Book Description

This study examined teachers' perceptions of the impact of poverty on learning to read and the practices that were utilized to successfully close the reading achievement gap with low socioeconomic students in elementary schools. One hundred nineteen teachers, kindergarten through sixth grades, participated in this study. Data were collected with an online survey and open-ended questions completed by 119 participants, as well as, interviews conducted by a research assistant with five participants. This study identified: (1) teachers' perceptions on how poverty affects learning in reading in grades K-6; (2) instructional strategies that work best to teach reading and support students from low socioeconomic backgrounds; and (3) practices, other than instructional, that are successful in improving reading performance and supporting students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The results suggested that the participating teachers agreed that poverty affected students' achievement in reading and caused deficits in their learning starting at an early age. Furthermore, the results of the study revealed that teacher participants believed that smaller instructional groups, more resources, increased parent involvement, and parental education positively influenced low socioeconomic students' reading achievement. The study also recognized other strategies that teachers perceived helped in closing the reading achievement gap in elementary students. Finally, the findings from this research revealed that teachers recognized the causes of the achievement gap and specific efforts that could assist in shrinking the gap for students living in poverty.