Often the performance of low-income students is overlooked or attributed to a lack of skills or talents. This “fixed” mindset about education and achievement is ultimately detrimental to student growth and development. When people act as though they have a fixed mindset or theory of learning, they act as if they only have the capacity to learn a set amount and no more. They seem to think there is a fixed ceiling above which they cannot go. However, when they act as with a growth mindset, they seem to consider that the more effort they put in, the more their learning will grow and develop.
This literature review attempts to unpack the complexities of low-income student growth and achievement trends. With a clearer understanding of how low-income
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This means that you can hear the sounds of the words and convert them into letters on a page and see letters on a page and convert them into something you can hear (Jensen, 2016). Phonological processing deficits are second most common among impoverished students, next to working class memory, as this population of students tend to have poor auditory memory processing skills which leads to poor listening skills and classroom behavior (Noble, Wolmetz, Ochs, Farah, & McCandliss, 2006) as students have trouble processing sounds and words in real time. Most frequently, this leads to frustration, vocabulary difficulties, and low self-esteem. A lack of books and parent reading at home can also prohibit reading fluency and motivation (Jensen, 2016).
Less Emotional Support
Poverty raises the odds for poor social adjustment of children, as well as behavioral problems, in part due to the fact that there is less caregiver role modeling and constant aforementioned stressors (Garner, 1996). Children from poverty are more likely to have just one parent at home, and that parent often works long hours, spending crucial hours of emotional development away from the home (Jenson, 2016). The connection between emotion and cognition is incredibly strong:
“When we educators fail to appreciate the importance of students’ emotions, we fail to appreciate a critical force in students’ learning. One could argue, in fact, that we fail to appreciate the very reason that students learn at all. (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007, p.
Carol S. Dweck's article “Brainology – Transforming Student's Motivation to Learn” offers insights about student's mentality at school and why some students are better off than others. The article claims directly that students generally have two mindsets when it comes to learning; one is “fixed mindset,” a negative trait, and the other is “growth mindset,” a positive trait. Both of these traits contradict each other in terms of meaning. These two mindsets impact students on whether or not they will be successful on their academic road. In “Brainology – Transforming Student's Motivation to Learn,” Dweck explains how these two traits influence the outcome of having one of these two mindsets through
Basically, individuals with a fixed mindset often feel measured by a failure, sometimes permanently. Unfortunately, failed attempts are viewed as a label rather than an opportunity to plan a new path of succes. On the other hand, an individual with a growth mindset views a failed attempt as an opportunity to take action, to confront obstacles, to keep up with their schoolwork, and/or to better manage and organize their time. Growth mindset individuals believe that qualities can be developed, expanded, and eventually result in a successful outcome. A second lesson learned is the power of labels and the stereotype of ability; this lesson is undoubtedly one of the most enlightening. Dweck discovered in one of her studies that, “... ability praise often pushed students right into a fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it too. When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn’t want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent” (72). One’s mindset determines their reaction to labels and stereotypes. An individual with a fixed mindset will settle for a positive label and chose stagnation and permanent inferiority rather than risk losing the label; whereas,
Poverty is on the rise all around the world especially across the United States. This is a problem that is affecting many aspects of life for both the victim and the people around them. Students living in poverty have to tolerate many unfortunate circumstances on a daily basis which can have a significant effect on their growth, development, and educational experience. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds can still have the same success as the average student, but it takes a little extra effort and a leap of faith. Although it may be challenging for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to achieve success in school and the real world, it is not impossible.
Low-income students are up to 30 percent less likely to attend college than their higher income peers (Goodman, 2010). With some states increasing the amount of merit-based aid while decreasing the amount of need-based aid, additional research is needed to determine the effects on low-income student enrollment in those states (Zhang & Ness, 2010). Effective strategies for increasing the number of college-educated individuals must improve academic preparation, access to higher education, and persistence in college among the population least likely to attain that education, i.e., low-income students (Alon, 2011).
Australian higher education establishments aim to enhance the learning experiences of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The goal is to increase access to and participation of all groups in the community.
In my last paper, I discussed the achievement gaps within the low-income African American community at Steele School in Galesburg, IL. Now that I have looked into the history of low-income African American students, I am now going to research even more by exploring trends, issues, evidence-based remediation practices, the preferred learning styles and the identified achievement gap of low-income African American students. Through the chart I am going to display, this will show various ways that low-income African American students are struggling at Steele School. However, I am hoping with the information below I can use this to display to others how certain multicultural education, learning styles, and culturally responsive teaching can enhance learning environments for all underachieving students.
Poverty leads to insufficient opportunities, especially in college education. For instance, according to U.S. Department of Education, students who do not enter college or drop out of their classes are “predominantly persons from low-income families.” In support of this argument, the article states that “only 21 percent of those with family income of less than $25,000 were highly qualified for admission at a four-year institution” compared to the 56 percent of students with family income above $75,000. Therefore, students with bad economic conditions struggle with attending university even after entering it. The problem is that the African Americans race gets the harshest disadvantage from their poor economic conditions. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services publishes that almost 40 percent of African Americans under 18 are below the national poverty line, which is three-times higher than their white counterparts. This explicitly proves that unequal economic conditions are the main reason for inequality in education; African Americans are the most disadvantaged. Furthermore, the correlation between poor economic conditions and a lack of education among African Americans creates a chain of inequality. The poor economic backgrounds of African Americans obstruct their children from attending colleges and subsequently, the lack of higher education makes
The achievement gap that exists in my school is a socioeconomic one (J. Perkins, personal communication, October 24, 2016). Data for Woodville High School shows an achievement gap for low-income students (J. Perkins, personal communication, October 24, 2016). Additionally, this achievement gap is wider for low-income, first-generation students. ACT Aspire Reading data shows that only 25% of students at the poverty level met or exceeded the content standards. ACT Aspire Math data shows that only 21% of students at the poverty level met or exceeded content standards. The total minority population of the school is 6%, and the largest minority group is Native American (Cherokee). Based on the available data, the target population to combat the achievement gap is the high poverty students. 64% of the school’s total student population is considered economically disadvantaged (Woodville High School). These students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The latest data show that there is a 20.4% gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students in math and reading (Woodville High School).
Students from low-income and first generation backgrounds often struggle in different academic subjects. Subsequently, students have lower expectations for themselves when it comes to academic achievement. The majority of first generation students come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Seeing that, families work countless hours in factories and other places where they are underpaid because of the lack of educational opportunity they experienced themselves. According to Blackwell and Pinder (2014) in the United States higher education is becoming the outlet to different avenues of opportunity whether it is through social mobility or economic progress. While screening out possible topics of interest for a research proposal, one of the challenges I encountered in my field experience was the lack of college access education and funding for the families in the urban high schools. The first generation student family typically is unaware of the college process because the student’s parents have not attended an institution of higher education. Therefore, the students cannot count on their knowledge of the process. Eventually, when students reach the financial aid process it becomes difficult because parents usually cannot afford full tuition expenses and at the same time do not understand the process. In these situations, schools with a college going culture can prepare staff to provide extra support to students by developing professional training in college access, mentorship
The issue that surrounds low-income students and college success is that the rich kids are holding them back. The students who have low income are not graduating at the rate of the rich kids who can afford school. The rich kids tend to get a better knowledge in school because of their money. The poor students are not given the equal education as the rich, so the poor is really not prepared for the next step. Some of these low income students who work hard and do well in high school sometimes make it in college. Low- income students should be given the right to graduate at a higher rate, it will give the poor a boost to continue to work hard and make it to college.
Although educational programs have been introduced to address the achievement gap in low-income and urban communities, the educational outputs of these areas remain below the national average (Tierney & Jun, 2001; Ng, Wendell & Lombardi, 2012). For example, the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree in Camden city
I’m going to tell you how student learn these mindsets. In the 90s parents thought the most important thing that you child should have was self-esteem. But were they messed up is that you cant just hand your kids self-esteem. They took a poll among parents and found that 85% of parents thought that it was necessary to “praise” their children’s abilities to boost confidence. Now were going to talk about growth mindset. These students believe that intelligence is something that can be gained through education and effort. I wish in high school that I would of taken it more serious because now I could have had a growth mindset witch would of helped me out a lot in college. Those students have growth mindsets. They believe that you can gain intelligence through learning. Those with a growth mindset had a very straightforward idea of effort. The idea that the harder you work the greater the outcome is and I think that’s true. When these students had a set back in school they simply just study more or differently next time. That was my biggest set back in high school. Many bright students find grade school fairly easy and get right through it. But later on in life like in college they struggle. They don’t want to put the time into something and feel dumb when they get a bad grade on it. That’s bad because you should never feel dumb about something that you tried your hardest to complete. I hope that this information was helpful
The problem in many low-income schools today is discipline. It is not always that students are the cause the problem, but the surrounding environment. When the environment outside the school is violent, disadvantaged, and/or impoverished the coping mechanisms of the residents are not always good. Every so often these coping mechanisms make their way into the schools system. Many times teachers are not trained on how to deal with these issues. They also do not feel supported by their school administration. Low-income schools teacher turnover rate tends to be high and increases through the years. In many of these low income schools parental involvement is low and safety concerns are often high. Teachers are frequently left to look for resources
If the education system relies most of their funding from taxes, where do they end up getting the rest of the money. The government and administration grant more money to wealthier areas than low -income areas. Wealthier communities are granted more money because they have a higher percentage of funding coming from property taxes. This leaves the low-income students at a disadvantage. People living in low income areas mainly rent and don’t own their own property. As a result of not having a house or owning property, they have little property taxes. If low -income students are not given enough money for funding a school, the students are suffering. With the lack of money causes students to miss out on college prep classes such as AP classes and Honors classes. These classes are pivotal to the students that want to pursue higher education and a road to success. For example students in the low-income areas are given a poor education. They are not given the resources, or quality teachers in order to achieve success. According to George Miller House Education and the Workforce committee, many students are not educationally ready to graduate and attend higher education (Minority 1). This is another reason why low income students should be provided the same classes as a middle class or a wealthier community. In a study, 2 million students in 7,300 schools had no access to all calculus classes, a staple in many high – achieving high schools (Minority 2). Low-income
Economic circumstances has an influence on multiple areas that affect infant development. Income related difference in parenting appear early in the infants life; for instance, on average low income mothers are less affeffectionate, less responsive to infants’ distress signals, and they are more likely to have harsh parenting styles. Children from a low income have fewer stimulating experiences and learning materials than children from higher income households. This leads to apparent differences that during the first years and often last into adulthood. One of those differences are that the children from low income are more likely to have increased behavioral problems and lower cognitive scores. Furthermore, children from a high income family usually experience psychological stress because the parents pressure the child to overachieve. The financial situation can also affect if the infant is able to get the nutrition intake that is needed, and if the infant is unable to get the right nutrition that will lead to other areas of development being affected.Financial situations