EDGR595 Concordia University Portland Simulating Poverty Discussion

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Simulating Poverty

Watch the video Standing Up to Poverty – Official Film (Nebraska Loves Public Schools, 2013), listen to the podcast Poor Children, a New Majority in Public Schools (Scott, 2015), and view one of the following documentaries:

Answer the following in 2-3 substantive paragraphs:

  • What did you learn that could affect your professional practices/responses when dealing with students, families, and communities in poverty?
  • How can you make sure all students, regardless of their diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, are able to understand the context of poverty in ways that support the community of learners?
  • In what ways do the opinions in these resources match your views and experiences?
  • Are there areas in which you disagree based on your experiences?

Support your statements with evidence from the required studies and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA style.

Click here for information on course rubrics.

References

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs. (2008). Children in the fields [Video file]. Retrieved from

Frontline. (2012). Poor kids [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poor-kids/

Nebraska Loves Public Schools. (2013, May 23). Standing up to poverty – official film [Video file]. Retrieved from

Scott, A. (2015, January 16). Poor children, a new majority in public schools [Podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.marketplace.org/topics/wealth-poverty/p…

Tragos, T. D., & Palermo, A. D. (Directors). (2014). Rich hill [Motion Picture]. United States: The Orchard.

Poverty

When you think of poverty, what comes to mind? Shah (2014) provides the following statistics:

  • Almost half the world—over 3 billion people—live on less than $2.50 a day.
  • Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
  • 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world).
  • Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 percent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers. (p. 1)

The international portrait of poverty described above is not a positive one. Poverty statistics in the United States are also disconcerting: 15.1% of Americans lived in poverty in 2010 (National Poverty Center, 2015). Poverty rates disproportionally affect women and young children.

The issue of socioeconomics in schools is a complicated one. On one hand, the U.S. mandates schooling for all students regardless of socioeconomic status. On the other hand, schools in wealthier areas typically have access to better materials, better qualified teachers, and generally more funding than schools in poorer areas. Lori Langer de Ramirez (2005) states, “While no two schools can be termed ‘equal,’ this disparity leads one to question whether the education that students receive in different schools is equitable” (p. 10).

Recently, it has been determined that “for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data” (Layton, 2015, para. 1). This has startling consequences for what it means to support students, schools, and communities in achieving educational excellence.

References

de Ramirez, L. L. (2005). Voices of diversity: Stories, activities, and resources for the multicultural classroom.Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice Hall.

Layton, L. (2015, January 16). Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/majo…

National Poverty Center. (2015). Poverty in the United States: Frequently asked questions.
Retrieved from www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/

Shah, A. (2014). Causes of poverty. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-pove…

Weekly Objectives

Through participation in the following activities, the candidate will:

  • Describe the way issues of equality can impact the learning environment. (3l, 9i)
    • Simulating Poverty
    • Socioeconomic Status in the Classroom
  • Identify aspects of student learning diversity that may impact the learning process and develop strategies for collaborating with students and families as appropriate. (3a)
    • Simulating Poverty
    • Socioeconomic Status in the Classroom

Heads Up

In Week 5, you will submit a 7- to 9-page advocacy action plan for supporting students in the classroom and building community. This assignment will take quite a bit of time to develop. Begin thinking about this now

Required Studies

The following materials are required studies for this week. Complete these studies at the beginning of the week, and save these materials for future use. Full references for these materials are listed in the Required Course Materials section of the syllabus.

Excellence Through Equity (Blankstein, Noguera, & Kelly, 2016)
  • Select one chapter to read—chapter 3, 4, or 5—based on which is more appealing to you in terms of focus and topic. You will use this reading for the assignment due Saturday.
  • Chapter 3: Building a School of Opportunity Begins With Detracking (Burris, 2015, pp. 59-72)
  • Chapter 4: The Voices and Hearts of Youth: Transformative Power of Equity in Action (Harper, 2015, pp. 73-96)
  • Chapter 5: Empowering Students and Teachers Through Performance-Based Assessment (Barlowe & Cook, 2015, pp. 97-122)
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