Poverty and Underachievement: How Schools and Districts Lead Students to Success

July 14, 2012  |  Baltimore, Md.

Real schools with students living in poverty do post high levels of student achievement. This session presents current research that paints a compelling portrait of how any high-poverty, low-performing school can improve. Participants will learn what schools do to help students who live in poverty succeed—and how they and their school can adopt similar practices.

The first part of the session will focus on the importance of learning together. Participants will examine poverty and its stunning effects on students, then zero in on what high-poverty, high-performing (HP/HP) schools stopped doing or eliminated and what they started doing or improved on in three key areas of performance: building leadership capacity; fostering a safe, healthy, and supportive learning environment; and focusing on student, professional, and system learning. This part of the session will provide real-world examples and practical guidelines for using data to improve learning; promoting caring relationships; and eliminating practices that perpetuate low achievement, such as low expectations, ineffective instruction, retention, tracking, and inequitable funding.

The second part of the session will focus on the importance of leading together. Participants will develop an understanding of the ways these schools must frequently defy the norm to facilitate deep change and use “uncommon sense”—creative out-of-the-box thinking—to create a culture of high achievement for all students. Rather than suggesting a one-size-fits-all approach, this part of the session is designed to compel participants to take action when they return to their schools or districts by exploring their unique context with self-assessment rubrics and planning templates provided to guide the process.

By the end of the session, participants will

• Understand the effect of poverty on learning.
• Access current research
• Understand what high-performing, high-poverty schools stop doing or eliminate and what they start doing or improve on in three key areas of performance: building leadership capacity; fostering a safe, healthy, and supportive learning environment; and focusing on student, professional, and system learning.
• Assess the current condition of their schools or districts and develop strategies for addressing persistent challenges.

Institute Staff: William Parrett and Kathleen Budge, Boise State University, Idaho Registration Fee: $249 (ASCD members), $313 (Nonmembers) Registration Code: PD12GF053 Four-Day Registration Fee: $489 (ASCD members), $563 (Nonmembers) Registration Code: PD12GF054 Materials Fee: $23 for Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools

To register for all four Summer Showcase Institutes, please call our Service Center at 1-800-933-2723, then press 1.