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Disrupting Poverty, developed by William Parrett and Kathleen Budge, is a professional development model based on research that shows that educators can disrupt the cycle of poverty both on an individual level in their classrooms and systemically.
Being chronically impoverished can have detrimental effects on students. With more than 51 percent of U.S. public school students qualifying for free and reduced-priced meals programs, the rate of child poverty is higher in the United States than in any other industrialized nation. Teachers and school leaders can counteract poverty's negative effects by fostering healthy, safe, and supportive learning environments and caring relationships to build students' resilience and actively engage them in their learning.
High-poverty, high-performing (HP/HP) schools regularly outperform expectations despite having a significant number of students living in poverty. Research shows what sets HP/HP schools apart is that educators don't just ask what to teach and how to teach it, they also ask why it should be taught and who should teach it.
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Through a collaborative planning approach, teams from the ESC of Cuyahoga County and ASCD worked together to design and customize a regionally networked institute. This institute addressed the central question: "What does it take to disrupt poverty's adverse influence on student learning?"
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Explore free sample chapters, study guides, and author interviews.
Disrupting Poverty: Five Powerful Classroom Practices Browse
Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools Browse
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ASCD Learn. Teach. Lead. BAM Radio Podcasts: Each episode of the show is hosted by an ASCD Emerging Leader and features guests such as ASCD authors, leaders, presenters, and educators from all roles.
Our award-winning PD Online® courses are interactive, in-depth, and self-paced online professional development courses for educators, including this course developed with Parrett and Budge. You can also browse the online course catalog for more options.
Designed with both blended and group learning in mind, these PD In Focus® platform channels feature videos, resources, and strategies from schools that are successfully meeting the needs of students living in poverty while encouraging them to become high achievers.
Disrupting Poverty in the Elementary School
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Disrupting Poverty in the Secondary School
The Disrupting Poverty Video Series is available on ASCD Streaming Video and DVD. Learn what HP/HP elementary and secondary schools do to help students succeed and how you and your school can adopt the same practices to disrupt the cycle of poverty and lift students to achievement.
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William Parrett and Kathleen Budge regularly present at ASCD conferences and facilitate Pre-Conference Institutes throughout the year on the topic of Disrupting Poverty, including events and sessions listed here.
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ASCD Faculty members are available for on-site capacity-building professional development on disrupting poverty. ASCD can design a precise professional development plan, organized around our field-tested solutions, with a focus on the education foundations that make sense for you.
Meet the Disrupting Poverty Cadre members
Download the Disrupting Poverty Cadre brochure (PDF)
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Authors William Parrett and Kathleen Budge lead ASCD's Disrupting Poverty cadre and bring a wealth of experience developed during rich and varied careers in education.
For more information about ASCD Professional Learning Services, contact the Program Management Team:
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