Reading Matters Winter 2019

Supporting the Literacy Development of Young Children Living in Rural Poverty

By Kavin Ming, Tenisha Powell, & Tammy Burnham, Winthrop University

Reading Matters Place Matters

Sometimes Poverty Can Be Felt to the Bones

48% of this group qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

South Carolina ranks fourth in rural needs with many other southeastern states in the top ten as well. In addition, rural children are more likely to be in deep poverty which is defined as an income level that is 50% of the federal poverty level (Showalter, Klein, Johnson, & Hartman, 2017). Deep poverty is ingrained and expected as a generational way of life that is more difficult to escape and leads to this sense of hopelessness (Cuthrell, Stapleton, & Ledford, 2010). This can have an impact on the family as it is tied to high unemployment and low per capita income. For many in rural communities, deep poverty is exacerbated by lack of public transportation, lack of technology resources, and other factors (Drake, 2001). Because of a vulnerability to regional and national economies, families often suffer personal difficulties that are hard to recover from and the cycle of poverty continues (Wolf, Magnuson, & Kimbro, 2017). The South and Southeast regions of the United States hold the highest levels of rural poverty, with 25% of the rural population living in poverty. Five of the top ten ‘needy’ states are located in the Southeast. South Carolina ranks fourth in rural needs with 68% of its rural children living in low-income families (Showalter, Klein, Johnson, & Hartman, 2017). The most concentrated levels of poverty are found in the most remote areas that are farthest away from metropolitan cities. Most of these communities have a population of less than 2,500 residents (O’Hare, 2009). Unfortunately, the rural poor are more likely to stay in poverty for a longer amount of time, and the consequences of poverty will linger through generations of a family because of reduced opportunities for education or employment (O’Hare, 2009). Demographically, whites tend to be in rural poverty at a rate of 57% with African Americans following at 21% and Hispanics at 15%. The level of parents’ education in rural communities also contrasts with national statistics with only 20% of these parents holding a college degree and 37% being high school dropouts (O’Hare, 2009). Not only does rural poverty affect employment, income, and the health of the family but the effects of poverty have severe consequences on the children’s education. According to the Report from the Center on Education Policy under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which has been renamed the Every Child Succeeds Act (ESSA), 68% of rural schools have an achievement gap in Language Arts. Under NCLB it is hard to attract and maintain qualified teachers in rural communities because of fewer attractions and fewer cultural opportunities. The federal government provides

It was a 39 º January morning in 2005 and the elementary students in this southeastern region of the United States scurried to their classrooms to get out of the cold. As the first author stood in one of the outside hallways directing traffic, she saw one little boy without a jacket. She quickly called him over to find out why he was not wearing one. He looked up at her, and through chattering teeth said, “I do not have one.” She urged him to hurry to class, and as he walked away her bones ached, not because of the cold, but because of the thought of how this little boy must have felt walking in the cold without a jacket. The needs of many students in this Title 1 school were great, and on this cold winter morning, the physical needs of this particular student were painfully evident. What Does it Mean to Live in Rural Poverty? The issue of children living in poverty continues to plague our country. One in five children lives below the poverty threshold of $24,600 annually for a family of four. A child has a greater risk of living in poverty than any other age group in our society, including the elderly (Bryant, 2010). These statistics are crucial because children in poverty struggle to become capable and productive workers, parents, and citizens. The child’s health, cognitive development, educational outcomes, and emotional stability are all at a higher risk of suffering setbacks due to living in poverty (Ujifusa, 2012). Across all indicators of healthy development, socioeconomic status (SES) is the top measure in determining a child’s well- being (UNICEF, 2005). One of the negative effects of poverty is that children become numb to their environments, developing a sense of learned helplessness where nothing changes, and failures are repeated through the generations. Children are taught by their families to endure pronounced disappointments while surviving day-to-day using passive actions which often lead to depression. The hope of something changing oftentimes dissipates and children learn to live with the low expectations of life that their family has accepted (Reglin, 2002). Although urban poverty has been a persistent focus of concern for the last twenty years, child poverty rates are higher in rural communities than in urban areas in the United States (O’Hare, 2009). Eight million nine hundred thousand students attend rural schools, and according to the Why Rural Matters 2015-2016 Report (Showalter, Klein, Johnson, & Hartman, 2017), 29% of rural students live below the poverty level with

Reading Matters | Volume 19 Winter 2019 | scira.org | 19

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