Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap

by Paul C. Gorski

Overview

This influential book describes the knowledge and skills educators need to recognize and combat the bias and inequity that undermine educational engagement for students experiencing poverty. This edition features revisions based on new research and lessons from the author’s professional development work, including the dangers of “grit” and deficit perspectives.

“A must-read for educators in schools of all kinds. This accessible, highly relevant book empowers teachers with tools they can use today. Read it, talk about it with your friends and colleagues, and use it as a guide for your next project in educational activism! Our students’ school experiences will surely be better for it.”
—Rethinking Schools

“Provides a good overview of the topic, delivers clear, well-researched information, and helps all educators expand their knowledge of poverty and social class.”
—Choice

“Gorski provides practical strategies for teachers, administrators, and school staff that will help immediately improve schools, particularly for the most marginalized students.”
—Cheryl Robinson, cultural competency coordinator, Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807776728
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	01/26/2018
Series:	Multicultural Education Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Paul C. Gorski is associate professor in the School of Integrative Studies (SIS) at George Mason University and the founder of EdChange (www.EdChange.org).

Table of Contents

Series Foreword James A. Banks xi

Acknowledgments xix

1 Introduction 1

Definitions and Distinctions 6

Two Important Conceptual Shifts 9

The Remainder of the Book 10

Reflection Questions and Exercises 12

2 Imagining Equitable Classrooms and Schools for Students Experiencing Poverty: An Equity Literacy Approach 13

Introducing Equity Literacy 16

What the "Equity" Means in Equity Literacy 19

The Four Abilities of Equity Literacy 20

Equity Literacy Principles for Educators 23

Conclusion 35

Reflection Questions and Exercises 35

3 The Inequity Mess We're In: A Class and Poverty Primer 37

Poverty Awareness Quiz 37

An Introduction to Poverty, Wealth, and Economic Inequality 40

The Unequal Distribution of Poverty 47

Conclusion 55

Reflection Questions and Exercises 55

4 Embracing a Structural View of Poverty and Education: Ditching Deficit Ideology and Quitting Grit 57

Poverty Attribution and the Importance of Ideology 57

The Dangers of Deficit Ideology 60

Meet Deficit Ideology's Cousin, Grit 61

The Hope of Structural Ideology 63

An Exercise in Structural Framing and Language 64

Conclusion 65

Reflection Questions and Exercises 66

5 The Trouble with the "Mindset of Poverty" and Other Stereotypes about People Experiencing Poverty 67

A Hint of Truth? The Nature of Poverty Stereotyping 71

Misperceivers Are We: Questioning Common Stereotypes about Families Experiencing Poverty 73

The Dangers of Stereotypes and Stereotype Threat 82

Conclusion 84

Reflection Questions and Exercises 84

6 Class Inequities Beyond School Walls and Why They Matter at School 85

The Unlevel Playing Field of Poverty 87

Why the "Achievement Gap" Is Really an Opportunity Gap 96

Conclusion 98

Reflection Questions and Exercises 98

7 The Achievement-er, Opportunity-Gap in School 99

The Great Unequalizer? 102

Opportunity Gaps and Neoliberal School Reform 116

Conclusion 122

Reflection Questions and Exercises 122

8 Teaching Students Experiencing Poverty in Effective, Equitable, and Even Data-Informed Ways: Curricular and Pedagogical Strategies 123

A Couple Caveats 124

Instructional Strategies That Work 125

Conclusion 141

Reflection Questions and Exercises 142

9 The Mother of All Strategies: Nurturing Equity-Informed Relationships with Students and Families 143

Equity-Informed Relational Commitments 144

Conclusion 158

Reflection Questions and Exercises 159

10 Cultivating School Change through Equity Literacy: Commitments and Strategies for School and District Leaders 161

Shaping Institutional Culture around an Ethic of Equity 163

Cultivating Equity Literacy in Faculty and Staff 168

Creating Policies and Practices to Redistribute Access and Opportunity 172

Conclusion 176

Reflection Questions and Exercises 176

11 Expanding Our Spheres of Influence: Advocating Change for the Educational and Societal Good 177

Policy Advocacy for Educational Equity 178

Policy Advocacy for Societal Justice 183

Conclusion 185

Reflection Questions and Exercises 185

Conclusion 187

References 191

Name Index 215

Subject Index 221

About the Author 233

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“If you think the educational landscape has improved for students who are experiencing poverty, perhaps you should think again. Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty helps readers look at current conditions in schools as well as their teaching practices in new ways. Paul Gorski provides practical strategies that teachers, administrators, and other staff have used to immediately improve schools, particularly for the most marginalized students. ”
—Cheryl Robinson, cultural competency coordinator, Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia

“In praise of Gorski’s original edition, I wrote, 'This is the poverty book I’ve been waiting for.' That is even more true for this Second Edition, where he has moved the entire discussion of poverty and education to a deeper structural level and zeroed in even more clearly on the transformative actions we must take. What I particularly love about this new edition is the way Gorski decisively debunks our most dearly held stereotypes about students and families experiencing poverty, and lays to waste our most cherished notions of how to 'fix' them. His analysis is both refreshingly irreverent and immensely relevant.”
—Gary Howard, founder of the REACH Center, author of We Can't Teach What We Don't Know, Second Edition

"An outstanding book just got better! Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty lucidly affirms teachers’ power to engage students from high-poverty backgrounds in meaningful and high-quality learning. In this Second Edition, Gorski strengthens his excellent reframing of how poverty can be understood, taking on currently fashionable but damaging notions about roots of poverty and its impact on people. It should be essential reading for all educators. "
—Christine Sleeter, professor emerita, California State University, Monterey Bay, author of Un-Standardizing Curriculum, Second Edition

“Gorski continues to focus on what teachers and other educators can do —despite the growing and relentless inequality in our schools and nation —to ameliorate the effects of poverty on the many families and communities caught in its grip. An eminently readable and practical book that is at the same time strongly conceptual and theoretical, Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty will be a welcome addition to school, university, and community bookshelves. “
—Sonia Nieto, professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

“Paul Gorski seeks a more complex conversation about poverty in education so we can devise solutions that actually support children. He asks great questions about how we might talk about poverty, what we can do in schools to support children and families experiencing it, and what we plan to do about a society that allows poverty for so many. Read this book if you care about addressing this crucial subject."
—Mica Pollock, UC San Diego, author of Schooltalk: Rethinking What We Say About—and To—Students Every Day

"The long trend to defund public education has only accelerated recently, as if schools are not already struggling financially, and as if such cuts don't disproportionately impact the children and communities with the least resources to begin with. Updated to speak forcefully against such misguided trends, Paul Gorski's Second Edition makes vivid and compelling how and why poverty matters, when and where we’ve gone wrong with current reforms, and perhaps most important, what we can do in our schools and classrooms to ensure that every child receives the very best education that our nation has to offer. From one of the smartest scholars on poverty and education comes this engaging, relatable, and thoroughly researched book that every educator and school leader should read."
—Kevin Kumashiro, founder, the Center for Anti-Oppressive Education

Editorial Reviews

"A must-read for educators in schools of all kinds. This accessible, highly relevant book empowers teachers with tools they can use today. Read it, talk about it with your friends and colleagues, and use it as a guide for your next project in educational activism! Our students’ school experiences will surely be better for it."

—Rethinking Schools

"Recommended for any educator or those who support them — superintendent, principal, teacher, teacher candidate, board member — Gorski’s logic is unparalleled."

—School Administrator

"Provides a good overview of the topic, delivers clear, well-researched information, and helps all educators expand their knowledge of poverty and social class."

—Choice

“(C)ommunication center professionals will find this excellent book a useful resource for beginning conversations about class inequities in their centers and for educating themselves about barriers faced by students in poverty before they reach our institutions.”

—Communication Center Journal

From the Publisher