Assgn4 The impact of poverty on educational outcomesTravis and Yongliang

Summary

Children who come from poverty-stricken households are usually less ready for school due to difficulties faced in health, home life, neighbourhoods and schooling. This is primarily because of the duration of poverty, timing of poverty, community characteristics and also the impact that poverty has on the child's network. When these children who come from lower-income families attend school, the majority score significantly lower in vocabulary and communication skills compared to children who come from higher-income families. From this, it is evident that children from low-income families arrive at school at a cognitive and behavioural disadvantage because of the poor living environment that they were brought up in.
Reader response:What do you think should be the key intervention strategy to help children in poverty to excel in their studies.
I feel that having parental involvement and a good parenting style should be the key intervention strategy to help children in poverty to excel in their studies. With good parenting since young, the values that help in their pursuit of knowledge like being hardworking can be instilled into them, allowing them to grow up to strive towards doing better in their studies through hardwork and perseverance. The article mentions about the Chicago Child Parent Center programme, where a research found out that children whose parents were more involved with their studies had greater academic achievement in reading and mathematics, teacher ratings of the school adjustment, grade retention and special education placement. After these children grew up they also generally had higher rates of school completion and attained more years of education. I also feel that the demands that parents have on children's academic progress serve as a motivation for children to work hard in order to achieve the desirable results that parents expect from them in order to appease their parents. Thus it can be said that parental involvement in the form of setting demands for their children can prove effective as it serves as a driving force for them to do well in studies.