Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

As I was scanning research articles, I came across an article titled Poverty Puts Struggling Readers in Jeopardy, written by Cindy Long.   The article talked about when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn.  The article suggests experts believe this transformation takes place during third grade.  There is a concern because at least two-thirds of these students are not reading at a third grade level; thus reduces the chances for graduating.   There is link within the article that directs you to a new study How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation, written by Donald Hernandez.  The study identifies poverty as the compounding problem.   The study revealed that minority groups with poor reading skills and living in poverty is eight times more likely to become drop outs; thereby, placing these children in double jeopardy.

I found this to be an interesting article because too many children never get the opportunity to rise above poverty due to lack of education.   It is imperative that we come together as a community to help educate these children so that they too will gain the necessary tools needed to survive.   Poverty is a national epidemic that is rapidly spreading and if we don’t do something as a nation to help these children, our children will continue to suffer and our country will continue to decline.   As professionals, we need to empower our children by making sure they are capable of assimilating and understanding texts and apply their understanding of the text to draw conclusions and make evaluations and decisions.  The good news is that children’s inability to read has brought about great recognitions due to the number of students dropping out of school; President Bush was committed to ensuring that every child could read by the end of third-grade and now President Obama is campaigning to “Putting Reading First.”  With such prestigious investors supporting positive educational outcomes, we are sure to see a decrease in poverty stricken families and an increase in student graduates.   

Long, C. (2011, April 12). Poverty puts struggling readers in double
            jeopardy. National Education Association. Retrieved from

http://neapriorityschools.org/2011/04/12/poverty-puts-struggling-

            readers-in-double-jeopardy/

My Personal Research Journey

Chosen Topic:

I chose to focus on the impact high-quality programs have on poverty stricken preschooler’s cognitive development.   I chose this topic because the earlier the seed is planted, the better chances for these children to be successful in life.  These are the most critical years for development to take place and we as professionals need to take advantage of this time to ensure we lay a strong foundation in which children will be able to continue building upon.  We have so many children and their families living in poverty today.  Many end up falling through the cracks, but I believe that if we get out in our communities and advocate for the well-being of these children, some will be able to rise above poverty.  If we miss these opportunities, we may never be able to get them back or spend extra time and money trying to catch up.  We can start by advocating for more funding to support social services for both the children and their families. 

I found the chart to be somewhat challenging when having to define the words using my own words, but I enjoyed the assignment.  I think this was a very useful tool and I will be more apt to remember the words and their meaning.  I think the most challenging part of the assignment was narrowing down my sub-topic.  I don’t know how many times I changed it.  Finally, I decided to start writing about what I wanted to gain more information about and then I was better able to narrow down the subtopic.  After researching my topic I realized why it’s so important to narrow the topic down.  Wow! I was all over the place trying to cite other scholar’s findings to support my interest.   This process I found to be very time consuming. One insightful piece of information I gained through the research process this week and that is, I couldn’t gain access to some of the journals.  I went to a couple of sites and the only way to gain access is by purchasing the book or journal or paying a price to gain access for a certain amount of time.  I started thinking to myself, this must be the authentic research. 

I most definitely welcome any insight or references you may be willing to share with me to make this course/process easier and in return, I will provide any insight or references I feel can be a benefit to you as well.