Closing the Poverty Gap Using

S³ Structures, Skills, and Support

Students from poverty can change when the school works with them. When educational leaders and teachers work together to create a more positive learning environment and better instruction for students of poverty they can solve problems systemically and get better results across the board. Schools can be highly effective in working with children from poverty if they are willing to change, too.

To foster change that gets results, educational leaders must provide the following:
Structures-Must promote positive student-teacher relationships. Teachers who form positive relationships, as an ally with their students, can diffuse stress. Stress can also be mediated by increasing students’ perception of control (making relevant choices, self-assessment and leadership roles) throughout the school day.

Skills-Must improve teacher quality. Teachers can implement a variety of strategies to improve students’ working memory, such as organizing information into smaller chunks, encouraging children to visualize what they just heard or read or involving students in peer teaching.

Support-Must build cognitive capacity and growth mindsets in children who are behind. Good teachers find ways to influence their students in ways that help them shape character. This mindset includes teaching students that they don’t choose everything that happens to them, but they do choose their response.                                                                                                        SmartBrief

Teachers think about it! Let try, try, and try some more to get parents involved.