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Living Situation

Cynthia “Mama J” Johnson is the lead middle school principal and project leader for the Kansas City Public Schools. She has been a classroom teacher, administrator, and adjunct professor in urban, suburban, and rural environments for 26 years and is a frequent presenter at Association of Middle-Level Education conferences. In her 2013 AMLE publication Leading Learning for Children From Poverty, she identifies many valuable techniques to implement when dealing with diverse students. Johnson advises educators;

 

  1. Teach with confidence.

  2. Establish high, consistent expectations and practices.

  3. Make reading the default curriculum.

  4. Use data to inform instructional changes.

  5. Restructure time and space for more flexibility in responding.

  6. Create student-centered and culturally responsive lessons.

  7. Use multiple ways to keep students actively engaged throughout the teaching and learning process.

 (Association for Middle-Level Education, Para 19).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psychologists, Research Experts, and contributing authors to the 2007 NCBI Journal Article; The impact of poverty on educational outcomes for children explore opportunities for Educators and Community members to take action in support of equality in education for all learners. 

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"Balancing the consistent evidence about the pervasive negative impact of poverty on educational outcomes with the hopeful positive outcomes of intervention studies, what can we do in our communities to attenuate the effects of poverty and SES on academic success? Here are some important actions:

  • Advocate for and support schools which strive to achieve equity of outcomes;

  • Advocate for and support intervention programs that provide academic, social and community support to raise the success of disadvantaged children and youth;

  • Make others aware of the short-, medium- and long-term costs of allowing these children and youth to fail or leave school;

  • Never miss a personal opportunity to support the potential educational success of the children and youth who we come into contact with;

  • Advocate for system changes within schools to maximize educational attainment (eg, longer school days and shorter summer vacations); and

  • Advocate for quality early education and care to minimize differences between children’s school readiness before entering school."

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