Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty
Description
Written in an engaging, conversational style that makes complex concepts accessible and actionable, this book will help readers learn how to identify and eliminate even the subtlest inequities in their classrooms, schools, and districts. The Third Edition features extensive revisions based on the most recent research and lessons learned from the author's professional development work. Enhancements include an extended summary of Gorski's equity literacy framework; several new narrative case scenarios; a new section detailing how schools unintentionally "punish poverty"; a revised Poverty Awareness Quiz; and updated strategies throughout to assist today's K-12 teachers, school administrators, counselors, and social workers.
Book Features:
Offers a research-informed alternative to popular books about poverty and education that focus on adjusting something about students experiencing poverty rather than making classrooms and schools more equitable.
Describes evidence-based strategies and practices that strengthen equitable education access for students experiencing poverty.
Incorporates narrative case scenarios that help readers practice recognizing subtle bias and inequity in common viewpoints and programs.
Embraces an intersectional view of poverty and class by addressing how it interacts with race, gender, sexual orientation, and other dimensions of identity and experience.
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Content
Contents
Series Foreword James A. Banks xiii
Acknowledgments xix
1. Introduction 1
A Place to Start: Important Shifts in Understanding 3
Definitions and Distinctions 8
The Remainder of the Book 12
Reflection Questions and Exercises 13
2. Imagining Equitable Classrooms and Schools for Students Experiencing Poverty: An Equity Literacy Approach 14
Introducing Equity Literacy 20
Frameworks That Help Inform Equity Literacy 23
What the “Equity” Means in Equity Literacy 24
The Five Abilities of Equity Literacy 28
Equity Literacy Principles for Educators 33
Conclusion 43
Reflection Questions and Exercises 43
3. The Economic Injustice Mess We’re In: A Class and Poverty Primer 44
Poverty Awareness Quiz 44
An Introduction to Poverty, Wealth, and Economic Inequality 47
The Unequal Distribution of Poverty 54
Conclusion 62
Reflection Questions and Exercises 63
4. Ditching Deficit Ideology and Quitting Grit: Embracing a Structural View of Poverty and Education 64
Poverty Attribution and the Importance of Ideology 64
The Dangers of Deficit Ideology 69
Meet Deficit Ideology’s Cousin, Grit 70
The Hope of Structural Ideology 73
An Exercise in Structural Framing and Language 75
Conclusion 77
Reflection Questions and Exercises 77
5. The Misunderstandings and Myths That Misdirect Equity Efforts in Schools 79
Debunking the “Culture of Poverty” and Other Absurd Notions 81
A Hint of Truth? The Nature of Poverty Stereotyping 83
Misperceivers Are We: Questioning Common Stereotypes About Families Experiencing Poverty 86
The Dangers of Stereotypes 96
Conclusion 97
Reflection Questions and Exercises 98
6. Class Inequities Beyond School Walls and Why They Matter at School 99
The Unlevel Playing Field of Poverty 101
Why the “Achievement Gap” Is Really an Opportunity Gap 114
Conclusion 115
Reflection Questions and Exercises 116
7. How Schools Punish Poverty: Learning to Recognize the Achievement—er, Opportunity—Gap 117
How Schools Punish Poverty: The Great Unequalizer? 120
Opportunity Gaps, Neoliberal School Reform, and Attacking “DEI” 133
Conclusion 137
Reflection Questions and Exercises 138
8. Teaching Students Experiencing Poverty in Effective, Equitable, and Even Data-Informed Ways: Curricular and Pedagogical Strategies 139
A Couple Caveats 139
Instructional Strategies That Work 140
Conclusion 162
Reflection Questions and Exercises 163
9. The Mother of All Strategies: Nurturing Equity-Informed Relationships With Students and Families 164
Equity-Informed Relational Commitments 165
Conclusion 180
Reflection Questions and Exercises 180
10. Cultivating School Change Through Equity Literacy: Commitments and Strategies for School and District Leaders 182
Shaping Institutional Culture Around an Ethic of Equity 184
Cultivating Equity Literacy in Faculty and Staff 188
Creating Policies and Practices to Redistribute Access and Opportunity 193
Conclusion 197
Reflection Questions and Exercises 197
11. Expanding Our Spheres of Influence: Advocating Change for the Educational and Societal Good 199
Policy Advocacy for Educational Equity 200
Policy Advocacy for Societal Justice 204
Conclusion 206
Reflection Questions and Exercises 207
Conclusion 208
References 213
Index 245
About the Author 261