Poverty, Education, and the Young Child

Ben Licciardi

Do economically disadvantaged children benefit from preschool? Should the content of their curriculum differ from the curriculum of their more privileged counterparts? In the May 1965 issue of Educational Leadership, Bernard Spodek, an assistant professor of education, takes a close look at the research on poverty and early childhood education.

Read the article: Poverty, Education, and the Young Child (PDF)

Originally developed in England to answer the needs of the "urban slum community," preschool and kindergarten have a long history of providing needed support to impoverished children. Unfortunately, in 1960's America, some 26 states did not offer public support for kindergarten, creating a situation where early childhood education was often available only to the affluent.

While all children benefit from early schooling, Spodek's review of research indicates that it is particularly critical for the less fortunate. Noting that "the early years of development play a significant role in providing the generalized conceptual skills needed for later learning," he warns against "arriving on the scene of development too late." Moreover, he suggests a different curricular approach for disadvantaged children—one that stresses cognitive functioning, memory training, language development, and motivation.

For educators looking to learn more about early efforts to help impoverished children, Spodek's article provides a wonderful overview of some of the first studies on poverty and education.

In "My Back Pages," we look at important issues through the historical lens of the Educational Leadership archives. ASCD members have access to EL issues from 1943 to the present in the myASCD Online Library.

Ben Licciardi is an information resource coordinator in ASCD's Information Resource Center.