Comments on: Poverty and Education – The Challenge of Improving Schools

By: Hillary

Hillary — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:57:21 +0000

I was moved not only by the fortitude and perseverance of Tiberious, but also by the commitment and resolve of the teachers and counselors. Teacher’s roles are forever changing. School funds are in remission while the duties of educators are constantly expanding. I hope and pray that the shelters are a warm and caring place where one can, for a brief moment of time, lay their heads–not in shame, but with the unwavering belief that this too shall pass and a brighter day will be on the horizon.

By: Faye Allen

Faye Allen — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:41:03 +0000

I am glad the schools are there to help in these economic times. It’s very difficult to teach a child who is worried about surviving. Any stability that they receive helps. Although schools are being pushed with school improvement, it’s hard to put test scores, attendance and the such before the basic needs.
I wish the “church” would take a more active role.

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:33:25 +0000

It has long been known that poverty and school failure are related but that relationship is not cast in concrete. Until we get rid of poverty we must teach the child despite poverty. How to do it? Teach the child in a variety of ways: direct instruction, experiences, listening, looking, touching and analyzing. Encourage the child in ways that convey that even if he hasn’t learned it yet he will with effort from himself and the teacher. Constantly point out to the child what has been learned so far and this predicts that he can learn more. Remember the nature of the child, that is, allow children to run and play between intense times of teaching and learning. Child and teacher should know what the learning goals are; Instead of telling students they are failures, teachers should reteach and students should have opportunity to study more and demonstrate their improvement. Sound too simplistic? Not so, many teachers do just this if their bureaucracies allow it.

By: Vickie

Vickie — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:00:36 +0000

This school seems really on top of their homeless situation. The teachers and the school officials really care about the students. With our economic situation as it is today, I expect that it will be tougher on the teachers and the school officials.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:29:27 +0000

god BLESS YA

By: Kristin

Kristin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:22:50 +0000

Great post! I linked this to a posting I made for a graduate class assignment.

By: Valarie

Valarie — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:00:45 +0000

Wow! What a wonderful article. I experience these situations everyday. I teach 2nd grade in a Title 1 school in Tennessee. My students have their own stories and it’s sad. How can we expect a child to score well on a test when he/she just saw daddy hit mamma before he/she came to school? This is what I deal with. I am judged based on my scores and it isn’t right and it doesn’t accurately portray my performance or my students’. I taught a 4th grade inclusion class a few years ago. I had a student who struggled with reading but was very good at math. He had social issues as well; he would not look you in the eye when you spoke with him. I assigned everyone a partner one day to work on math. I walked by this student and his partner. His partner said,”I didn’t understand this until [my student] explained it to me! He is so smart!” My student’s face lit up and I saw something in him that day that I will never forget. He made so many strides that year that you would not see by looking at his test scores!

By: Laurence Peters

Laurence Peters — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:29:02 +0000

I believe PBS is among the few media outlets that looks at the connections between economic and social ills. This PBS piece is important because it shows the recession’s real victims–young people.
The stress factors on children cannot be routinely ignored. How about a chid stress factor index–it would be a mix between
unemployment rate, homeless numbers, cost of living, increase of child abuse etc.

By: PB

PB — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:58:56 +0000

Excellent post. The video was very poignant and its true, schools are more than just standardized test scores, and try as we might, there are factors beyond us that we cannot control… although with children like Tiberius I wish we could.

By: mikky

mikky — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:32:11 +0000

Improving education entails improving the living conditions of students.
Nice post I agree that problems