Poverty Is NOT a Learning Disability: Equalizing Opportunities for Low SES Students

by Tish Howard (Editor), Sandy Grogan Dresser, Dennis R. Dunklee

These strategies, training resources, and more help improve the performance of students of low socioeconomic status by preventing their misidentification as learning disabled and supporting school-readiness skills.

Genres: Education

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2009

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on recommendation by my principal. While there is a lot of really good stuff in here, it is geared toward admin. It's maybe a good thing to get an inside look at what they are looking for in teachers, it would be more valuable to me to get a more in depth look at the strategies we need in these classrooms. The book does talk about what's needed to make schools like these work, and some of that could be applicable to teachers, but for the most part, teacher jobs are focused on the students and transforming the community surrounding these places really starts with admin. So for that you have to hope that your administration has what it takes. I'm lucky in that mine really does, but see a lot that doesn't quite mesh with their ideas for what works. It does give me some insight in to how I might approach changing that mindset, so for that again, it was worth the read. For those looking for a more pragmatic approach to working in low income schools, I would stick with the classic Fred Jones Tools for Teaching, or taking the few good bits and pieces from Teach Like a Champion and Whole Brain Teaching.

[Ryan Agrimson]

I'm currently reading this book along with 3 others over the course of the next 5 weeks! Talk about a tailspin of information coming at me. Let's see how I can handle it.