Once a professor told our class that as a child, he
had to wash his socks every evening so that he’d
have clean ones to wear to school the next
morning. He further revealed that most of the
children in his neighborhood did likewise. The point
is that children in his neighborhood didn’t really
know they were poor. Everyone did the same sorts
of things to make ends meet. Today, however, the
“haves” and the “have nots” are much more
apparent. Children are far more aware of their
family’s economic situation than in the past.
To consider the impact of poverty on students’
achievement without considering its impact on
student behavior is putting the cart before the
horse. Most experienced teachers will tell anyone
who will listen that without some semblance of
order in the classroom there will be no learning! Yet
study after study focuses on poverty and
achievement, without much consideration of
inappropriate student behavior as a manifestation of
living in poverty.
As far back as the Coleman Report (1966) we have
known that that a child’s poverty level has an
adverse effect on academic achievement. However,
in a study conducted by Gallagher (1998), it was
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reported that to simply focus on developing
standards and raising expectations is not sufficient:
“We need to face the unpleasant reality that
education by itself is a weak treatment.” In support
of this conclusion, a study conducted for the U.S.
Department of Education (1996) indicated several
important factors which adversely impact student
behavior. These factors include:
• Urban schools had larger enrollments, on
average, than suburban schools at both the
elementary and secondary levels;
• Student behavior problems were more common
in urban schools than in other schools,
particularly in absenteeism, classroom discipline,
weapons possession, and student pregnancy;
• Teacher absenteeism, an indicator of morale,
was more of a problem in urban schools than in
rural or suburban schools;
• Students in high poverty schools, regardless of
location, were less likely to feel safe in school
and spent less time on homework than those in
low poverty schools; and
• Young adults who had attended urban and urban
high-poverty schools had much higher poverty
and unemployment rates later in life than those
who had attended other schools.