Last week I had my first blog published on Huffington Post. The open forum in the Huffington Post comment sections has already been a great writing and learning experience, and I look forward to engaging with more opinionated readers.

My latest article explores why low-income students are often less likely to receive a quality K-12 education, graduate from high school, and enter college with college-level skills. Over the next few weeks I’m going to continue the conversation by sharing how low-income students can find learning opportunities outside of school to improve their personal, academic, and professional achievement as well as share some stories of  people I know personally who have overcome poverty.

You can read and comment on my blog “Why Aren’t Low-Income Students Succeeding in School?”  at the Huffington Post.

“We cannot rest until each of us would be satisfied with randomly assigning our own children to any public school in the nation.” 

-  Jason Kamras

Children from low-income families tend to fall behind their more affluent peers in every stage of life. They are less likely to be prepared to enter school at age 5, achieve academic and social competencies by the end of elementary schools graduate from high school with good grades, no crime involvement, or teen pregnancy, or achievement equivalent income in their twenties.[i] 

 

Look at all the cognitive elements in the reading comprehension framework and it becomes obvious why students who have minimal access to books and spoken language in the home fall behind. An exposure to language is how students learn to form sentences, understand new words and build vocabulary, and comprehend what is being spoken or read. Without a book or someone to share a book with, a child doesn’t get experience deciphering new words, understanding phonemes, and structuring language.

Though putting a book on a bookcase, understanding that a book is read from left to right, or chewing on a book are deceptively simple steps down the road to literacy when compared to the complexity of reading comprehension skills, literacy is rarely achieved in households that don’t have access to literature. In fact, reading aloud is known to be the most important activity that leads to literacy and determines a student’s reading success through the rest of their life.[ii]

Parent involvement is critical in early childhood development. Before the first school bell rings, 90 percent of brain development has occurred between birth and age 5.[iii] It’s no wonder why children in poverty, who hear as many as 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers before the age of 4, are kept at a perpetual academic disadvantage. [iv]

According to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, their research shows 37 percent of children entering kindergarten are not prepared with the skills they need to learn. Research also shows that an academic setback in kindergarten makes it very difficult for students to ever catch up.[v] The quality of a student’s early childhood education is strongly correlated with their high school success.

Email me at caroljcarter@lifebound.com if you are interested in learning more about how you can bring summer learning to your community.

For low-income kids, the oncoming summer vacation can bring forth different feelings than it does for privileged students. Due to a lack of accessibility, availability, and financial resources, low-income students often don’t have equal summer learning opportunities as privileged students, which contributes to increased summer learning losses and puts them at a disadvantage at the start of each new school year. Some of these students care for younger siblings all summer. Others play the role of parent to parents who may struggle with addiction or other issues. Others are in foster families or are raised by a grandparent because their parents are in prison or not fit to raise them.

This year, teen unemployment rates are soaring between 23.2 – 23.8 percent ¹, which may prove to be even more problematic for low-income teens looking to work more hours to contribute to the family, make money for the upcoming school year, or to simply keep busy and off the street.

Many communities offer a number of ways for students to learn and grow this summer.  In some cities, like Denver, La Casa/Quigg Newton Medical Facility is promoting reading by distributing LifeBound books to parents and students who are their patients.  Many of these Spanish speaking patients are encouraged to read with their kids, improving both their English language skills and their overall literacy. Public libraries are reinventing themselves as well. The Omaha Public Library is running a youth program for more than 1700 students including some programs for parents. Housing Projects, which have been hit hard by a dip in federal funds for GED, computer skills, and financial literacy classes, are discovering new ways to promote reading and learning.

Beyond these initiatives, parents, and students can use the following ideas to make a summer activity schedule. Educators who work in low-income area can use the following ideas to generate a specific list of things to do in their students’ area during the summer months that keep them active, learning, and growing in diverse and challenging ways:

Education in the arts can do more than boost a student’s creativity. A new report by the National Endowment for the Arts shows high school students who had “arts-rich experiences” had a higher overall GPA than students who weren’t involved in the arts. The report also found disadvantaged high school students involved in the arts were more likely to enroll in competitive colleges than their peers who weren’t involved, according to the article “Arts Involvement Narrows Student Achievement Gap.“

Art education has shown to make a positive impact on student success, but it runs counter to the belief that testing and more rigorous programs aimed at raising math and reading scores is the answer to higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates. How does art  make students a better at solving math problems or reading a book? For one, students are engaged by these creative activities, making them more likely to attend and participate in class. A music, theater, dance, or visual arts class might be the only motivation a student has to come to school on any given day and increases the odds they will make it to their academic classes as well.

For some at-risk students, their involvement in the arts might be the first thing they’ve excelled at and been encouraged to pursue. When students find their niche, they might be more motivated to continue down the path of success and translate the hard work and payoff they’ve seen in action to their other studies. It’s not the mastery of brushstrokes or pirouettes that will help students become better readers and mathematicians; it’s the confidence they gain through experimentation and play that lets them know they can succeed.

However, schools are facing hard financial times and many are required to cut programs, and the first classes to go are often art classes. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education found that fewer public elementary schools are offering visual arts, dance, and drama classes than they were 10 years ago, which is believed to be due to an increase in programs aimed at improving math and reading scores. It’s not a surprise that student populations that qualify for free or reduced lunch — and benefit most from arts programs — are getting hit the hardest.

Student success starts early. The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading has the mission to close the achievement gap by having all low-income students reading at grade-level by third grade. What would happen if more initiatives were focused on giving students the tools to succeed throughout their development, instead of focusing all their efforts on reversing damage already done? We can’t afford to wait until high school to expose at-risk students to the arts, sports, or community participation that exposes them to the real-world and that might give them the first taste of intrinsic motivation.

LifeBound offers books and curricula that follow a stairstep developmental path for students in fifth through twelfth grade that teach social, emotional, and academic skills for success in school, career, and life. We are also passionate about closing the achievement gap and believe a summer reading program can make a world of difference in the lives of at-risk and impoverished students. Ask us about our book donation program for summer reading in the comments or email us at contact@lifebound.com.

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Sources:

“Arts Involvement Narrows Student Achievement Gap,” by Tom Jacobs. 29 March 2012. Miller-McClune. Accessed on 3 April 2012.  http://www.miller-mccune.com/education/arts-involvement-narrows-student-achievement-gap-40745/

“Report: Fewer Elementary Schools Offering Visual Arts, Drama, Dance; Poor Students Hurt Most,” by Christine Armario. 2 April 2012. Star Tribune. Accessed on 3 April 2012. http://www.startribune.com/nation/145804075.html

Spring break is coming to an end and that’s a sure sign summer vacation will be here before we know it. When students go on summer vacation it is important for them to be mentally challenged. Why?  Students who aren’t engaged in learning activities don’t  retain information learned during the school year and often start the following year behind their counterparts who do grow their brains in the summer.

“All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer,” according to the National Summer Learning Association. Low-income students who aren’t engaged in summer activities typically lose more than two months in reading achievement over the summer.

This summer, as an educator or parent, how can you influence students to adopt a reading culture at home? If you teach, consider sending home a reading list to all your students or lend books from your personal classroom library. As a parent, what can you do to ensure your child has access to books over the summer, or reading groups around popular topics, or writing workshops where they can reflect on what they’ve read? You can take weekly trips to the library where they can check out a bag of books, even those they aren’t sure about. You can also start a book exchange in your neighborhood.

Recently, the Common Core Standards for English/language arts has been adopted by all but four states and requires educators to teach how to read non-fiction literature, as well as fiction. Students might not consider picking up a book about castles, how to bake a pie, or build a watch, but reading informational texts can give them a more fully developed repertoire of reading. Learning how to read informational texts is important for students because it exercises different reading skills. Fiction usually has a beginning, middle, and end, a plot, characters, dialogue, and themes. Nonfiction doesn’t provide the same structure for readers as fiction does, and requires practice — just as everything else does — in order to master it. This summer, you can help younger kids hone these non-fiction reading skills by finding a science blog for kids online or subscribe older kids to magazines like Smithsonian or National Geographic.

How can you personally help promote literacy this summer and fight summer learning losses? At LifeBound, we believe summer reading can change lives. If you work with disadvantaged or impoverished students, ask us about our book donation program for summer reading in the comments or email us at contact@lifebound.com.

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Sources:

“Districts Gear Up for Shift to Informational Texts,” by Catherine Gewertz. 14 March 2012. Education Week. Accessed on 30 March 2012. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/14/24informational_ep.h31.html?tkn=VUCFGGxCVWko01hd60UOyi5jZLLaUFRJvVt6&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

The National Summer Learning Association - http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=know_the_facts

One-quarter of high school students drop out every year. Of the students who do graduate, two-fifths leave underprepared for college or career and fifty-seven percent leave not having mastered remedial math, according to a recent Fast Company article.  These statistics are tragic, but anymore, they aren’t shocking. Today, there is a fight for better institutions, educators, leaders, technology, funding, parents, and students. The article goes on to share some statistics that show why the fight is more important than ever.

According to the National Science Foundation, it’s predicted that 80% of the jobs created over the next decade will demand mastery of technology, math, or science. To put this growth in perspective, consider how technology has taken over in the past 10 years. Have you been to a job interview where your computational skills were below what the position required? Over the past 10 years,  the amount of STEM jobs has grown three times greater than non-STEM jobs…and it’s not stopping.

Making STEM education available to students to prepare them for the jobs of the future is easier said than done. Low-income students in Florida are facing a problem that might never cross the minds of their more affluent peers. The students have personal devices, like smartphones, and the school has provided each student with an e-Reader. The problem is that they can’t afford Internet access to use their devices, according to the recent article “Many Low-Income Students Struggle with Lack of Internet at Home,”

Students in California recently raised money to travel to San Francisco and stand up for their technological rights at the Digital Media and Learning conference. In a Mind/Shift article, Tina Barseghian writes, the students made it clear to their listeners: “We demand access to the same technology that privileged students have in order to survive in the working world, to compete in any meaningful way, and to amplify our voices.”

For many school districts, providing outdated or limited technology is not a choice; it’s a result of not having the funding to improve their programs. For many corporations afraid of an innovation crisis, the outdated STEM education students are getting isn’t going to cut it in when today’s students become tomorrow’s workforce. That’s why corporations like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Target, AT&T, and more are making an investment in their future by donating any where between multimillions to billions of dollars to schools.

However, giving school more money still isn’t the whole answer. “There’s this tendency to think that we can throw money at the problem and fix it. That’s simply not true. We need capacity building–companies sharing their unique resources in order to fill critical gaps,” says Sandi Everlove, interim CEO at a STEM nonprofit.

What could schools do to show big corporations the demands they have? What guidance can be given to corporations to ensure this opportunity to fund STEM programs actually helps today’s students?  How can people from various positions come to the table–professors, K-12 administrators, content providers, politicians,business people, not-for-profit leaders and educational visionaries–to chart the course for our most disadvantaged and  least championed students, teachers and parents in our society?  How can we think as differently about education as Steve Jobs did about computing?  How can we impact this urgent matter today?

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Sources:

“How Corporations Are Helping to Solve the Education Crisis,” by Judah Schiller and Christine Arena. 23 March 2012. Fast Company, Accessed on 23 March 2012. http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679529/how-corporations-are-helping-to-solve-the-education-crisis

“Many Low-Income Students Struggle with Lack of Internet at Home,” by Walter Pacheco. 18 March 2012. Orlando Sentinel. Accessed on 23 March 2012. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-18/business/os-students-without-internet-access-20120318_1_internet-access-digital-textbooks-school-districts

Students Demand the Right to use Technology in Schools,” By Tina Barseghian. 6 March 2012. Mind/Shift. Accessed on 23 March 2012. http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/03/students-demand-the-right-to-use-technology-in-schools/  

We have many dreams for today’s students. We want to ensure they get an education that prepares them for a successful career. We want them to have all the latest technology. We want them to use technology to become a new generation of innovators and creative thinkers. We want them to have the best teachers. We want a system that values learning, not memorization.

Many people have many different ideas for how education can be reformed, but they all have one thing in common: they they all require funding.

In Florida, eleven percent of households with students in K12 education do not have Internet access, according to the article “Many Low-Income Students Struggle with Lack of Internet at Home.” A lack of Internet, whether due to a lack of devices, access or both, is one element that continues to drive a wedge in the achievement gap. Low-income students aren’t given the same benefits of their more affluent peers when they are required to do online assignments, putting them at a disadvantage in their education and future career.

Like many school districts around the country, school districts in Florida are pushing to have digital textbooks for all students by 2015. In fact, the Obama administration recently announced they are pushing for every student in the U.S. to have an e-textbook by 2017. However, getting devices in the hands of all 21st century students is only part of the equation. “The digital divide is not because students lack devices,” said Ocoee Middle School Principal Sharyn Gabriel, in the article. “The digital divide stems from the lack of Wi-Fi.”

Whose responsibility is it to close the divide?  AT&T announced this week that they are pledging $250 million to programs that promote high school graduation and career readiness over the next five years. This funding will be distributed through school grants, community organizations, and other companies helping at-risk students graduate and prepare them for careers. What level of achievement could students reach if they were all given equal opportunities? What responsibility to corporations have to put student success on their radar?

LifeBound is working this summer to close the achievement gap through providing students with a summer of learning. Summer learning losses are one of the greatest setbacks to underprivileged children. Ask us more about our book donations and literacy initiative by sending your questions to contact@lifebound.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Some schools choose to ban technology, saying it’s not that complicated and kids will learn it later. Other classrooms fully embrace technology to open windows to new worlds, including their own. But for many schools, financial restraints make the choice for them. Recently a group of inner-city students from Los Angeles who were fated with a technology depleted school decided instead of accepting their circumstances, they should set out to to start a revolution and change them, according to the Mind/Shift article “Students Demand the Right to Use Technology in Schools.”

Students from five inner-city schools in Los Angeles recently traveled to the Digital Media and Learning conference held in San Francisco with the money they raised on Kickstarter. They came holding their cell phones, tablets, and video cameras demanding the same opportunities afforded to their more affluent peers. One of their spokeswomen, Myquesha Moore, listed some of the following greivances:

• Students shouldn’t have to go off school grounds to find a working computer to do their homework on.
• A lack of technology in the classroom makes students part of a “permanent underclass.”
• “Give us the resources we need. Because there are children like me who give a damn about our future.”

The students researched the presence of technology, or lack thereof, at their schools using their personal smartphones, tablets, laptops, and cameras and presented their conclusions at the conference. At Crenshaw High, students found:

• 10 out of 14 computers worked, 2 are new, and three can print.
• 10 out of 30 laptops can access the Internet.
• 90% of computers operate on Windows 2001.

Students are not allowed to use their own technology in the classroom, but they also aren’t given acceptable pieces of technology to use in their place. These kids ask: “Doesn’t it make sense to use the tools that engage us the most? How are we supposed to use technology responsibly if we don’t use it at all? Why aren’t schools creating culturally relevant curriculum?”  Why do publishers still have largely text based technology?