Reaching and teaching students in poverty: strategies for erasing the opportunity gap

257 Pages·2018·2.637 MB·English

by  Gorski, Paul

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION SERIES
JAMES A. BANKS, Series Editor
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2nd Edition NA'ILAH SUAD NASIR, CARLOS CABANA, BARBARA SHREVE,
PAUL C. GORSKI ESTELLE WOODBURY, AND NICOLE LOUIE, EDS.
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Multicultural Education Beyond the Color-Bind Creating Responsible and Ethical Anti-Racist Practice
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Concepts in Social Justice Education, Second Edition African American Males
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Standards in a High-Performing Bilingual School CRIS MAYO
JAMY STILLMAN AND LAUREN ANDERSON Race Frameworks:
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Students: A Critical Race Feminista Praxis ZEUS LEONARDO
DOLORES DELGADO BERNAL AND ENRIQUE ALEMÁN, JR. Class Rules:
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the Standards-Based Classroom, 2nd Edition PETER W. COOKSON JR.
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Global Migration, Diversity, and Civic Education: International Teachers in U.S. Schools
Improving Policy and Practice ALYSSA HADLEY DUNN
JAMES A. BANKS, MARCELO SUÁREZ-OROZCO, Streetsmart Schoolsmart:
AND MIRIAM BEN-PERETZ, EDS. Urban Poverty and the Education of Adolescent Boys
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in Education
the Promise of Higher Education
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Pathway to Higher Education Through Public Policy
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SHANTI ELLIOTT ANNE H. CHARITY HUDLEY AND CHRISTINE MALLINSON
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Engaging the “Race Question”:
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ALICIA C. DOWD AND ESTELA MARA BENSIMON Asians in the Ivory Tower: Dilemmas of Racial Inequality
in American Higher Education
Diversity and Education: A Critical Multicultural Approach ROBERT T. TERANISHI
MICHAEL VAVRUS
Our Worlds in Our Words: Exploring Race, Class, Gender,
First Freire: Early Writings in Social Justice Education and Sexual Orientation in Multicultural Classrooms
CARLOS ALBERTO TORRES MARY DILG
(continued)
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION SERIES, continued
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GENEVA GAY ARNETHA F. BALL
Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools Beyond the Big House
TYRONE C. HOWARD GLORIA LADSON-BILLINGS
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OKHEE LEE AND CORY A. BUXTON EUGENE E. GARCÍA
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CATHERINE CORNBLETH JACQUELINE JORDAN IRVINE
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LARRY CUBAN WALTER C. PARKER
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Second Edition CARLOS E. CORTÉS
JAMES A. BANKS Transforming the Multicultural Education
of Teachers
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MICHAEL VAVRUS
CAROL D. LEE
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CHRISTINE E. SLEETER, ED. SILVIA PALOMA GARCIA-LOPEZ, EDS.
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Education Research in the Public Interest and Action
GLORIA LADSON-BILLINGS AND WILLIAM F. TATE, EDS. JAMES A. BANKS, ED.
REACHING
AND TEACHING
STUDENTS IN
POVERTY
Strategies for Erasing
the Opportunity Gap
SECOND EDITION
Paul C. Gorski
Published by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY
10027
Copyright © 2018 by Teachers College, Columbia University
Cover images: Row of pencils by DNY59, last pencil by NickS, both via iStock.
Graph paper by Rawen713, via Deviantart.com.
Permissions acknowledgments appear at the ends of Chapters 4 and 5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the
publisher. For reprint permission and other subsidiary rights requests, please
contact Teachers College Press, Rights Dept.: [email protected]
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gorski, Paul, author.
Title: Reaching and teaching students in poverty : strategies for erasing the
opportunity gap / Paul C. Gorski.
Description: Second Edition. | New York : Teachers College Press, [2018]
Series: Multicultural Education Series | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017039599 (print) | LCCN 2017040675 (ebook) | ISBN
9780807776728 (ebook) | ISBN 9780807758793 (paperback : acid-free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Children with social disabilities—Education—United States. | Poor
children—Education—United States. | Educational equalization—United States.
| Poverty—United States.
Classification: LCC LC4091 (ebook) | LCC LC4091 .G595 2018 (print) | DDC
371.826/94—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017039599
ISBN 978-0-8077-5879-3 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-8077-7672-8 (ebook)
Printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Ma and Grandma.
I am me because you are you.

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
vii
viii Contents
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
Contents ix
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