Poverty and Achievement Gap - Economics Paper Example

One of the most significant and growing problems in the United States is poverty. Poverty costs the economy billions of dollars each year while at the same time leaving low-income families with a significantly reduced chance of ever achieving the American Dream (Biddle, 2014). Most children who are raised in poverty will likely grow up in circumstances which will give them a negligible chance of changing their lives and be in a markedly better place than where they were initially. Not only has the government been unsuccessful at eradicating poverty, but over the past few years, the inequity of family incomes has significantly grown, and the depth of poverty increased for some families (Biddle, 2014). Research on the current state of poverty and achievement gap confirms that poverty has a negative influence on student achievement, behavior, and retention in school.

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Statistics show that about one in five children in the United States lives in poverty today with the rate being even higher for Hispanic and Black children and those families that are headed by a single parent (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2015). Various researchers continue to document the negative impacts of poverty on children and how it affects their later life outcomes. Research shows that children who grow up in poverty usually complete less schooling, have poorer health, earn less as adults, and often receive public assistance (Biddle, 2014). Also, boys who grow up in poverty have a higher likelihood of being arrested when they are adults, and their female counterparts are highly likely to give birth before marriage. All these outcomes come at a high cost as researchers have estimated that the government uses about $5 billion per year in dealing with matters related to poverty (DeNavas-Walt et al., 2015).

While the government has envisioned education as the great equalizer, the promise of providing quality education to all has been more of a myth that reality. Currently, the achievement gap between poor people and the non-poor ones is almost twice as large as that between Black and White students (Reardon, 2011). When tracking the differences between the cognitive performance of elementary school students, middle school students, and college-bound seniors, it is found that there are substantial differences that exist with regards to income and poverty status. Such differences result in poor people missing the opportunities to attend and graduate from college, thus limiting their economic and social mobility in turn leading to widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.

Problem Statement

Poverty and educational achievement are inextricably linked since poor people may stop going to school, leaving them without literacy hence making it difficult for them to further their careers. In turn, their children will be in the same situation years later having little income and few options thus resulting in them leaving school and work. One of the effects of poverty on education is that it greatly affects the readiness of a child for school through aspects related to home life, health, schooling, and neighborhoods (Spodek & Saracho, 2014). The six poverty-related factors that are known to affect a childs readiness for school are: the incidence of poverty, duration of poverty, depth of poverty, the timing of poverty, community characteristics, and the impact poverty has on the social network of children. Particularly important when it comes to the issue of poverty and school readiness is a childs home. Children who come from low-income households usually do not learn some of the important social skills needed to prepare them for school (Spodek & Saracho, 2014). Some of the typical problems include parental inconsistency, poor role modeling, and lack of supervision. Also, very often, the parents of these children lack support. Thus, there is a strong link between poverty and school achievement.

Though there is a strong connection between economic disadvantage and educational success, the education policies that are currently in place have not focused on addressing the effect of poverty on students. Most of the education policies instead have other foci. However, this does not imply that the primary purpose of public schools is to alleviate poverty. The federal government already has various programs, services, and tax regulations adjustment among other strategies to address poverty. Thus the critical question that comes up is how these effects can be reversed or prevented. If the problem is not addressed promptly, then the cycle may continue with each cycle resulting in widening of the achievement gap hence increasing the rates of poverty even further.

The Future of Education

The current state of education in America is not promising. As years go by, poverty continues to affect most students in American schools. In fact, the majority of children in American public schools come from low-income households (Biddle, 2014). In turn, this has major implications for the future of education as well as the nations workforce. Studies have shown that children who come from low-income households are less proficient in their studies when compared to their better-off peers (Biddle, 2014). Thus, students from low-income households face a lot of obstacles and find it difficult to pursue higher education. Apart from students, the state of schools in poverty-stricken areas also affects learning. For instance, most schools in such areas lack advanced courses due to a perceived lack of eligible students. As a consequence, most instructional time in such schools is spent on remediation and preparing the students for standardized tests (Biddle, 2014). Additionally, the schools do not highly value creativity and instead applaud obedience and repetition. Most of the students in poverty-stricken areas come from households where no one has experience of higher education hence the expectation that they will attend college is not that important when compared to the message of staying out of trouble and just finish high school.

Clearly, poverty has a great effect on educational achievement and other life outcomes. The future of education in the United States may not be as fruitful as people may think when the issue of poverty is not addressed. One of the reasons for such a situation is due to the increasing number of poor children. People who are better-off as having lesser children when compared to low-income ones. Thus, following this analogy, it can be assumed that the number of poor children will be steadily increasing over time. The cycle will continue, and over time, it may be more difficult to manage the situation than it is currently.

Current Issues in Education

The five aspects that can be used to better understand the current issues in education include the curriculum, technology, bilingual/English language learning, special education, and diversity and inclusion. Despite the need for special attention on each aspect, a common goal is to ensure that all students reach the same educational goals and standards. Thus, whatever the standards or educational goals, it is important to ensure that they are uniformly applied to all students, and special attention be paid to historically underperforming groups.

Curriculum

Despite the rhetoric of providing equal educational opportunities to all, it is clear that children from low-income households are less likely to succeed in school than their counterparts from better-off households. Having a lower probability of succeeding in school, in turn, leads to the chances of social, economic, and political success of these children seriously compromised (Duncan & Murnane, 2011). Various studies have asserted that the schools that low-income children attend are inferior in many aspects when compared those that other children attend. One aspect that can be taken into consideration is the curriculum. The curriculum provided for students in poverty-stricken areas may be less challenging hence less fulfilling academically in relation to that provided for other students (Capra, 2009). Before determining the link between poverty, the curriculum, and achievement gap, it is important to define curriculum.

Many people often view curriculum as a list of subjects or courses and their organization as well as supporting materials. Also, it is often assumed that teachers follow the curriculum mechanically so that the curriculum components define the exposure that the student has in the classroom (Young, 2014). Clearly, this understanding is a traditional view of curriculum which is highly limited. Depending on the teacher, emphasis may be put on some subjects and not others. Some teachers may add other topics and develop illustrations and examples to make them come to life. Other teachers may just follow the textbook and administer standard tests after the end of the readings (Young, 2014). In some cases, some students may receive more attention than others thus having a totally different educational experience. Thus, the traditional view of the curriculum only considers the interactions that the teacher has with the students and not any other outside interactions. Therefore, with regards to the curriculum, students academic achievement will depend on how the teacher interacts with them during the learning process.

Since the traditional view of curriculum is insufficient to help in understanding its link with poverty and academic achievement, some have argued that there are two types of curricula: a hidden curriculum and a formal curriculum (Levin, 2017). The hidden curriculum is considered as the actual content that students experience and can be characterized by the interactions and activities that are significantly different from those of the formal dimensions. On the other hand, the formal curriculum is basically a listing of the goals, topics, and assignments that a student needs to cover. Students from low-income households face both a formal and hidden curriculum that are less rigorous. These students are often taught to memorize facts than to be taught the skills for analyzing problems and coming up with solutions. A recent study of high schools by Machtinger (2007) revealed that teachers from lower- income areas spend comparatively less time on instruction, follow a slow pace this covering less material, teach less complex topics, and give simpler answers to questions. Additionally, though they may have the same qualifications as higher income students, students from lower income households have less access to advanced placement classes and higher-track classes. Other aspects of the hidden curriculum can also affect the academic achievement of students. For instance, low-income students might be despised by other students in certain situations, and this may have a negative effect on their educational experience and hence their academic achievement (Levin, 2017). In turn, such aspects of the hidden curriculum can result in the widening of the achievement gap between the low-income and high-income students.

Technology

Technology has become a necessity in various aspects of everyday life. It has affected everything including how people socialize and work and has provided easy access to vast amounts of information. The question that has not been clearly answered is whether this information explosion has helped children learn. There are mixed results about this issue from various researchers. While some researchers claim that technology and the information explosion have been effective in reducing the academic achievement gap, others are of the contrary opinion. Each side has convincing arguments but what remains clear is that technology has a great effect on the academic achievement gap, be it positive or negative....