This influential book describes the knowledge and skills teachers, school administrators, and other educators need to combat the bias and inequity that deny students experiencing poverty the levels of educational access and opportunity their wealthier peers often enjoy.

Written in an engaging, conversational style that makes complex concepts accessible and actionable, this book will help readers learn how to identify and eliminate even the subtlest inequities in their classrooms, schools, and districts. The third edition features extensive revisions based on the most recent research and lessons learned from the author’s professional development work. Enhancements include an extended summary of Gorski’s equity literacy framework; several new narrative case scenarios; a new section detailing how schools unintentionally “punish poverty”; a revised Poverty Awareness Quiz; and updated strategies throughout to assist today’s K–12 teachers, school administrators, counselors, and social workers.

Book Features:

• Offers a research-informed alternative to popular books about poverty and education that focus on adjusting something about students experiencing poverty rather than making classrooms and schools more equitable.
• Describes evidence-based strategies and practices that strengthen equitable education access for students experiencing poverty.
• Incorporates narrative case scenarios that help readers practice recognizing subtle bias and inequity in common viewpoints and programs.
• Embraces an intersectional view of poverty and class by addressing how it interacts with race, gender, sexual orientation, and other dimensions of identity and experience.

Paul C. Gorski is the founder of the Equity Literacy Institute and The Art of Reach. He is an author and educator who has worked with schools in 48 states and more than a dozen countries.

“This book is a thoughtful and empowering wellspring of practical and actionable guidance intertwined with up-to-date research and policy insights. It is a vital resource on serving students experiencing homelessness for all our schools, districts, and communities!"
—Alexandra E. Pavlakis, associate professor of education policy and leadership, Southern Methodist University

“Gorski provides the most lucid and constructive discussion of anyone writing about poverty in education today. After delving into impacts of institutionalized poverty on students and schools, Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty gives teachers a wealth of meaningful and practical actions they can take.”
—Christine Sleeter, professor emerita, California State University Monterey Bay, and coauthor of Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools

“An insightful, penetrating tour de force of Paul Gorski’s major school reform approach ‘equity literacy.’ Via excellent communicative clarity, Gorski presents a solid integration of theory and praxis that shows how teachers can acquire the four characteristics of equity literacy—desire, knowledge, skills, and will. This gem of a book is designed for all educators, but especially for K–12 social justice–oriented teachers with asset-based perspectives who teach students experiencing poverty.”
—Richard R. Valencia, professor emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin, author of Achieving Equal Educational Opportunity for Students of Color

“As always, Paul Gorski's work is as accessible and practical as it is provocative and inspiring. This edition of Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty is his latest clarion call to action with powerful, research-based strategies and vivid vignettes that will stick with readers long after they've turned the last page. Whether you're new to this work or a longtime educator committed to ensuring equity and justice for all students, prepare to be moved and motivated.”
—Katy Swalwell, founder and president, Past Present Future Consulting & Media

"This book is not just informative. It is a blueprint for becoming the kind of educator whose practice is built upon the understanding that sustained academic excellence cannot happen without intentional and strategic caring."
—Cornelius Minor, co-founder, The Minor Collective

Contents

Series Foreword James A. Banks  xiii

Acknowledgments  xix

 1.  Introduction  1

A Place to Start: Important Shifts in Understanding  3

Definitions and Distinctions  8

The Remainder of the Book  12

Reflection Questions and Exercises  13

 2.  Imagining Equitable Classrooms and Schools for Students Experiencing Poverty: An Equity Literacy Approach  14

Introducing Equity Literacy  20

Frameworks That Help Inform Equity Literacy  23

What the “Equity” Means in Equity Literacy  24

The Five Abilities of Equity Literacy  28

Equity Literacy Principles for Educators  33

Conclusion  43

Reflection Questions and Exercises  43

 3.  The Economic Injustice Mess We’re In: A Class and Poverty Primer  44

Poverty Awareness Quiz  44

An Introduction to Poverty, Wealth, and Economic Inequality  47

The Unequal Distribution of Poverty  54

Conclusion  62

Reflection Questions and Exercises  63

 4.  Ditching Deficit Ideology and Quitting Grit: Embracing a Structural View of Poverty and Education  64

Poverty Attribution and the Importance of Ideology  64

The Dangers of Deficit Ideology  69

Meet Deficit Ideology’s Cousin, Grit  70

The Hope of Structural Ideology  73

An Exercise in Structural Framing and Language  75

Conclusion  77

Reflection Questions and Exercises  77

 5.  The Misunderstandings and Myths That Misdirect Equity Efforts in Schools  79

Debunking the “Culture of Poverty” and Other Absurd Notions  81

A Hint of Truth? The Nature of Poverty Stereotyping  83

Misperceivers Are We: Questioning Common Stereotypes About Families Experiencing Poverty  86

The Dangers of Stereotypes  96

Conclusion  97

Reflection Questions and Exercises  98

 6.  Class Inequities Beyond School Walls and Why They Matter at School  99

The Unlevel Playing Field of Poverty  101

Why the “Achievement Gap” Is Really an Opportunity Gap  114

Conclusion  115

Reflection Questions and Exercises  116

 7.  How Schools Punish Poverty: Learning to Recognize the Achievement—er, Opportunity—Gap  117

How Schools Punish Poverty: The Great Unequalizer?  120

Opportunity Gaps, Neoliberal School Reform, and Attacking “DEI”  133

Conclusion  137

Reflection Questions and Exercises  138

 8.  Teaching Students Experiencing Poverty in Effective, Equitable, and Even Data-Informed Ways: Curricular and Pedagogical Strategies  139

A Couple Caveats  139

Instructional Strategies That Work  140

Conclusion  162

Reflection Questions and Exercises  163

 9.  The Mother of All Strategies: Nurturing Equity-Informed Relationships With Students and Families  164

Equity-Informed Relational Commitments  165

Conclusion  180

Reflection Questions and Exercises  180

10.  Cultivating School Change Through Equity Literacy: Commitments and Strategies for School and District Leaders  182

Shaping Institutional Culture Around an Ethic of Equity  184

Cultivating Equity Literacy in Faculty and Staff  188

Creating Policies and Practices to Redistribute Access and Opportunity  193

Conclusion  197

Reflection Questions and Exercises  197

11.  Expanding Our Spheres of Influence: Advocating Change for the Educational and Societal Good  199

Policy Advocacy for Educational Equity  200

Policy Advocacy for Societal Justice  204

Conclusion  206

Reflection Questions and Exercises  207

Conclusion  208

References  213

Index  245

About the Author  261