Blog #3: Class and SES

Class and socioeconomic status (SES) have a great impact on a child's life, and they are factors that follows them into the classroom. Children have no control over their class or SES, and teachers must be sensitive to the challenges that students may face because of it. According to the text, socioeconomic status is based on occupation, educational attainment, and income. In recent years, our country has faced much economic hardship; an overall unstable economy, recession, and loss of jobs affected millions of people nationwide; and the ripple effect somehow touched everyone. Yet, despite the fact that national economy is now slowly recovering, teachers are facing increased class sizes but a decrease in federal and state funding. How can we be expected to teach classes beyond capacity, with an overwhelming population of economically disadvantaged students, who have little or no parental support at home to help them with studying and assignments, and may not even may not even have the means to bring a pencil to class?

I teach in Irving ISD, a great school district with teachers who are truly committed to the students and to doing all they can to help them succeed. An article in the Dallas Morning News was published in July of 2010, entitled "Irving ISD reflects growth of suburban poor" (http://irvingblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/07/economically-disadvantaged-stu.html) including this graph:

As seen above, Irving ISD has had a sharp incline of Economically Disadvantaged Students, with the most recent statistic from 2009 in which 78% of the student population was considered "Economically Disadvantaged."  At the campus I work on the number is even higher with 85.2% of the student population identified as Economically Disadvantaged in the 2009-2010 school year, as reported in the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) Report. According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Economically Disadvantaged is defined as "one who is eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program" (http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/acctres/gloss0708.html). Under this program,  "Students are eligible for reduced-price lunches (at a cost to the student of 40 cents) if their families have incomes less than 185% of the federal poverty level.  Students are eligible for free lunches if they come from families with incomes less than 130% of the federal poverty level." (http://www.dallasindicators.org/Education/EquityinEducation/Economicallydisadvantagedstudents/tabid/546/language/en-US/Default.aspx). As established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2010, the federal poverty level was only $22,050 for a family of four  (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/10poverty.shtml).

It's hard to think about the fact that 85% of the students at my school are living in poverty, and that the food served for breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria may be the only food they get. During our class discussion this week, I was especially taken back by the statistics of homeless students in the state. I did some further research and found that as of January 2010 there were 524 homeless children enrolled in Irving ISD schools, and the number was growing (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20100131-Irving-school-officials-worry-about-homeless-6291.ece). 

So what are the implications for me as a teacher? The way I see it, the children I work with need my care, attention, and support even more because of the fact that they are so severely economically disadvantaged. I need to constantly keep this in mind when assigning out of school work because they may not even have a home to go to in which they can sit in a quiet place and read a book. Furthermore, they may go "home" to a broken family, perhaps with a parent or parents with limited education/literacy and little or no English. I need to make the most of every moment I have with my students and try to encourage them that despite the hardships they may currently face, nobody can ever take away their education. Furthermore, if they are commited and motivated, they can succeed and break the cycle of poverty.