or focus. They may be unwilling or unable to interact
with peers and/or adults in school in an effective manner. These
issues not only have an impact on the learning of the child of poverty
but can also impact the learning of other children.
Challenge: Diversity
The rise in the number of children in poverty has contributed
to making our nation’s classrooms more diverse than ever before.
This, indeed, makes both teaching and learning more challenging.
This issue can remain a challenge for teachers, as opposed to
becoming a problem, if focus is placed on student learning as
opposed to teaching.
Teachers need to be tuned in to the culture of poverty and
be sensitive to the vast array of needs that children of poverty bring
to the classroom. Social contexts have a significant impact on the
development of children. The social world of school operates by
different rules or norms than the social world these children live in.
Focus should be placed on finding a harmonious relationship
between the cultural values of students and values emphasized in
school. Considering that so many different cultures are represented
in our society, we often encounter students who belong to more than
one cultural group. They may be poor in addition to being nonEnglish speaking or of an ethnic/racial/religious minority group
(Bowman, 1994; Marlowe and Page, 1999).
High-mobility is a symptom of poverty and its surrounding
social factors. Children of poverty may live in places that rent by the
week or even day. They may move from town to town as their
parent searches for work or runs from problems (such as an abusive
spouse, criminal record, financial responsibilities). They may live in
homeless shelters or battered women’s shelters that only allow brief
stays. They may live on the streets. The conditions they live in and
their day-to-day life experiences can have a significant effect on their
education and achievement. Moving is a very emotional event for
children. Combine this issue with the multitude of other issues faced
by mobile and homeless children and the impact on their emotional,
social and cognitive development can be overwhelming.
School attendance is often irregular. Transfer to a new
school becomes the norm. Aside from the differences from the
general school population due to other aspects of their poverty,
mobility compounds the difficulty these children have making friends.
They may behave hostilely or be totally withdrawn due to past
attempts to make friends. With regard to both the academic and
social aspects of school, they may figure, “Why bother? I’m just
going to move again.” They also often come to school with no
records from their previous schools; and it may be difficult for
schools to track the records down. Teachers have no idea what
these students have learned. It is challenging for schools to place
these children in classrooms and get them additional services they
may need. Even if placement is successful, these children will likely
move again within the school year. It is also challenging to help
these students to learn at least something of value while they remain
in our classrooms.
Children become aware of social and economic status
differences at a very young age. They also grow increasingly aware
of both their own social status and that of their peers, developing
class-related attitudes during their years in elementary school.
Teachers can help children to develop caring and sensitivity toward
different cultures including social classes. Activities and lessons
should be based on how children perceive themselves and the world
at the various stages of development. For example, children who
are in the age range of 7-12 years are less egocentric. They focus
on internal characteristics or traits of people as opposed to external,
observable social class differences. They also recognize similarities
and differences among groups. At around age 11, children can
consider causes and solutions to poverty.
Taking into account a spiral curriculum, at earlier ages
children can become acquainted with social class and other cultural
differences. During the latter years, the topic can be revisited for
deeper understanding. This is a great opportunity to include
community service learning projects in the curriculum, such as
volunteering as a class in a soup kitchen. It is important that these
activities be followed with both group discussion and individual
reflection to help children think critically about their experiences
(Chafel, 1997; Gomez, 2000).
As teachers, these aspects of poverty make planning
and preparation absolutely critical. Content needs to be
related in varying ways to meet the needs of the diverse
students in the classroom. We have to consider the cultural
values of these children as we arrange their learning.
Constructivism is a key concept in that it respects student
differences and allows students to use their own prior
knowledge and experiences to make connections and learn.
It affords students the opportunity to become active
learners by questioning, hypothesizing and drawing
conclusions based on their individual learning experiences.
If there is limited foundation for children to draw upon, we
need to help them develop a base of knowledge and
experiences so they have somewhere to start.
By providing emotional support, modeling, and other forms
of scaffolding, teachers can help students use their strengths, skills,
and knowledge to develop and learn (Marlowe and Page, 1999).
Learning experiences and problem solving based on real-life
problems can help them deal with some of the issues they may be
faced with in their lives. Learning by doing gives students the
opportunity to be active and imaginative problem solvers (Bassey,
1996). Thus, diversity actually presents us with a chance to
enhance the quality of education for all our students and provide
them with a variety of opportunities to develop into productive
citizens. As our schools and nation become more diverse, the need
for understanding and acceptance of differences becomes more
important. Our challenge is to provide children with an effective
multicultural education that will foster awareness, respect, and
acceptance.
Challenge: The Achievement Gap
The difference in academic performance among children
from different classes or groups (ethnic, racial, income) is
referred to as the achievement gap. Children of poverty
generally achieve at lower levels than children of middle
and upper classes. The causes are numerous and are
related to both the social environment in which poor
children live and the education they receive in school.
Factors such as the quality of student learning behaviors,
home environment, past experiences with education, and
teacher attitudes are among the many influences on
student achievement. Slavin (1998) proposes that schools
can have a powerful impact on the academic achievement
and success of all children by viewing them as at-promise
rather than at-risk and preparing them to reach their full
potential.
A good education is often the only means of breaking
the cycle of poverty for poor children. These children need
an education that is founded in high standards and high
expectations for all. Curriculum alignment must exist to
ensure that a rigorous curriculum and assessment
accompany and are aligned with the standards. What
occurs in our classrooms has a significant impact on student
achievement. The curriculum should be challenging to
prevent decreased opportunity for higher education, which
translates into less opportunity in life for them.
Content should be of high quality and be culturally
relevant. A watered-down curriculum is unacceptable.
Teachers should be knowledgeable of the cultures in which
their students live so they can plan effective and engaging
lessons. Additionally, instructional and classroom
management techniques that work well with some students
don’t necessarily work well with poor children. The
perspective and experiences of the children need to be
considered (Goodwin, 2000). Other aspects that can help
close the achievement gap are discussed in the following
sections: motivation, readiness and parent/family
involvement.
An article by Haycock (2001) addresses issues
related to poverty and the achievement gap through
research conducted by The Education Trust in the late
1990’s. They questioned both children and adults on what
they suspect are causes of this achievement gap. One
comment among those made by the children was, “ ’What
hurts us more is that you teach us less.’ “ Haycock (2001)
concludes: “…we take the students who have less to begin
with and then systematically give them less in school.”
What schools do obviously matters. What also matters is
effective teaching.
Challenge: Student Motivation to Learn
One of the social issues facing children of poverty is
emotional trauma. The emotional climate can often be very
stressful and emotionally depriving. The lack of emotional
nurturing can lead to feelings of alienation, inadequacy,
depression and anxiety. Aggressive or impulsive behavior
and social withdrawal can also result. Emotional security
and self-esteem are often lacking. There is a craving for
attention and a need to belong (Ciaccio, 2000; Brophy,
2000). The characteristics that are lacking in the poverty
environment are those that help foster effective learning
and academic success. Emotional draining and negative
self-status can literally zap the motivation to learn out of
children.
We need to place an emphasis on sparking that
desire to learn or (motivation) by not only helping to
restore the child’s self-image but also by encouraging
students to see the demands and rewards of schooling.
Children will work hard, for intrinsic rewards, only if they
have a very good reason (Ciaccio, 2000). We need to make
them feel that they are lovable, important and acceptable
human beings by making them feel secure and good about
themselves and by building trusting respectful relationships
with them (Bassey, 1996). The teacher may be the
dependable and caring adult, often the only adult of this
kind, who is a consistent and reliable figure in their lives of
unpredictability and change (Bowman, 1994). Positive and
respectful relationships of this nature are essential for atrisk students (Hixson and Tinsmann, 1990; Ciaccio, 2000).
Educators also need to work to foster resilience in
children, focusing on the traits, coping skills, and supports
that help children survive in a challenging environment.
Children need our help if they are to adapt successfully
despite adversity; alter or reverse expected negative
outcomes; and thrive in spite of negative circumstances.
We need to set high expectations for all that communicate
guidance, structure, challenge, and, most importantly, a
belief in the innate resilience of children. We need a
curriculum that supports resilience (Benard, 1995).
Ciaccio (2000) also discusses the technique of total
positive response to student misbehavior as a method of
developing relationships with students and a method of
effective classroom management. Every incidence of
student misbehavior is dealt with in a positive versus
negative manner in an effort to disarm students that may
exhibit some of the most challenging behaviors. Total
positive response involves the use of positive strategies to
meet student needs, combined with caring and total
acceptance. The challenge is to find the positive in the
negative. Because at-risk students have egos that are often
severely damaged, criticism can cause them to tune
teachers and authority out. Additionally, emotionally
damaged students cannot effectively deal with criticism and
channel it to improvement. We must make it our
responsibility to find ways to generate and maintain student
interest and involvement on a consistent basis by making
our classrooms safe, accepting, interesting and engaging
places (Haberman, 1995). By creating lessons that have
meaning to these children, teachers are responding actively
and constructively to the background or prior knowledge
and experience of their students.
The concepts of agency and conation, which
encompasses self-efficacy and self-regulation, are key to
understanding motivation as it relates to children of
poverty. The living environments and the culture of poverty
often leave poor children with low levels of motivation to
learn. Besides the fact that all of their energies may be
directed elsewhere in their struggle to survive, they may
have poor experiences with schooling or may perceive that
they don’t really need school to be successful. They may
translate money or belonging into success, and perceive
careers in criminal activity that permeate poorer
neighborhoods (such as drug dealing, prostitution,
gambling, theft and gang involvement) as lucrative careers
and as the only ones possible for them.
Children from low SES live in environments with
social conditions over which they have little control. It is not
their choice where they live. It is not their choice that their
parent may be unemployed or disabled. It was not their
choice to be born into poverty. They often have the feeling
they want or need to escape this environment and do
better; but they feel they have no control over the nature
and quality of their lives. The concept of agency is that an
individual can intentionally make things happen through
their actions. This is an underlying concept in social
learning or social cognitive theory. If we can show children
that they can be agents, we can enable them to play a part
in their self-development and take responsibility for their
learning, personal development and achievement (Brophy,
1998; Bandura, 2001).
As agents, children do not simply undergo experiences.
They become actively engaged participants by using sensory, motor
and cognitive processes to accomplish tasks and goals that give
their lives meaning and direction. They explore, manipulate and
influence the environment. We need to get children to act mindfully
to make desired things happen rather than let themselves be acted
on by their environments.
When many children from low SES run into difficult
challenges they engage in negative self-talk and may perceive their
failures as challenges they cannot overcome. They may not
increase their efforts and may become despondent if they interpret
failure to mean they are personally deficient. Because of the culture
they live in, they may also feel exploited or disrespected and
respond hostilely or apathetically. Goal setting is a critical aspect of
agency because it allows individuals to construct outcome
expectations. This provides direction, coherence and meaning to
life, elements often lacking in low SES students, and can also enable
these students to transcend the dictates of their environment.
Conation refers to the connection between
knowledge, affect and behavior. It is the intentional, goaloriented component of motivation that explains how
knowledge and emotion are translated into behavior.
Conation is a proactive aspect of behavior that is closely
related to volition (the use of will or freedom to make
choices about what to do). It is necessary in order for an
individual to become self-directed and self-regulated.
Conation is especially important when addressing issues in
learning. It is something that is often lacking in low
achieving students, particularly those from low SES
backgrounds (Huitt, 1999). A critical task facing teachers is
to help students develop conative attitudes, skills for selfregulation (goals, plans, and perseverance), and self-
efficacy (the belief that something can be done).
SES affects behavior through its impact on an
individual’s aspirations, sense of efficacy, personal
standards and emotional states. A strong sense of efficacy
can help strengthen resiliency to adversity often found in
the environment of the low SES student. Low SES students
often live in chaotic and unstructured environments. They
live day to day. They may be unable to manage their
emotions, have poor role models, and feel they have no
choice or control over their destiny.
Students with low SES may also be depressed, have
a fear of failure due to past experiences or have acquired
failure expectations from their parents. They may be truly
capable children who, as a result of previous demoralizing
experiences or self-imposed mind-sets, have come to
believe that they cannot learn. If they doubt their academic
ability, chances are they envision low grades before they
even complete an assignment or take a test. This has an
effect on goal setting in that these individuals also tend to
set lower goals for themselves. They may have no real
personal goals or vision, but only fantasies of what they
hope for. If they do have goals, these children need to
learn how they can achieve the goals and develop
awareness of the possible self. Goals need to be difficult
but attainable in order for significant achievement to be
recognized. We need to assign challenging tasks and
meaningful activities that can be mastered (Huitt, 1999;
Pajares, 1996).
Through exercises designed to help these children
identify what is important to them, we can begin to help
them develop conation. Personal reflection, through the
use of a journal, can be a very effective tool for this
purpose. Periodic journal reflection on what they think their
lives would be like if money and time were not limiting
factors and what they think they would do in the future can
also be helpful to students. Inquiry learning can help to
foster the development of conation, focusing on skills such
as problem solving, fact finding, probing, organizing,
reforming, adapting, improvising, revising, constructing and
envisioning.
If a student can become self-regulated, they can
mediate the negative environmental influences they may
encounter. Unless they believe they can produce desired
results, students have little incentive to persevere in the
face of difficulty. Efficacy beliefs influence whether people
think pessimistically or optimistically and in ways that are
self-enhancing or self-hindering. Teaching the use of selftalk techniques through role playing and group activity can
be helpful in identifying thoughts that are often inaccurate
and negative. This can also help students to persist longer
at challenging tasks as opposed to simply giving up,
resulting in higher levels of achievement (Huitt, 1999;
Pajares, 1996).
The social environment has an impact on goal-oriented
motivation. We need to work towards developing conative
components that enhance self-direction, self-determination
and self-regulation. Low SES children need to realize the
possibilities in their lives, set goals that they can attain and
experience success directly, through mastery experiences,
and vicariously, through the success of others. Teachers
should focus on the learning process, effort and striving, not
solely on the ability of the child or results. Personal
standards should be stressed as opposed to normative
standards. Because success helps to raise self-efficacy, we
should do whatever possible to help our students succeed
and work to strengthen confidence through our words and
actions.
Student self-beliefs have great influence on whether
they fail or succeed in school. We need to provide
intellectual challenge and create classroom climates of
emotional support and encouragement to help students
meet the challenge. We need to nurture the self-beliefs of
our students and provide them with successful models that
transmit knowledge, skills and inspiration. Improving selfefficacy can lead to increased use of cognitive strategies
and, in turn, higher achievement. A high sense of efficacy
also promotes pro-social behaviors such as cooperativeness,
helpfulness, sharing, and mutual concern for welfare. Many
of the difficulties students encounter are closely connected
to beliefs they hold about themselves and their place in the
world they live in. Academic failure is a consequence of the
beliefs that students hold about themselves and about their
ability to have control over their environments.
Challenge: Lack of Readiness to Learn
Readiness is a multi-dimensional concept that
considers behavioral and cognitive aspects of a child’s
development as well as adaptation to the classroom. When
considering the poverty factor as related to readiness, it is
important to note that poverty is not just about money; it is
about how an individual does without resources and with all
of the baggage that goes along with being poor (Slocumb
and Payne, 2000). When readiness is considered, it is
generally considered with regard to readiness for school
entry. However, after researching the topic of poverty,
readiness really needs to be considered at all age levels as
the student approaches any new learning experiences or
activities. Regardless of when intervention begins, the
whole idea is to educate children beyond their poverty and
give them the intellectual and social skills needed to
succeed in life (Renchler, 2000),
Children from poverty start out in life at a
disadvantage. Their mothers may have no or inadequate
pre-natal care. They may have insufficient early health care.
If the parents are fortunate to have jobs, affordable day
care may be of poor quality (Slavin, 1998). Additionally,
poor children do not have the same kind of experiences that
children of other social classes do. The experiences they
miss out on are those that could help in the development of
skills and academic achievement. Some examples would be
the use of home computers; visits to zoos and museums;
attendance at pre-school programs; availability of literature
and educational reading materials; interaction with
educated, literate and well-spoken adults; and being read to
by a parent.
The social environment that is present in conditions
of poverty affects the development of these children by
limiting the ways they learn to live in social groups.
Opportunities for intellectual development, such as the
development of cognitive skills and thinking patterns, are
the result of social interaction. Children who live in poverty
conditions are unable to develop mutually satisfying social
relationships. Language is an important tool in the process
of learning to think. If children have limited opportunity to
learn language, organize perceptions, and develop other
higher order cognitive processes, their ability to solve
problems and think independently is negatively affected
(Benson, 1995; Bowman, 1994; Guerra and Schutz, 2001).
The quality of a child’s earliest experiences has great
influence on future development and potential to succeed.
Intervention should be implemented at an early stage to
stop the process of failure before it begins (Slavin, 1998).
Early childhood education programs (such as Head Start)
can help at-risk pre-schoolers overcome the disadvantages
that come with being poor and ensure that they enter
school ready to learn by providing emotional nurturing and
intellectual challenge. These programs foster the
development of language abilities and cognitive skills. They
provide children with experiences that will serve as a
foundation of knowledge for future learning. They also
provide children with the opportunity to observe pro-social
behavior and develop positive relationships with adults and
peers (Spectrum, 1999).
Readiness from the perspective of older children has
not only to do with the development discussed above but
also with creating a support system that will enable children
to be free to focus on learning. By encompassing more
aspects of the lives of these children, schools can give them
a better chance at succeeding. This may include developing
a support network with community partners by offering or
referring students and families to community programs that
meet health, social, and recreational needs. It may also
involve keeping schools open and accessible to children and
their families during evening or early morning hours so they
have safe, quiet places to study and have access to athletic
facilities, recreational activities, computers, libraries,
tutoring and other resources. This can provide poor children
with a full range of support so they can develop a sense of
connectedness or belonging with their schools and can
concentrate on learning and being students (Maeroff,
1998).
Challenge: Relationships with and Involvement of
Parents and Families
Developing positive relationships with parents and families
of low socio-economic status and getting them involved with
their children’s education and school activities is a
challenge. In order to address this challenge it is first
necessary to understand the dynamics of parenting in the
context of poverty. Parenting is a critical process affecting
many developmental outcomes for children living in
poverty. Parent ability is weakened by living in poverty
conditions and by the emotional and psychological stress
associated with living in poverty (Kaiser and Delaney,
1996).
Parenting is the means through which children
experience the world. Because the parent-child relationship
is the primary context for early behavioral, social and
cognitive development, negative effects on parents due to
poverty factors in turn have a negative effect on the
development of the child. Children rely on their parents to
mediate their environment, respond to their needs and
provide emotional stimulation and support. If, because of
poverty related stresses, the parent does not do this, the
child’s development could be delayed or be otherwise
negatively affected (Kaiser and Delaney, 1996).
Conditions required for families to be successful are
often lacking in the environment of poverty: stability,
security, emotionally positive time together, access to basic
resources, and a strong shared belief system. Thus, family
relationships suffer when individuals live in poverty.
Parents exhibit less capacity to be supportive and consistent
in their parenting, provide less vocal and emotional
stimulation, are less responsive to their children’s needs
and model less sophisticated language. Parenting style is
more punitive and coercive and less consistent (Kaiser and
Delaney, 1996). Overall, parental support and involvement
in school activities is lower among poor parents. This does
not necessarily indicate a lack of interest. It reflects issues
related to poverty such as time (especially if they work
shifts or more than one job), availability and affordability of
child care and/or transportation, as well as possible
negative personal experiences between the parent and his
or her own school when growing up (Kaiser and Delaney,
1996).
The importance of strengthening and supporting
parents and families cannot be emphasized enough. Areas
of positive functioning need to be supported in programs
that help families and children work to build or re-build their
lives. Preventive programs can also help families of
poverty. Any of the programs can build on the children’s
strengths while simultaneously providing needed services to
families (Schmitz, Wagner and Menke 2001). Research
shows that most parents, regardless of their socio-economic
status, love their children and want them to succeed. Many
of these parents need to learn strategies that can help them
cope and help their children get a chance at breaking the
cycle of poverty (McGee, 1996).
Home-school collaboration is particularly important
for children of poverty in helping to facilitate better
educational outcomes (Raffaele and Knoff, 1999). Because
relationships with these families are often the most difficult
to cultivate, teachers and schools need to make an extra
effort to reach out to parents and families of poverty,
helping them to help their children. Research suggests that
the more parents participate, the better student
achievement is. Sometimes reaching a parent can be
difficult if they have no phone, do not speak English or
cannot read. It is even more critical that we find ways to
reach these parents. Once we do reach them, however,
there is no guarantee that they will be positive, cooperative,
or receptive. We must do our best to attempt to foster a
positive relationship with them in face of resistance,
keeping in our minds and trying to convince them that their
involvement is for the benefit of the child. McGee (1996)
mentions that a significant discovery was made by
researchers studying poverty and homeless families. They
discovered that human relationships must take precedence
over academics. They found that only if parents trusted
teachers and felt accepted by teachers could the teachers
stand a chance of getting through to them.
Teachers can inform parents of simple, time-efficient
ways to help their children at home. Activities involving
parents with their children can be scheduled such as family
math, science, reading or technology nights. Teachers can
provide literature and articles for parents to read on
parenting issues. Teachers and schools can schedule
conferences and activities at school during convenient times
for parents. Child-care and activities can be provided for
children while conferences are held. Meetings and activities
can also be held at community centers or locations more
accessible to families without transportation. One author
mentioned the importance of providing food at meetings
and activities when homeless families are involved.
However, this sounds like a good idea when any families of
poverty are involved (McGee, 1996).
Parents should know that they are welcome to observe the
class and spend time helping out in the classroom,
lunchroom or during activities. Parents should be
encouraged to view student work, accomplishments and
portfolios when they come to school so they can become
more aware of their child’s abilities and talents and can
discuss them with their children in a meaningful way.
Parental involvement sends a message to all children, not
only the child of the involved parent, that school is
important. Parental involvement can also be contagious,
especially when other children observe positive interaction
among the teacher, student and parent.
Teachers should keep parents informed of what is
going on in the classroom and encourage parents to talk to
their children about school. A monthly calendar of topics
and activities can help parents to discuss topics both as
they approach and after they have been studied. We can
encourage parents to read with their children or have their
children read to them. A class trip to the local public library
where every student signs up to receive a library card is a
great opportunity for children to get excited about literacy.
Parents can then receive mailings from the library as to free
activities for children and adults that can help to develop
literacy and technology skills and give parents an
opportunity to spend time with their children. Libraries can
also provide parents with resources for finding employment
and writing resumes.
Brain-Based Research, Learning and Poverty
Knowing how the brain functions can have a great influence
on how teachers address the emotional, social, cognitive
and physical learning of students. Because it is known that
perceptions and emotions contribute to learning, brain
research provides rich possibilities for education. Research
findings encourage us to expose children to a variety of
multi-sensory early learning experiences and encourage
even very young children to work with patterning, sorting,
classifying, using number games, and exploring shapes.
Emotions are a significant aspect of life for children of
poverty. Emotions have a connection to memory in that
they help to store information and also trigger recall.
Emotions affect the actual capacity of children to grasp
ideas. One of the most prominent emotions in children of
poverty is fear. Brain research indicates that constant fear
has a negative effect on learning. Additionally, a person’s
physical and emotional well-being are related to their ability
to think and learn. Considering that children of poverty
may be poorly developed, both physically and emotionally,
and that their home environments are often emotionally
stressful can explain why they often encounter difficulties in
school (SEDL).
Classroom environments that are safe and trusting
can enhance learning. Environments should be high in
challenge and low in threat. An atmosphere of relaxed
alertness should be maintained. The living environment of
many poor children is high-stress, so one of our immediate
concerns should be to keep the stress level and perceived
threat in the classroom at a low level. Fear and threat can
cause the brain to downshift. Downshifting is biological
response that focuses solely on survival needs. Poor
children often have a feeling of helplessness, low selfesteem and may be fatigued. Thus, when their brains
downshift they will not go any further than addressing
survival needs. New information and experiences will be
shut out. Attention will be affected because the brain keeps
repeating thoughts or unresolved emotional issues.
Additionally, cortisol, a stress hormone, will be in
abundance; and the result will be emotional volatility.
Downshifting can also cause behaviors such as vigilance and
resistance or defiance. Students under these conditions
can only learn in concrete ways, not abstract ways. This
needs to be considered when planning lessons and when
considering classroom management (Caine, 2000).
Cooperative learning and shared decision making can
help to build a sense of community and foster development
of relationships, both student-teacher and student-student
relationships. This can help students of poverty to develop
a sense of belonging and a sense of connectedness to their
school (Kovalik and Olsen, 1998). Helping students to find
ways to handle strong emotions productively can help them
to deal with emotions such as anger, fear, hurt and tension
in their daily life experiences and relationships. If students
can deal with these emotions effectively, they will be free to
learn. Brain based research supports the constructivist
theory of learning: students build understandings based on
prior knowledge and experiences. Intellectual development
is gradual and dependent on external stimulation. If there
is deprivation, as may be the case for children of poverty,
their intellectual development will likely be delayed.
We need to be aware of the emotional needs of our
students. If children are lacking in emotional and
intellectual development, they may have difficulty with
language development. Difficulty with language
development may prevent a child from developing higher
order thinking skills that eventually lead to independent
problem solving. This will make it difficult for them to
learn and develop several of Gardner’s multiple
intelligences. Gardner’s theory states that all seven
intelligences are needed to function productively in society.
In order to help motivate students, teachers can use a
teaching style that engages all or most of the students, with
the goal of exciting students about learning.
While all students possess all seven intelligences,
each child comes to school with different areas developed.
Poor children may come to school with musical or bodilykinesthetic intelligences more developed due to the types of
experiences and modeling children of poverty may have in
their home environments. This is also an indicator of the
child’s learning style and possible strengths and
weaknesses. This information can tell teachers what a
child’s learning style is by indicating how easy or difficult it
is to learn when lessons are presented in a certain way.
Learning styles also allow teachers to properly assess
student progress (Brualdi, 2000).
Emotions have an impact on memory, as previously
mentioned, because emotion drives attention and attention
drives learning and memory. If content has no motional
relevance to students, they will not recall it. Thus, when
developing lessons and units we need to find topics that are
both relevant to our students’ lives and of interest to our
students. Again, in order to do this, we need to have
developed relationships with our students. We cannot just
guess at what they find interesting or what is relevant to
their lives. We need to find ways to relate content to their
lives (Kovalik and Olsen, 1998).
Brain-based learning research has shown that the
brain does not store memories, but recreates them every
time we recall. We have pathways for specific types of
learning. We can use methods of instruction to help
students to access information stored in different pathways
and retrieve memories needed to learn new information
(Jensen, 1998). Since the brain learns by capturing, sorting
and holding onto information, we should create classrooms
and experiences to capitalize on the brain’s natural abilities
and promote student learning (Parry & Gregory, 1998).
Sensory memory decides what should go on to
short-term memory and what should be discarded. Our
attention is focused on anything the brain finds new,
exciting, pleasurable or threatening. The more closely new
information conforms to what the learner perceives as
interesting, useful and emotionally stimulating, the more
likely it is to be integrated. This supports the importance of
anticipatory set, contingent value and engaging activities
(Parry & Gregory, 1998).
We, as teachers, need to introduce information in new and
exciting ways and make the learning experience challenging yet
enjoyable. Children must be exposed to language patterns and have
interactions on which to build a foundation of knowledge. New
information should be introduced and examined in context in order to
create a link for the student to help recall the learning experience
and the information learned. Retrieval is better in contextual,
episodic, event-oriented situations (Jensen, 1998). We need to
refocus attention frequently, change activities and vary modalities to
keep the learner stimulated (Parry & Gregory, 1998). Lessons
should be multi-sensory and employ the use of motion, rhythm and
manipulatives in an effort to facilitate learning (Jensen, 1998).
Activating prior learning at the start of a lesson is
beneficial because it enables the students to bring
information up to the level of conscious thought, from longterm into short-term or working memory. Making
connections between separate pieces of information aids the
formation of concepts or generalizations, which increases
the possibility the material will be transferred into long-term
memory and made available for recall. Poor children may
need more attention in this area because of the level of
their emotional and intellectual development or lack of a
knowledge or experience base.
Additionally, advance organizers help students to organize,
integrate and retain information to be learned. Research has shown
a high correlation between the use of advance organizers and
increased learning and retention of material. Graphic organizers and
maps organize knowledge into conceptual frameworks, making it
easier to understand and recall the information. They organize and
present information in an accessible way. They display relationships,
connect new learning to prior learning and organize information into
a more usable form (Fogarty, 1997).
Rehearsal is important because information can be held
much longer if it is given conscious and continuous attention.
Repetition and review help to practice retrieval of information.
Without rehearsal information stays in short term memory for less
than 20 seconds. This is an important concept when considering
literacy and reading instruction. Children of poverty often have
difficulties with reading development. For a new reader or a reader
with problems, the repetition and patterns found in multi-sensory
instruction help to keep information in short-term memory long
enough for it to be processed and transferred to long-term memory
(Fogarty, 1997).
Brain congruent activities can help make the curriculum
more meaningful. If the brain can access stored information that is
similar to new information, it is more likely to make sense of the new
information. Activities should help children to link new and existing
information. This can help students see that they already possess
some knowledge about the new topic and are, in fact, dealing with
information that has meaning or relevance for them. This is
important for poor children in helping boost self-esteem and
confidence in learning situations. Since students retain and apply
information in meaningful ways when it is connected to real-life
experiences, lessons that involve solving authentic problems and
simulations should be used. This can also help children of poverty to
develop their problem solving skills and begin to realize their abilities
(Westwater and Wolfe, 2000).
One last issue in brain research has to do with nutrition and
children of poverty. The foods that children eat or do not eat affect
their brain development, functioning and behavior. Chemicals
released in response to both stress and from foods can prevent
higher order thinking. Children of poverty are exposed to great
amounts of stress and their nutrition may be poor. Chronic stress
causes the body to deplete nutrients, inhibits the growth of dendrites
and limits interconnections among neurons. The results are: no
nutrients are available for learning; thinking is slowed; learning is
depressed. When protein foods, often lacking in diets of poor
children, are digested, tyrosine is released into the bloodstream.
Tyrosine becomes L-dopa in the brain and is then converted into
dopamine. Dopamine produces a feeling of alertness, attentiveness,
quick thinking, motivation and mental energy. Fear of failure,
isolation and trauma, usually present in poor children, cause
dopamine to be converted into norepinephrine. This causes
alertness to be converted into aggression and agitation. Thus, when
nutrition is poor, children: have difficulty tolerating frustration and
stress; become apathetic; and are non-responsive, inactive and
irritable (Given, 1998). How can they even attempt to learn?
Given (1998) also discusses serotonin, carbohydrates and
their effect on brain functioning. Carbohydrate foods cause the
production of serotonin. Low levels of serotonin are associated with
depression and low self-esteem. Additionally, the body
manufactures its own serotonin when an individual experiences
positive self-esteem, success in problem solving and other
accomplishments. One implication for teachers is to find ways for all
students to be successful, thereby increasing levels of serotonin.
Another implication is to make sure that students have access to the
breakfast and lunch programs available as well as nutritious snacks.
Implications for Curriculum Adaptations
I have discussed curriculum throughout the paper as it pertains
to each dimension. In summary, the following are highlights of what
must be considered when developing curriculum in schools or
classrooms where students of poverty are involved.

Provide all students with a rigorous curriculum.

Have high expectations for all students.

Make students responsible for their own learning.

Provide support to students and their families. Involve
parents. Early intervention is critical.

Help children to succeed.

Create an environment and use activities that foster mutual
respect, resilience, self-esteem, self-regulation and selfefficacy.

Develop relationships with students to identify their needs
(emotional and intellectual) and identify their individual
learning style.

Emphasize that each student is unique with value, talents
and abilities.

Promote awareness and acceptance of diversity.
Encourage students to recognize similarities as well as
differences.

Use principles of constructivism to make learning
interesting, valuable and relevant to students. Teach for
meaning.

Provide developmentally appropriate, meaningful learning
activities and use thematic or integrated instruction,
cooperative learning, inquiry and authentic learning.
Poverty should not be an excuse for us to expect less from our
students. They indeed come to us with numerous issues and
challenges that interfere with their learning. We need to focus on
their learning, find ways to help them overcome these challenges
and gain the most they can from their education. Their education is
likely their one chance to break the poverty cycle and escape. Just
because they are poor doesn’t mean they cannot succeed. It is
actually one of the best reasons for them to succeed.
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