Dyson, Lily L., Geoffrey Hett, and Kristin Blair. "The Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on School Achievement and Behavior:  A Study of Children in a Low-Income Neighborhood School in Canada." CONNECTIONS  (2003): 191-99.

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OVERVIEW

 

Poverty affects children developmentally in a variety of ways, and one important area is school achievement and motivation to learn.  Family poverty has been shown to decrease IQ, verbal ability, and achievement scores in kids from toddlers to primary grades.  Neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income families magnify the affect of individual poverty through collective socialization.  Low-income children have lower aspirations than their same age middle- or high-income counterparts.  Reading ability is a huge factor in retention and special education placement.  Thus, intervention in reading for low-income children has been a strategy to change academic achievement and life trajectory.  In America, reading programs range from early childhood to rehabilitative middle school comprehension skills to tackling illiteracy in parents so that children will be encouraged to read.  Such programs addressing low reading levels of poverty-stricken children are a rarity in Canada.  In this study, a supplementary reading program was delivered to young children and reading skills were observed.  The hypothesis was that the intervention would improve reading skills.

 

DESIGN

 

Sixty-eight first and second graders were recruited from a school in a low-income neighborhood of a West-coast Canadian city, and were divided into a control group and a reading group. There were pre- and post-tests given using the following instruments:  PIAT-R/NU (the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised) and Slosson Oral Reading Test.  PIAT-R/NU assesses content and included three subtests:  Reading Recognition, Reading Comprehension, and Spelling.  The Slosson Oral Reading Test measures how students pronounce words at different levels of difficulty.  The experimental group received the program, but the control group did not. 

 

The supplementary reading program happened twice a week in two twenty-minute sessions over a period of four months.  University students led small groups of two to four. The sessions included guided reading and comprehension.  Guided reading involved highlighting high frequency words, introduction of the book, individual guided reading, and context skills.  Then comprehension questions were asked by the instructor to gauge understanding.

 

FINDINGS

 

At pretest, the experimental group was at a lower reading level than the control group.  The control group was reading at grade level while the experimental group was not. 

At post-test, the experimental group read at grade level and improved in all of the aspects:  comprehension, recognition, spelling, and word recognition.  The grade one group made more significant gains (to above grade level reading) than the grade two students, but all students in the experimental group improved.

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

These results suggest that supplementary reading, even in limited quantities, increases the reading skills of first and second grade children in low-income homes.  It appears that intervention at a younger age has a greater impact.

 

CRITIQUE AND EVALUATION

 

This study shows tremendous potential but has drawbacks because of its small sample size and short time frame.  There is no detailed description (with examples) of a formal program or curriculum that is based upon literacy pedagogy and research. 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. When is the best time for reading intervention?

2. How can we intervene effectively when students arrive in the classroom or our programs that have missed the window for most effective intervention?

3. Are there places in the United States that lack of accessibility like low-income families in Canada?  Where are they and how can they be identified and supported?

4. How can the reading skill deficiency be averted from earlier than first grade?

5. Where should government and social services be engaging families to help them begin academic careers for children who come from low-income families?

 

IMPLICATIONS

The fact that reading levels can improve in such a short period of time for first graders in the manner in which it did in this study shows that effective support can make a tremendous impact in children in a short time.  The responsibility of educators and policymakers is to figure out which interventions are appropriate for the grade levels and developmental stages of students with reading deficiencies, and to deliver those interventions in a timely and effective manner. 

 

Tamecia R. Jones cCYS