To get a deeper understanding of the income achievement gap, I interviewed Ms. Kelsick, currently the 11th grade English teacher at Environmental Charter High School (ECHS) and Dr. Taylor, the principal of ECHS, who both have worked with students who come from low- communities. Ms. Kelsick had a first experience working with students that lived in poverty in her previous job as an English teacher in a public school in the South of the Bronx. It had been her first teaching experience; working with low-income students was very difficult because of the effects of poverty (lack of motivation, chronic tardiness, display of inappropriate behavior, dangerous environments) keeping students behind academically. Ms. Kelsick understood where these students were coming from. Living in South of the Bronx known, as the poorest neighborhood in New York was not easy. She approached this situation by meeting halfway with the student. Since most students were not up to 5 grade levels behind from where they were required to be she tried to still give them easier reading material that would still give them a challenge and making them read out loud. Ms. Kelsick paid attention to the needs of the students, such as her proven dedication to help the students despite the obstacles she faced in this environment. She noticed the improvements her students made in their writing and reading skills and tests. She worked there for 5 years and now currently is a teacher in ECHS. Dr. Taylor has been working in ECHS for 12 years. She talked about how ECHS has given equal access to resources to all students regardless of their racial and economical background. ECHS is a small learning community; it makes it easier to make sure all students’ needs are met. All students have a period for advisory where students meet with their teacher mentors who check the students’ progress and are there to provide any help that is needed. Dr. Taylor also talked about problems with funding that low-income communities face. Schools in low-income communities are not given much more funds than schools in high-income communities. These schools in low-income communities lack the funding to keep afterschool programs that are richening to students. Dr. Taylor said that there is new laws that are coming in effect that will give funds to schools based on need. Perhaps this will have a positive effect to students in those learning environments.
Interviewing both Ms. Kelsick and Dr. Taylor was helpful because I learned things other than statistics on my topic. They gave me insight and reinforced that creating a tutoring/mentoring program would be helpful for students. Most of the things I picked up are that students in low-income communities have more needs that need to be attended to due to obstacles they face. They need a more personalized approach in helping them, which I want to do for the tutoring service we are creating.
Creating this mentor/tutoring program will give students in low-income communities the resources and opportunity to gain skills that will be beneficial for when they enter higher education. Hopefully. My colleagues and I inspire others to follow in our footsteps and keep our tutoring programs going and keep improving it. I learned that offering my time to students who are struggling academically could have an impact. Poverty is not easy task to find a solution to but we must tackle this issue part by part. Education is the way out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Helping these students know how important it is to help them will send them the message that education is important and something they should try to strive in.
