EDLD 5388 - Diverse Learners, critique of POVERTY IS NOT A LEARNING DISABILITY

The chapters focuses on the following key points: Diversity Poverty School Readiness Lack of Parent Involvement Deficit Perceptions Special Education and NCLB  I will discuss each segment as I read it. Sadly, the book was a bit of a downer for me as it only underscored much of what is prevalent in academic circles as it pertains to education. A former student of mine carries a doctorate in History from Texas Tech University in Lubbock and teaches at the collegiate level in addition to research in his field. He and I had talked on numerous occasions about education and higher learning and once he told me, “Daniel, this is why the rest of the academic world thumbs their nose at the College of Education. When you read their research it is full of assumptions, opinions, and puffery. Often the work isn’t cited thoroughly. And, they infer so much of what they count as fact. There is little in the way of scientific application going on.” (C. DeMars, personal communication, October 2011). This type of truth was what I found in this chapter of this book. Diversity Focus is on demographics and other statistics in schools from 2000-2009. However, there was exactly one citation available to offer veracity to any of the “findings”. The authors wrote that “Blacks, Hispanics, and children from, a wide array of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures now make up nearly half of students nationwide and are the dominant majorities in many of the schools in low-income (low SES) neighborhoods.” (Howard, Dresser, & Dunklee, 2009, pp. 5-6). The citation is mine from the book, not the author’s. Maybe it’s just me, but I have been pounded for the past eight EDLD classes (24 credit hours) to cite responsibly and now I’m being asked to critique a book that doesn’t do so. So, that is one of my critiques. As for the content of the chapter, there is ample information pointing to an ever increasing number of low SES and English as a Second Language (ESL) students in America. Poverty The author informs the reader that, “Recent statistics reveal that an additional 1.3 million children fell into poverty between 2000 and 2005, the most recent dates for which data is available.” (Howard, Dresser, & Dunklee, 2009, p. 6.). That is awesome, except for the facts that we don’t know such as what is the original number that this additional 1.3 million exceeds, and where did this most recent data come from? I digress. I will attempt to find the positives in the selection, but the assignment does ask for a critique. In this light I venture onward! Briefly, there are a lot of poor students. School Readiness Briefly, poverty affects children’s readiness to begin school in a negative way. I’m sorry, but I have to discuss one sentence from this section in a touch more detail. “The school readiness of children living in poverty may be seriously affected by their economic circumstances.” (Howard, Dresser, & Dunklee, 2009, p. 8). WOW…that is AMAZING! How did the authors ever come up with such an in-depth insight? You mean to tell me that poverty is affected by economic circumstances? Simply amazing analysis! Lack of Parent Involvement The authors cite numerous studies in this section that all point towards low SES parents having a lack of ability to adequately prepare their children for school. The main concern was the amount of time that a parent(s) could spend with the child(ren) while working. Sometimes the work was at multiple jobs. Deficit Perceptions This section focused on a lack of understanding on the part of teachers. The authors postulate that man teachers do not understand that children in low SES homes come to school unprepared to learn. Special Education and NCLB The authors explain that there is a growing number of children with learning disabilities. After quoting a bit of data, some of which was cited, the author throws out yet another assumption to the reader, “Is it possible that teachers are reaching out to learning disability specialists to intervene with those children whose only disability is low school readiness?” (Howard, Dresser, & Dunklee, 2009, p. 11). Sure it may be possible, but: The author didn’t back any of that thought up with research This attempts to skew data into a preferential light to fit the author’s premise Why even add something that is a “maybe” that can’t be proven? The authors are not huge fans of NCLB, and that makes me smile! ------------- Howard, T., Dresser, S. G., & Dunklee, D. R. (2009). Poverty is not a learning disability: Equalizing opportunities for low SES students. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Corwin.

1. Identify the principal competencies and supporting standards involved or implicated in the reading, (e.g., Competency 3, Learner-Centered Values and Ethics of Leadership), including the following standards:

• Model and promote the highest standard of conduct, ethical principles, and integrity in decision making, actions, and behaviors;
• Apply legal guidelines to protect the rights of students and staff and to improve learning opportunities for all.)
• Serve as an advocate for all children.

Model and promote the highest standard of conduct, ethical principles, and integrity in decision making, actions, and behaviors; Authors either didn’t cite material used or made HUGE assumptions. This doesn’t seem ethical or full of integrity. Apply legal guidelines to protect the rights of students and staff and to improve learning opportunities for all.) See above, I hope this isn’t plagiarism. Serve as an advocate for all children. This is great, all children need our care and protection. If an educator doesn’t wish to be an advocate for every child in their care why are they involved in this profession? Competency 001 The principal knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community. create a campus culture that sets high expectations, promotes learning, and provides intellectual stimulation for self, students, and staff respond appropriately to diverse needs in shaping the campus culture use various types of information (e.g., demographic data, campus climate inventory results, student achievement data, emerging issues affecting education) to develop a campus vision and create a plan for implementing the vision. Competency 002 The principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student success. communicate effectively with families and other community members in varied educational contexts develop and implement strategies for effective internal and external communications provide varied and meaningful opportunities for parents/caregivers to be engaged in the education of their children communicate and work effectively with diverse groups in the school community to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity for educational success

2.     How might you apply what you learned from these chapters in your role as an administrator or educational leader?

 

I most likely would not utilize this book. There are too many assumptions and leaps taken for my taste. What I would use from this book is a few key points to do further study on that might offer more concrete evidence to lean on, such as school preparedness of incoming kindergarten students.