It's the poverty stupid

Remember when then-candidate Clinton - Bill, not Hillary - had a sign probably written by James Carville that read "It's The Economy, Stupid"?Well, to paraphrase in this age of educators-can-do-nothing-right, I'd like to say that as anyone who scratches below the surface of education knows, it's the poverty, stupid.The Alternet recently published an article summarizing some recent research concerning the effects of poverty on students. Read it for yourself here. The conclusion indicates that poor school performance is not about poor teacher performance. It is about hunger and trauma and the social ills that come from worrying whether or not your family will have a place to live when you arrive home or how hungry you will be because there is not enough money to buy food. Want to know more? Get your hands on Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty.Educators know that we are not the only factor in a child's academic "success", especially when that success is defined by those who would quantify learning by the correct number of answer bubbles on a high-stakes test.So many factors fall beyond an educator's control and affect our students: medical care, hunger, lack of housing, parents who must work multiple jobs and long hours, and social factors such as the ones mentioned in articles.This week my classroom has been battling the flu. Teaching children basic cleanliness routines, to use soap and water in fact, is not that unusual. Telling a parent that a child with a temp over 102 degrees that a trip to the doctor (or more likely the hospital emergency room) was in order - not a dose of Tylenol - is not that unusual.Poverty and trauma affect children at their core. Kids who are hungry, or worried about where they will get their next meal; kids who don't have a safe, clean environment in which to stay outside of school - those kids are not focused on whether or not Choice A or Choice C is the best answer to a test item.Unless we as a society are willing to tackle the ugly and difficult issue of economic equality, I fear the stupidity will continue. It's not just the teacher, it's the poverty.