Makyla Orman

Sept. 27, 2019

SED 322
Advocacy Project
Introduction

Yuma is a community of about 93,000 year round residents. It is the eleventh

largest city in Arizona, located in the southwest corner of the state. Agriculture, the

military and tourism are its major industries. The poverty rate in Yuma is approximately

17% which means about one in six residents live below the poverty line. About twenty

percent of Hispanics and thirty-six percent of Native Americans live in poverty. Females

are much more likely to live in poverty than males. About nineteen percent of the

children enrolled in school live below the poverty line. While the poverty rate in the

United States has decreased somewhat in the last few years, the rate in Yuma has

remained consistently high (Welfare Info). The problem is meeting the educational

needs of the students who live in poverty in our community.

The stakeholders in this problem are the students, the teachers and other school

personnel who work with the students, the schools, and the community. Students living

in poverty face many challenges that affect their academic performance. In a survey of

200,000 educators conducted by First Book, the following stressors were reported. Most

reported that parents were not involved or only marginally involved in the child’s

education. Over half the educators reported that their students had an incarcerated

parent(s) or had to deal with gang violence both in and out of the school environment.

Many reported that the student’s basic needs such as clothing, nutrition, medical needs,

and shelter were not being met (“Newly released” 2015). Listening, concentration and

the ability to learn are all decreased when children are hungry or have untreated health
issues. These students may seem unmotivated or “lazy,” but this is often a sign of

hopelessness and lack of optimism about their future. These students also lack

resources such as school supplies and access to the internet or to community

resources such as the library (Jensen 2013).

Other stakeholders are the teachers and other school personnel who are

responsible for meeting the student’s educational needs. One of the challenges they

face include a lack of knowledge about poverty and its effects on their students. High

stakes testing is a huge stressor for teachers. Students raised in poverty often have

serious deficits cognitively. “Commonly, low-SES children show cognitive problems,

including short attention spans, high levels of distractibility, difficulty monitoring the

quality of their work, and difficulty generating new solutions to problems.” (Jensen

2013). While teachers want to meet each student’s needs, large class sizes and

pressure to teach the state standards can be a challenge. In many school districts,

teachers receive “bonuses” when their students perform well on these tests. The school

is also a stakeholder. Arizona is now under the ESSA (Every Student Succeed Act)

which has replaced No Child Left Behind. Under ESSA students are still tested every

year from third grade through eighth grade and once in high school. This testing must

occur for schools to receive Title I funds which is federal money used for programs for

low income students. (Arizona has given high schools permission to opt out of AZ merit

and use a college pre-test like ACT, but there are issues with this.) Arizona is suffering

from a teacher shortage so schools may have teachers who are not certified/ highly

performing. The community is also a stakeholder as it depends on the schools to

provide an educated work force. Community resources in health, housing and nutrition

will need to be available.

There are several potential barriers which will need to be overcome in meeting

the needs low income students. One barrier in teacher education. Teachers need to

learn strategies that target the needs of these students in particular as well as the

resources. The lack of highly qualified teachers is a barrier which is a state issue.

Another barrier is attitude; parents, students, teachers, and community members often

have given up on these students. These students need positive support in order to

succeed. Finally, the students themselves must see themselves as capable; they must

not let poverty define them. When I worked as a coach at Yuma High School, I saw how

pervasion poverty could be. I saw students and teachers who had just given up. At the

same time though, I saw students who had overcome many disadvantages and were

succeeding and I saw teachers who gave 110% everyday making sure that their

students had all the tools they needed to succeed.

 References

Newly released nonprofit impact report provides insights into academic challenges faced by low-

income students: Surveys of largest and fastest growing network of educators serving children

In need find life circumstances outside the classroom present significant barriers to students'

academic success. (2015, Nov 03). PR Newswire Retrieved from http://login.ezproxy1.lib.

asu.edu/ login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/docview/ 1729114806?

Accounted=4485.

Jensen, E. (2013). HOW Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement. Educational Leadership,

70(8), 24–30. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login.

aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=87529515&site=ehost-live

“Welfare Info” https://www.welfareinfo.org/poverty-rate/