Education Week: Is the Stress of Poverty to Blame for Academic Failure?

Education Week: Is the Stress of Poverty to Blame for Academic Failure? It argues that to address the challenges that stem from poverty schools need to create fortified teaching and learning environments, reducing stress, fostering positive connections with adults, peers, families and communities and proactively building a path to academic recovery. Here’s an excerpt:

“Children who grow up in poverty are often behind their peers when they start school. If that school is low-performing, the achievement gap widens every year. When children experience repeated failures and disappointments, it erodes their confidence and undermines their will and belief in a future through education. When many children in a school building are falling farther behind, experiencing frustration and failure, their challenges mount and can overwhelm a school.”

We encourage you to read Dr. Cantor’s full blog here.