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In my next book about creating a sense of belonging for students, I’ve been writing about the impact of poverty on a students’ academic, social emotional, and wellness. Here are some of my thoughts:
Why Teachers Need to Know About Students Living in Poverty: Children living in poverty are more prone to solidarity and challenges with making friends. Additionally, they are four times more likely to fight with or bully other children. Considering we want ALL students to have a sense of belonging at our schools, we have to consider the impact of poverty and a student’s experience of school.
The Academic Challenges of Poverty: Extensive research shows a distressing correlation between poverty and academic performance. Acknowledging the reasons behind these statistics, such as food insecurity, chronic absenteeism, and opportunity gaps, is essential.
Higher-income families often have access to resources like tutoring, educational trips, and cultural arts experiences, while lower-income families may lack these opportunities. This disparity creates an "opportunity gap" that can significantly impact student academic outcomes. Furthermore, schools with high poverty rates tend to experience high teacher turnover and attrition, making retention a pressing concern. Schools with a significant percentage of students meeting federal poverty guidelines for free and reduced lunch often need support to retain experienced educators. While this is just a snapshot of the academic challenges, there is much more to explore.
The Emotional Toll of Poverty: Poverty takes a toll on academic performance and student's social and emotional well-being. Imagine the emotional energy constantly consumed by the experience of poverty. Extensive research demonstrates poverty's long-term adverse effects on social and emotional development. These effects can accumulate over time, resulting in increased stress levels, feelings of unhappiness, anxiety, and dependence. Shockingly, children who have experienced poverty are more likely to seek psychological support, face severe disciplinary action in school, and struggle to form friendships. This research hit me really hard as I reflect on some of the communities I've worked with as an educator and how poverty can create significant social and emotional barriers for our students.
The Impact on Health and Wellness: Poverty's impact goes beyond academics and emotions—it also affects students' overall health and wellness. Children living in poverty are more likely to face health complications compared to their more affluent peers. Prolonged exposure to stress can impair the body's ability to cope with various health issues.
As educators, we must recognize poverty's prolonged effects on families, including the potential genetic changes in our students. Recent research even highlights the staggering impact of poverty-related toxic stress on the genetic development of children during fetal growth.
Addressing the Challenges: Awareness and action are crucial to addressing the challenges faced by impoverished students.
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