Working with Low SES Students

1. Working with Low SES Students Information for K-12 Staff Emily Warren

2. DISCLAIMER • Two types of poverty • Generational vs. Situational • Financial Crisis • Research • Don’t make assumptions!

3. Definition of Low SES • SES is often measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation. • It is commonly conceptualized as the social standing or class of an individual or group. • When viewed through a social class lens, privilege, power, and control are emphasized. • Furthermore, an examination of SES as a gradient or continuous variable reveals inequities in access to and distribution of resources. • SES is relevant to all realms of behavioral and social science, including research, practice, education, and advocacy.

4. Definition of Poverty • The extent to which an individual does without resources • FINANCIAL: having the money to purchase goods and services • EMOTIONAL: being able to choose and control responses (demonstrated through stamina, perseverance and choices) • MENTAL: Having the mental abilities and acquired skills to deal with daily life

5. Definition con’t • SPIRITUAL: believing in a divine purpose and guidance • PHYSICAL: having physical health and mobility • SUPPORT SYSTEMS: Having friends, family and backup resources in times of need • RELATIONSHIPS/ROLE MODELS: Having frequent access to adults who are appropriate, nurturing, and do not engage in self-destructive behaviors

6. Federal Poverty Line • The poverty guidelines are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services. • The guidelines are used for setting eligibility criteria for a number of federal programs (%) • Programs that use FPL: • Head Start • Children's Health Insurance Program • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) • Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) • the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs • USDA Summer Lunch • Job Corps

7. 2012 Poverty Guidelines for the48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia • For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $3960 for each additional person

8. Facts • More than one in five children in the United States (15.75 million) lived in poverty in 2010. • 1 out of 4 infants & toddlers are living in poverty • More than 1.1 million children were added to the poverty population between the 2009 ACS and the 2010 ACS. • Ten states had child poverty rates estimated at 25.0 percent or higher

9. Facts • In 2007, children under 5 living with a single mother experienced a 53.7% poverty rate, more than 5 times the rate for children in married couple families • Low SES urban youth are seven times more likely to be the victims of child abuse or neglect than a child of high SES • The United States’ child poverty rate is substantially higher than that of most other major Western industrialized nations

10. Demographics

11. Charlottesville and Virginia • www.albemarle.org/upload/images/forms.../Price_of_Poverty.pps

12. Communication Style • Three aspects of language: • Register • Frozen, Formal*, Consultative, Casual*, Intimate • Schools use the formal register • Discourse patterns • Formal: straight to the point • Casual: around and around • Primary vs. Secondary discourse • Ramifications: acquisition vs, direct-teach

13. Communication Style • Story structure • Formal-Register story structure • Beginning- middle- end • Casual-Register story structure • end or greatest emotional intensity first, then told in vignettes with audience participation in between • Because there is a direct link between achievement and language, it must be addressed • Counselors should encourage teachers not to punish the use of the casual register, instead use them as teaching moments for the formal register

14. Characteristics • Background noise • Importance of personality • Significance of entertainment • Importance of relationships • Matriarchal structure • Oral-language tradition • Survival orientation • Importance of nonverbal comm. • Polarized thinking • Time • Humor

15. How these characteristics can surface at school • Disorganization • Like to entertain • Laugh when they are disciplined • Decide whether or not they will work in class based on whether or not they like the teacher • Talk back and are extremely participatory

16. Children and Adolescents living in poverty are more likely to: • experience developmental delay and damage • drop out of high school • give birth during the teen years • be in single-parent families • suffer from a poorer home environment • have less direction towards social attainment • have less cognitive stimulation • have poorer health • have worse child care • experience a less consistent and less warm parenting style

17. Academic Achievement • Students from poor families are at disproportionately high risk for dropout. • The dropout rate is ten times the rate among students from higher income families • Students who participate in the free and reduced price lunch program are likely to perform poorly in reading and math • They are likely to receive low scores on standardized tests and report low overall GPA • The proposed explanations for this disparity include stressors that students experience in their homes, schools, and communities that result from a lack of resources

18. Academic Achievement • Low SES students are less likely to earn a degree from a four-year institution. • Students from families with low-income or with parents who did not have a bachelor’s degree were more likely to drop out of college • Higher college dropout rates among low SES students being related their disproportionately low enrollment in selective institutions.

19. Homelessness • 1 in 45 Children in the U.S. are homeless • Over 1/3rd of the homeless population is now made up with families • 22% of homeless children are separated from their families • 90% moved within a single year • Homeless children are sick four times more often than other children • Hungry at twice the rate of other kids • More likely to have emotional problems, developmental delays, learning disabilities

20. Homelessness

21. An Education Framework for working with Homeless Children • Develop awareness • Attend to basic needs • Provide effective instruction • Create supportive environment • Provide additional supports • Collaborate with other organizations • Promote parental involvement

22. Community Resources • WIC, SNAP, National School Lunch, HeadStart • Collaborate with community organizations including nonprofits, faith-based institutions and public resources such as libraries. • http://www.211virginia.org/

23. Tips for Educators • Providing school supplies • Being knowledgeable of resources in the area • Early/Late Parent Meetings • Phone vs. email or letters • Providing childcare for any meetings • Offering culturally relevant interventions • Utilizing unbiased assessments • Be aware of technology limitations

24. Counseling • Psychoeducational groups on resiliency • Life skills guidance or groups • Specific issues related to teen pregnancy, physical abuse, violence, or substance abuse • Advocacy • High School

25. Books for School Counselors

26. Resources American Psychological Association. (2012). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-education.aspx Albemarle County. (2012). The Price of Poverty [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from www.albemarle.org/upload/images/forms_center/.../Price_of_Poverty.pps FILES: 2006-2010. American Community Survey. United States/prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2011. Hopson, L. and Lee, E. (2011). Mitigating the effect of family poverty on academic and behavioral outcomes: the role of school climate in middle and high school. Child and Youth Services Review, 22. 2221–2229. Levine, Stephen Z. (2011) Elaboration on the association between IQ and parental SES with subsequent crime. Personality and Individual Differences, 50. 1233–1237. Murphy, J. and Tobin, K. (2011). Homelessness comes to school. Kappan Magazine, 93(3). 32-37. Murry, V., Berkel, C., Gaylord-Harden, N., Copeland-Linder, N., & Nation, M. (2011). Neighborhood poverty and adolescent development. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1), 114 – 128. Payne, Ruby. (2005). A Framework for Understanding Poverty (4th ed.). Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc.