SD13 - Educational Attainments of Students Living in Poverty

  • Published: 1993
  • Author: Department of Education
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 38 (Regular Session, 1992)

Executive Summary:
This study of the educational attainments of students living in poverty was conducted in response to Senate Joint Resolution Number 38, sponsored by Senator Yvonne B. Miller during the 1992 Session of the General Assembly.

Twenty-five years of national research and at least four analyses of Virginia school division data have found a strong and persistent relationship between student poverty and educational outcomes. School divisions with high concentrations of impoverished students are more likely to report lower test scores, greater percentages of overage students, and higher rates of absenteeism and dropout than are divisions with low rates of student poverty. Although the ability of poverty measures to predict student outcomes at the division and school level is strong, research also indicates that this predictive power diminishes when individual children become the unit of analysis; this is evidenced by the many children from backgrounds of poverty who succeed in school and go on to become self-sufficient, productive adults. In response to these findings, the federal government and some states have adopted strategies that direct additional educational resources based on aggregate (e.g. school division or school) poverty, but allow any child, regardless of socioeconomic status, who is at risk of failure or dropping out to be served by those resources.

During the 1980's, the percentage of persons in the United States living below the federal poverty level increased for almost every age group (only for persons 65 or older did the poverty rate actually decline). Although poverty rates in Virginia declined during the same period, recent large enrollment increases in the state's public assistance programs indicate that poverty is now growing across the Commonwealth.

In both the nation and the Commonwealth, children under the age of five are more likely to be poor than persons in any other age group. In Virginia, one out of seven children five years of age or younger live below the federal poverty level (a maximum annual income of $8,420 for a family of two). Many stereotypes and misconceptions about child poverty are refuted by a recent Children's Defense Fund report; specifically:

• the number of poor two-parent families increased by 19 percent between 1979 and 1989;

• nearly two-thirds of poor families with children are headed by parents who work during the year; and,

• only one in ten poor children fit into the common stereotype of a "poor child" -- one who is black and lives in a city with a single mother who does not work and receives welfare.

Among Virginia's cities and counties, child poverty rates ranged from 3.7 percent to 37.1 percent in 1990, a difference of 33.4 percentage points. Although the Commonwealth's core cities (e.g. Norfolk City) are doubly impacted by child poverty -- once by high numbers of poor children and again by high percentages of them -- many of Virginia's rural and suburban localities are affected as well. Sparsely populated rural localities (e.g. Accomack County) are most likely to be impacted by high percentages of impoverished children while suburban localities (e.g. Fairfax County) are most likely to be impacted by large numbers of these children. In fact, 14 localities account for half of the state's poor children, seven (50 percent) of which are growing suburban counties and non-core cities with strong economies. These findings refute the belief that poor children are a concern only for urban centers.

The individual, societal and economic costs of childhood poverty and unfavorable educational outcomes are enormous. The citizens of the Commonwealth spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on welfare programs and prison facilities, primarily to support or maintain the thousands of students who drop out of Virginia's schools each year. In addition to these are the cost of lost wages and tax revenues, and the incalculable cost of lost individual potential.

Despite these pessimistic statistics, strong evidence exists that investing in children, especially the very young, is good economic and social policy, even in times of limited fiscal resources and growing demand for public services. The following educational responses to student risk are cited consistently by research as especially effective in promoting successful first-time learning; all of these employ strategies that prevent educational failure through early intervention.

• Developmental preschool programs help disadvantaged three- and four-year-old children attain the basic cognitive, social and emotional skills they need on the day they first enter school. These programs have been shown to increase school success and future employability, and to decrease delinquency and dependence on public assistance. A $1 investment in a quality preschool education can provide $3 in savings by reducing special education, public assistance and crime costs.

• Supplemental reading programs in the early grades help high-risk students develop the basic academic skills they need to succeed in school by resolving early literacy problems before these become severe.

• Reducing class size in the early grades is a strategy that helps schools deliver enriched educational programs and enables teachers to employ developmentally appropriate practices and provide individualized instruction. Class sizes of 15 or fewer students for every one teacher can be especially beneficial for students who are economically disadvantaged.

• School-wide projects target a variety of prevention and support programs toward entire schools where most or all of the students are educationally at-risk and in need of supplemental services. One such project, Success for All, significantly increased reading achievement and attendance, and reduced special education placements for learning disabilities.

Although many schools currently implement effective programs to improve the educational outcomes of children living in poverty, the size, scope and nature of the problems facing these children requires a larger societal response. Such a response must include collaborative efforts on the part of families, communities, businesses and governments, as well as schools. One such effort, the State of Georgia's Family Connection program, is bringing families, schools, communities and government agencies together to ensure that at-risk children and their families receive support services in a comprehensive and timely manner. The Virginia Department of Education is currently working with other state agencies to develop a comprehensive plan to serve at-risk students; a final report will be issued in Spring 1993.