Students with Disabilities

Affordable Housing and the Education of Low-Income Students

Taifha Baker

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Schools In SessionLesson PlanWhy this topic?Factors that play a role in a low-income students educationPlaying the admissions gameLow-income childrens access to college

First, I'll discuss why I chose this topic. Disclaimer: Throughout the presentation I will share stories of my personal experiences to supplement the materials. There are also a lot of pictures and some audio from songs.

Next, we'll discuss statistics and the factors that play a role in a low-income student's educational outcomes

Third, we'll do an activity. You all will break up into teams and decide whether an applicant should be admitted to your assigned institution of higher learning.

Lastly, we'll discuss the stratification of higher education and whether that hinders a low-income student's chance of success. 2

Why This Topic?

When your Mom spends her last to send you to class, you better not play. Buju (loosely translated)

I chose this topic because its particularly personal to me. This is my mom. She raised me and my three sisters on approximately $600/month. Shes a jamaican, immigrant with less than a middle-school education. She has 7 brothers and sisters and had to stop going to school to help my grandmother raise them. Shes a breast cancer survivor and my absolute rock. She babysat for family friends in order to make ends meet sometimes and I would always think to myself that she couldve done something more, been something more if she just tried. But I didnt realize it then, her decision to stay home and take care of my sisters and I was the ultimate sacrifice. As a teenage mom, she didnt want us to end up like that. She wanted better for us. Even if that meant less for her. So she made sure she was able to keep a close eye on us, provide for us, and teach us how to grow into independent women. On Saturdays she'd blast music and jam out to reggae artists and when doing this presentation I thought I'd play one of her favorite songs for you. Its appropriate for this clinic because it contemplates the inequity in wealth distribution. I'll translate after the song plays.

While Im living, I will pray to God only He knows how we get through everyday. While the prices keep going up we have to pay an arm and a leg, while our political leaders play. Those who can afford to leave the country will, but what about those who cant? They will have to stay. Opportunity is a scarce commodity nowadays. When your Mom spends her last to send you to class, you better not play. Its a competitive world for low-budget people. Spending a dime while earning a nickle. With no regard to who it may tickle, my cup is full to the brim. 3

Why This Topic?

Jan Brady.4

Low-Income Children are1 out of 5 children in the U.S. are living in povertyMostly from single-parent households Less than H.S. educationNearly 3x more likely to live in rental housing

16 million children are living in poverty in the US. Poverty threshold for a family of 3 = $20,090 86% of children with parents who have less than a high school degree live in low-income families5

An Issue that Permeates Race

Child poverty is an issue that effects everyone. But this graph shows that certain groups are disproportionately effected.6

The Neighborhoods They Live InLow-Income NeighborhoodMore likely to dropout of H.S.Lack of managerial/professional neighborsMore reports of aggressive behaviorHigher rates of non-marital childbearing

High-Income NeighborhoodLower levels of stress and higher scholastic achievement for African-American femalesCertain children benefited from managerial/professional neighborsMore reports of depression or being withdrawn

Im tired of being poor and, even worse, Im black. My stomach hurts so Im looking for a purse to snatch.

Low-income children in low-income neighborhoods with less than 5% of managerial/professional neighbors also had lower scholastic achievement and school readiness.

Note: I REALLY REALLY REALLY didnt like the idea that low-income people need these doctors, lawyers, engineers in their neighborhood so their children can see who they should aspire too. But, this study opened my eyes to the value in children, especially little black boys to have people they can look up to who look like them and WANT to mentor them like Chris from Dreaming Out Loud.

Higher rates of non-marital childbearing were attributed to multiple factors: (1) lack of managerial/professional neighbors; (2) unemployment; or (3) no parental supervision.

High SES Neighborhood Bullet 3. Kids are adorable but can be some of the meanest people on Earth. More reports of depression or being withdrawn may be attributed to the higher level of peer-rejection. 7

Separate, but Equal?

The Does segregated housing mean schools article mentioned that metropolitan areas tend to have more issues with school integration. For this portion of the presentation were going to focus on NY because it has THE MOST segregated school system in the country.

NYC students in racially-isolated areas are more likely to attend schools with higher percentages of low-income students, which segregates kids by race and class.

In 2011, about 1,332,730 NYC children are low-income. Thats 47.5% of the student population. That same year, a substantially higher representation of low-income students were enrolled in minority segregated schools. White students attended schools where less than 30% of the school was low-income. But Black and Latino students attended schools where almost 70% of their classmates were low-income. This creates a system in which students aren't allowed to socialize with students who look different than them.

Some say that factors like less qualified and less experienced teachers, less stability in the teaching force, less successful peers, inadequate facilities and resources contribute to the inequalities found in schools.

Discussion: Are we creating a caste-like system in which low-income and minority students receive an inferior education?8

Is it All About Neighborhood?KEARKIERCERCEARCARE

DONT CLICK WHEN ON THIS SLIDE! CLICK AFTER THE DISCUSSION

Social science researchers have multiple methods of testing whether a neighborhood has a bad effect on children. Some look at the amount of professionals living in a low-income v. high-income area and then look and the childrens behavior and relate the two. Others looks to other influences OUTSIDE of the neighborhood like parents, families, peers and schools and those factors cause the neighborhood to have a different effect on the child.

Discussion: What do you guys think?

CLICK NOW. This is very interesting to me, because I dont have a large social network like the one Nadine referenced in her article and I think my family is more of a motivating factor for me than anything else. I could come home with a 97 on a test and shed be like, what happened to the other 3 points. My neighborhood was additional motivation to get out and do better. But even in high-crime, poverty-ridden areas where most affordable housing is available for low-income families and their children, research shows that its better for children to have some place as opposed to no place.

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Preserve Affordable Housing, Save the FutureIf affordable housing is preserved for low-income families there may beLess frequent, involuntary movesAn opportunity for low-income children to gain benefits of being in a mixed or high-income neighborhoodHigher rates of H.S. Graduation Less stress among parents in overcrowded homesReduced housing related health-hazardsReduced homelessnesshttps://youtu.be/yt54wOBoeQM?t=4m13s

People move for all sorts of reasons. To be in better neighborhoods. Got better job offers. But for a certain segment of the population, low-income people, they move because of eviction, foreclosure, gentrification (not being able to keep up with the rising rental costs). When these moves occur frequently and during pivotal educational milestones, children suffer. They suffer from chronic absences, inability to study, loss of peer networks, stress, some develop behavioral problems. Additionally, these frequent moves can put stress on a teachers teaching plan. Some students are on one topic and other students are on others. Teachers start to change the way they teach in order to try to get the whole class on the same page so more time is focused on review and the class may have to stay on topics longer, then curricula slows. The students who came in at a proficient or higher level tended to decline when they attend a school in a lower-income neighborhood.

Bullet-point 2: I think this point is interesting and wanted to open the floor up for comments. The "Neighborhoods they live in" article suggest that low-income schools and high-income schools are creating two classes of students. White low-income children in higher income neighborhoods with managerial/professional neighbors had higher IQ, verbal ability and reading recognition. But AA low-income children in the same neighborhoods with managerial/professional neighbors did not have that effect.

? - Discussion: Why do you all think that white low-income students are benefiting from having managerial/professional neighbors and others are not?

Overcrowding: one person per room (excluding BA). Parents are detached. No space to do HW. Noise. More behavioral problems. Reduction in IQ. Poor literacy.

Maintaining decent affordable housing can lead to less health hazards for children. When affordable housing is molded, infested and saturated with lead based paint the children are exposed to health problems that negatively impact their education. For example, kids get asthma or asthma-like symptoms. Renovation, upkeep and programs like Lead Safe DC all help to ensure that low-income kids in affordable housing dont experience these problems.

Play the video at 4:13 end at 6:5110

Solutions?Mixed-Income HousingMixed-Use HousingInclusionary ZoningBuild public housing near stronger schoolsDiversity-Focused Admission Policies

Recently Seven schools in NY have been able to change their admission requirements so that they can set aside a percentage (10-60) of their seats to low-income students, english learners, children with incarcerated parents or students in the child-welfare system. Considering that prior to this plan only one school in BK had a diversity-focused admission policy, this is an upgrade. However, the 7 schools only .16% of the NYC public school system.

How do we balance parents wants and what they think is best for their children? In BK, an affluent, pre-dominately white school was being re-zoned. And the re-zoning allowed for AA, majority low-income students to go to these schools. They put up the BIGGEST stink about it. Similarly, parents in wards 1 and 5 in DC were upset about the homeless shelter opening and whether children from the 38 families thatd be housed at the shelter would actually go to school with their children. Is this a cop-out though?

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Playing the Admissions Game

Playing the Admissions GameGPA: 67.1SAT combined: 1910/24003 High Schools in 4 yearsSome work experience No extracurricular activities

Decisions, Decisions

Mean GPA: 76.7Peer-School Mean SAT: 769Educational Opportunity Program

Average GPA: 3.7Average SATMath 575Critical Reading 561Writing 562Conditional Admit Program95% of students were top 10%SAT ranges600-800 in each sectionNo specific program for admitting low-income students

Playing the Admissions Game

(Un)Equal Opportunityhttps://youtu.be/fQ1ajpiy09E

In the running in place article, the authors research show that there have been overall advances in education among all students however, less affluent students are saturating community colleges. Nothing weve read or in my readings mention this though. Is this strange to anyone?16

Running In PlaceAfrican-American and low-income students take out more loans, more often, to finance their educationLow-Income BA holders earn 95% more than a HS gradMiddle-Income BA holders earn 162% more than a HS grad

84% of Pell Grant recipients are in debt when they graduate. Only 46% of non-pell grant recipents are in debt when they graduate.

Earning (x) more than a HS grad over the course of their career

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A Possible Solution

Hope ScholarshipFree tuition at a state school if 2 of the 3 criteria are fulfilled - GPA: 3.0SAT: 1100+ Rank in the top 30% of the class

Does anyone know what flag this is?

TX, MI,CA top 4% are guaranteed a seat at atleast one of the UC schools, FL - top 20% guaranteed admission to atleast one of the UF schools18