Reaching and teaching students in poverty : strategies for erasing the opportunity gap

Summary: This influential book describes the knowledge and skills teachers and school administrators need to recognize and combat bias and inequity that undermine educational engagement for students experiencing poverty. The Second Edition features two new chapters--"Embracing a Structural View of Poverty and Education: Ditching Deficit Ideology and Quitting Grit" and "Cultivating School Change through Equity Literacy: Commitments and Strategies for School and District Leaders"--Plus extensive revisions throughout based on newly available research and lessons from the author's professional development work. Gorski outlines the dangers of "grit" and deficit perspectives as responses to educational disparities; offers research-informed, on-the-ground strategies for teaching and leading with equity literacy; and provides expanded lists of resources and readings to support transformative equity work in high-poverty and mixed-class schools. Written in an engaging, conversational style that makes complex concepts accessible, this book will help readers learn how to recognize and respond to even the subtlest inequities in their classrooms, schools, and districts. -- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780807758793
ISBN: 0807758795
ISBN: 9780807776728
Physical Description: print
xix, 232 pages ; 24 cm
Edition: Second edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Teachers College Press, [2018]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction -- Definitions and Distinctions -- Two Important Conceptual Shifts -- Remainder of the Book -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 2. Imagining Equitable Classrooms and Schools for Students Experiencing Poverty: An Equity Literacy Approach -- Introducing Equity Literacy -- What the "Equity" Means in Equity Literacy -- Four Abilities of Equity Literacy -- Equity Literacy Principles for Educators -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 3. Inequity Mess We're In: A Class and Poverty Primer -- Poverty Awareness Quiz -- Introduction to Poverty, Wealth, and Economic Inequality -- Unequal Distribution of Poverty -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 4. Embracing a Structural View of Poverty and Education: Ditching Deficit Ideology and Quitting Grit -- Poverty Attribution and the Importance of Ideology -- Dangers of Deficit Ideology -- Meet Deficit Ideology's Cousin, Grit -- Hope of Structural Ideology -- Exercise in Structural Framing and Language -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 5. Trouble with the "Mindset of Poverty" and Other Stereotypes about People Experiencing Poverty -- Hint of Truth? The Nature of Poverty Stereotyping -- Misperceivers Are We: Questioning Common Stereotypes about Families Experiencing Poverty -- Dangers of Stereotypes and Stereotype Threat -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 6. Class Inequities Beyond School Walls and Why They Matter at School -- Unlevel Playing Field of Poverty -- Why the "Achievement Gap" Is Really an Opportunity Gap -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 7. Achievement---er, Opportunity---Gap in School -- Great Unequalizer? -- Opportunity Gaps and Neoliberal School Reform -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 8. Teaching Students Experiencing Poverty in Effective, Equitable, and Even Data-Informed Ways: Curricular and Pedagogical Strategies -- Couple Caveats -- Instructional Strategies That Work -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 9. Mother of All Strategies: Nurturing Equity-Informed Relationships with Students and Families -- Equity-Informed Relational Commitments -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 10. Cultivating School Change through Equity Literacy: Commitments and Strategies for School and District Leaders -- Shaping Institutional Culture around an Ethic of Equity -- Cultivating Equity Literacy in Faculty and Staff -- Creating Policies and Practices to Redistribute Access and Opportunity -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises -- 11. Expanding Our Spheres of Influence: Advocating Change for the Educational and Societal Good -- Policy Advocacy for Educational Equity -- Policy Advocacy for Societal Justice -- Conclusion -- Reflection Questions and Exercises.