Essay on Poverty in Gwinnett County, Georgia

Poverty is everywhere in this world especially in education. Poverty in education could come from the location of the school, the child’s home life, how the students feel about school and in many other ways. Poverty comes in all shapes and forms, “An appalling number of American Children live in poverty. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 14.7 million, or nearly 20 percent of children under age 18, live below the poverty line” (When Poverty…). The kids/students bring those debilitating effect with them to school every day.

Assuaging poverty is one of the gist missions of the Harlem Children’s Zone. In the United States today, exceeding “13 million” children live in poverty. We understand that children, who experience the backlash of poverty, often live in an unpleasantly conditions, unstable homes, and are at a great distance less likely than other children to get a favorable education and/or sufficient health care. The exposure to life of poverty more often limits learning abilities; bringing about the inability of getting the best jobs and earning maximum income, making it impossible for them to live up to their full potential, which will more like result in imprisonment.

When talking even more specifically about the make-up of poverty, race is another factor that plays a role in who we see in poverty. “Black children have been exposed to a greater risk of poverty in year one of childhood than white children will have been exposed to after 17 years of childhood” (Rank and Hershel 1999). Students of color and more specifically, black students are disadvantaged because of their higher risk of living in poverty. Students in poverty face the reality that the lack of funding leads to a lack of resources or opportunities at school and at home. Connell (1994) argues that the lack of resources is a valid concern for students and directly

A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne builds a model for combating poverty by tackling it at the earliest level of perpetuation-in schools. Schools, Payne advocates, should be the first line of defense against encroaching poverty and also the most effective weapon to beat it back. Unlike most economic tools, schools should be fine-tuned and deployed according to strict frameworks. Payne identifies two types of poverty and list eight resources which makes one a candidate. The thrust is thus primarily on how to deal with poverty in schools and how to equip the students with tools and education

(Wagstaff 2002, p.97). Students may be socio-economically disadvantaged and the teachers must remember that poverty is in no way a deficit; merely that they may not have the same level of resources or exposure to educational experiences as more advantaged students (Groundwater-Smith,S., Le Cornu, R. & Ewing, R

Osceola County was created in 1887. Under state law, the County Commission is responsible for funding the budgets of all Osceola County Government. As the “gateway” to Disneyworld, Osceola County had a population, based on the April 2010, U.S. Census Bureau of 268,685. According to the CAFR for 2014, the population is 295,553 (Appendix Table 11) with an additional 7.1 million visitors annually, and the total property value is 18,197,033. According to an Osceola County July 21, 2015, News Release for the FY2016 Budget, the “county is experiencing many positive signs that the economy is continuing to recover as property valuations increased by 7.54 percent.”

“The socioeconomic achievement gap in education refers to the inequality in academic achievement between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures” (Ansell, 2017). Typically, when discussing the achievement gap, educators are comparing the academic progress of African-American students or Hispanic students to the progress of white students. More-often-than-not the white students will have more educational achievements than their non-white colleagues (Ansell, 2017). The most widely accepted theory as to why students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) do better academically is high parental involvement, access to economic resources and access to highly qualified teachers (Huang, 2015. Pg.6). Students of low socioeconomic status often live in poverty. This means that the student may not have sufficient school supplies or even someone at home to help him with his homework. There are numerous children in the United States’ school systems that are failing due to the achievement gap. These students are at a disadvantage because the school systems and teachers do not notice or even care about their home life and how it comes into play in their education. It is important for our nation to not only understand the achievement gap but take steps toward correcting it.

Based off the most recent government data collected, 45.3 million people are impoverished in America.(Source: Feeding America Blog). In Georgia specifically, according to a Creative Loafing article, 1.8 million adults and children live in poverty and the numbers are seemingly on the rise despite a somewhat slow recovery in Georgia's economy. The cause of poverty can consist of many factors including the economy itself, lack of education and self responsibility.

Lack of money, health insurance, and other poverty related issues have also led to lower academic performance among children in poverty. In David Berliner’s Letter to The President, he explains how “medical problems are harming student learning in our schools” (252). Since poor children may not have health insurance, or their families may not have the funds to see a doctor, poorer children miss more school due to illness. Also, more children in poverty come from single parent homes, which leaves numerous children on their own after school. In fact, “three fourths of all single mothers are in the labor force” which means there happens to be usually nobody at home to assist poor children with their homework, or help them study for tests

Concentrated disadvantage is described as an indicator that is depicting the poverty in a specific area or region. I chose the city of Atlanta because I have lived near Atlanta all my life. I would occasionally travel to the city to watch the Atlanta Hawks play. On the way home from the games I would notice the numbers of people on the side of the streets that were sleeping or asking for money. I never understood the whole concept of why such things were happening in this part of town. I did not know why I never saw people like that when I was around my house, and I only saw them when I was in Atlanta. When I first enrolled in this class, I was excited that I was going to be able to learn how and why all of these patterns exist. Through the main source of my paper “Social Explorer,” I was able to attain the knowledge to understand the patterns of the inner city and why there was so much poverty.

Concentrated disadvantage is characterized as an indicator depicting the poverty in a specific area or region. I chose the city of Atlanta because I have lived near Atlanta my whole life. I occasionally traveled to Atlanta to watch the Hawks play basketball. On the way home from the games, I would notice the numbers of people that stood on the side of the streets sleeping or asking for money. I never understood the whole concept of why such things happened in this part of town. At no time did I see people in the street begging near my house. Why did I only see them in Atlanta? When I first enrolled in this class, I was excited to learn what causes these patterns and why these patterns exist. Through the main source of my paper “Social

Atlanta is the capital and largest city in Georgia, with a population of 472,522, and one of the fastest growing major cities in the United States.1 Originally, known as a railroad settlement, it was founded in 1837 as the end of the Western & Atlantic railroad line (the name changed from Marthasville to Terminus, to finally Atlanta, the feminine of Atlantic).16 In 1861, became one of the 11 states seceding from the Union over the issue of slavery.17 It was also the home front during the Civil War and a major producer of war materials, and the regional transportation and distribution center.17 Post-war, due to railroads, Atlanta continued to economically grow and diversify, along with its population.17 A large number of African-Americans were

An important issue of local importance to me is poverty. Many people in Cobb county are living under the poverty line, and because of their financial position they have less access to medical care, daily meals, and a proper

The data charts above indicate that students identified as living in poverty display a pattern of lower achievement scores at Brindlee Mountain Middle when compared to classmates not considered as living in poverty. However, the gap in achievement between poverty and non-poverty students is not substantial enough to be identified as the source of the achievement gap at Brindlee Mountain Middle School.

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, but yet poverty remains prevalent. Childhood poverty affects every aspect of their life. “Poverty is not having income for basic needs, food, medical care or basic needs and housing” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is affecting thousands of Americans every day, and it isn 't sparing anyone of a particular race, age or gender, leaving people on welfare, and without homes, or transportation. Poverty is a crisis that deserves attention from everyone, and it has many faces that are often not recognized