Danielle DePompei

EDL 318E A
April 8, 2015
Inquiry-to-Curriculum Project, Part 2
Mini-Literature Review
In class we have talked a lot about the correlation between poverty, or low socioeconomic
status, and student attitudes towards school. The students attitude towards school often
manifests itself as failure to complete work or disinterest in what is going on in the classroom. It
can also show up in behaviors the student exhibits towards others in the class or towards the
school day in general. These attitudes often say a lot about a students home life or they reflect
how their parents value education. As I began looking into my research question, I began to find
many resources supporting these same ideas.
According to Meier (2003), there is a second silence within classrooms that refers to
the pretense that the gaps in the quality of life outside of school are matters of, at most,
inconvenience or matters of poor parenting skills (pg. 18). I think that this is very true with a
lot of teachers; rather than face the uglier side of a situation, such as a student sleeping in school
because it is the first time they have felt safe enough to sleep, we tend to believe that students act
certain ways out of laziness or lack of discipline. Many teachers have a hard time identifying
with their students when they are experiencing things on a daily basis that the teachers have
never considered. For example, Ayers talks about a young boy who was written off as being no
good today and not wanting to do his work. When Ayers sat down and talked with the boy, he
learned that his brother was on trial for murder that day and he was worried about whether or not

he would be coming home (pg.41). As teachers, its important to stop and think about what our
students may be facing and to sit down and talk with them if we see a change in behavior. Every
effort possible should be made to help our students feel safe and welcome in the classroom.
When thinking about the second silence, it led me to question the parental support of
students from low socioeconomic families and how that affects their schoolwork as well as their
social-emotional well-being. I found that according to Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997), the
effects of poverty per se on school achievement are likely to be statistically significant, yet
small (pg. 62). Here they are referring to poverty in terms of parental income not specifically
parental support, but they go on to say that a possible reason is that school-related achievement
depends on both ability and behavior, (pg. 62) meaning that if you have the drive to succeed
then you will try hard in school despite coming from poverty. I think this is true for some
children, but others cannot pull themselves out of their economic situation. Alexander and
Entwisle (2014) talked about how children are launched onto stable trajectories very early in
life, for many reasons (pg. 187); two of which are the socioeconomic status of the school, which
reflects the socioeconomic status of the parents, and that parents plans for their children are in
place long before high school and are strong determinants of their childrens school
performance and goals in life (pg. 187).
Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997) also go on to talk about how poor children suffer from
emotional and behavioral problems more frequently than do nonpoor children (pg. 62). They
state that emotional outcomes are often grouped along two dimensions: externalizing behaviors
including aggression, fighting, and acting out, and internalizing behaviors such as anxiety, social
withdrawal, and depression (pg. 62). I think that this is something that we often see in the
classroom. Young children have a hard time expressing their feelings in a calm, verbal fashion,

so teachers are left to investigate why students may be acting the way that they do. I found it
interesting that the article talks about how one study found that persistent poverty often resulted
in internalizing symptoms, whereas current poverty is associated with externalizing. And further
still, another study found that children who have experienced only a single year of poverty had
more behavioral problems than those who have lived in long-term poverty (Brooks-Gunn and
Duncan (1997), pg. 63).
Context
http://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/Pages/School-Report.aspx?SchoolIRN=011483

Linden Elementary has a poverty status of medium-high

69.8% of the students are identified as economically disadvantaged

82% of students enrolled are white, 4% are black, 7.6% are Hispanic, and 5.6% are multiracial; American Indian and Asian or Pacific are not represented because there are less
than 10 students enrolled for each race

Linden Elementary currently has an overall achievement rating of F because only

33.3% of indicators were met during state testing last year; 75% of students passed the
tests though

The school has an F rating for annual measurable goals. The goals measure how well
student groups compare to state goals. The AMO for Reading is 84.9% and Math is
80.5%. Students identified as economically disadvantaged scored 76% in Reading and
64.8% in Math

http://www.city-data.com/city/Hamilton-Ohio.html

The most common occupations in Hamilton, OH include: production occupations

including supervisors, driver/sales workers and truck drivers, metal workers and plastic
workers, laborers and material movers, material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and
distributing workers, construction trades workers except carpenters, electricians, painters,
plumbers, and construction laborers, and sales and related workers including supervisors.

Estimated median household income in 2012: $38,985 (it was $35,365 in 2000)

Unemployment in June 2014 was 5.5%

In 2012, in terms of educational attainment, 16.2% of people had less than high school
and 43.7% had high school or equivalent.

http://hamiltoncityschools.com/linden/

Linden Elementary is described as Strong, Striving, Student-Centered

http://hamiltoncityschools.com/about/

The district website has Student Achievement: Grow all students and maximize
individual potential as a vision statement.

Classroom details:

Comprised of six tables for students where they sit in groups of four; one student has a
desk off to the side of the classroom

Clear walkway straight ahead and to the left when you walk in

Bathroom and sink in the corner to the left when you walk in

Teachers desk located in furthest corner from entrance

Emergency exit/dismissal door straight ahead when entering the classroom

Homework folder send home on Fridays containing weekly newsletter and homework
packet for students

Community isnt represented in classroom

Kindergarten classroom containing 25 students; 14 boys and 8 girls

7 students are identified as receiving Title 1, 1 student is on an IEP, 1 student is pulled out
to go to the therapy room once a day, 0 students are identified as gifted

Findings
For this project, I have been researching how poverty or low socioeconomic status affects
parental support of their students schoolwork as well as their social-emotional well-being. I
intended to research this question through the mini-literature review, talking with my cooperating
teacher, observing the classroom dynamic and student interactions, and looking at various
documents that the school has for parents/caregivers and what programs they have in place to
assist families that may be in need.
While my cooperating teacher was not able to provide me with any documents that were
designed specifically for parents/caregivers, she did show me a paper that was about a service
that one of the students received through the school. There is a young boy in the class who goes
to the therapy room once a day. I am not sure what his disability is, my teacher hasnt shared that
information, but I do know that he is of lower-socioeconomic status. The paper she showed me
was about a dental checkup that the student received and notes about how it went. It showed that
the student had nine cavities, and it provided additional resources for the parent/caregiver to seek
out in order to take care of them. My teacher didnt share anything else about the paper other

than he was one of the students eligible for the dental checkup and that not everyone in the class
was.
Through informal conversations with my cooperating teacher, I have learned a lot about
her views towards the students and how she feels knowing that some parental involvement is low
because of what is going on at home. She has expressed to me on more than one occasion that
she fears where some of her students go after school because she knows that parents arent
always around. She has also told me that she worries about them in the summertime because they
are not in school and they are likely unsupervised. My cooperating teacher has expressed some
negative opinions towards parents who she deems worthless due to the students progress (or
lack thereof). I think that she doesnt take into account the second silence (Meier (2003), pg.
18) sometimes. She assumes that the students do not have other things going on outside of school
and that the parents do not either.
When observing the classroom, it is interesting to see that kindergarteners either have no
idea about varying socioeconomic statuses or they choose to ignore them. The students all seem
to get along for the most part other than two boys in particular who enjoy getting a rise out of the
other. I know that one of the boys in particular has had a very rough home life, according to my
cooperating teacher, and that he is currently being raised by his grandmother and aunt. She
doesnt go into too much detail other than he doesnt see his parents, his grandmother is
overwhelmed with him, and he has a number of behavioral problems. He is the student who has
to move his clip all the way down to red just about every single day. He cries or screams when he
doesnt get his way, lashes out at other students, and covers his ears when you try to talk with
him. I am not sure about his socioeconomic status, but I do know that the parental support is
lacking, though his grandmother tries her best.

Discussion
When I look at my findings and the mini-literature review in this paper, it solidifies a lot
of what I already knew. Students who are coming from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds tend
to have less parental support which leads to decreased value of education and increased
problems, both socially and emotionally. I am surprised to find that my cooperating teacher did
not have more to share with me about resources for parents/caregivers and programs that the
school has in place to assist families in needs. I know that there are schools out there that provide
backpacks to students over the weekend to ensure that they have food, and it makes me sad to
think that my school does not have programs like that in place (that I am aware of).
When my cooperating teacher talks about worrying where her students go at the end of
the day and over the summer, it makes me worry too. Students who are of lower-socioeconomic
status are not sent to daycares or camps like other students may be because their families cant
afford that. This means that while education may already hold no value in a home, the students
then spend all summer away from school and learning. They are usually behind already, and the
gap continues to widen with each passing year. They also miss out on interacting with peers their
own age and developing social skills.
Putting all of my findings and research together shows me that schools need to step up
and find ways to support these students when and if their parents cant. The most important thing
that teachers do, in my opinion, is show their students that school is a safe and welcoming
environment. Students need to know that they can come to school every day and have someone
that will be there for them, someone that will support them. This will not only help students who
are falling behind in school or exhibiting behavioral problems, it will also help other students
learn to accept others despite their differences and build relationships with their peers.

References
Alexander, K., & Entwisle, D. (2014). The Long Shadow. Life-Course Prespective of Urban
Disadvantage, Chapter 9. 173-188.
Ayers, W. (2010). ToTeach: the journey of a teacher. Seeing the Student, Chapter 2. 38-60.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children.The future of
children, 55-71.
Meier, D. (2003). So, what does it take to build a democratic school. Phi Delta Kappan, 85(1),
15-21.