Running head:CHILDHOOD POVERTY

Childhood Poverty
Deric Batt & Micah Jackson
Ball State University

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Childhood Poverty
Childhood is one of the most important developmental periods in an individuals life. It is
during this period individuals often gain their primary interests and curiosities, developing the
drive to pursue a field of interest. It is also in this period where many children start to dedicate
themselves to the attainment of knowledge, which is a gift that often last individuals a lifetime.
Recent research, however, finds children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face certain
difficulties which make academic achievement and the pursuit of their interest more difficult to
maintain. This problem is especially evident in Muncie, Indiana, where childhood poverty rates
are consistently high, especially in some elementary schools and standardized test scores are
rather low. Failing to engage children before these ages can lead to lessened lifetime
achievements for these children, potentially creating a future crisis in the Muncie education
system.
The city of Muncie, Indiana is a mid-sized American city which once served as a hub of
industry. After the shuttering of many manufacturing facilities and automotives plants in the
1990s, Muncie soon found itself as a city ripped from its identity as a manual labor town,
sending much of the long-term manufacturing population into a job market devoid of the
industry they spent many years honing their skills in. With many of these employers gone,
Muncie has slowly become a city of poverty, with present United States Census data estimating
as many as 33.4% of Muncies citizens currently live in poverty, over twice the rate of Indiana as
a whole (15.4%) (United States Cenus Bureau, 2015). While this data illustrates a serious
economic crisis occurring within this city, it also obfuscates a perhaps bigger issue hiding under
the surface.

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While the city of Muncie has an outstanding problem in dealing with poverty, the Muncie
Community School system faces an even bigger concern with children coming from families
under such economic distress. According to data compiled by the Indiana Department of
Education, a total of 71% of students enrolled in Muncie Community Schools presently receive
free or reduced lunch benefits, due to their families socioeconomic position (2015a). For
whatever reason, the Indiana Department of Education has not separated the numbers of students
receiving free meals at school from the numbers of students receiving reduced price lunches at
Indiana schools since 2013. This is interesting, as individuals receiving reduced lunch prices
must belong to a family currently under 185% of the federal poverty guidelines, compared to
individuals who receive free lunch benefits, who have to fall within 130% of the federal poverty
guidelines. Recognizing this, it becomes clear that the degree of financial insecurity individuals
in these families face is astounding different. Utilizing 2013 data, one finds only 7.7% of
students received reduced price lunch benefits, with 65.4% of students receiving free lunch
benefits (Indiana Department of Education, 2015a). These numbers seem to signify the presence
of far more children in families in or very close to poverty; far more than the official poverty
numbers for the city might indicate.
These numbers are alarming, as many current studies indicate that individuals from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds face added difficulties towards attaining high degrees of academic
achievement. A 2005 article published in the Journal of Family Psychology found that the
educational achievement of childrens parents, alongside their socioeconomic status, had a
positive correlation with academic achievement (Davis-Kean, 2005). The tendency for students
from better socioeconomic backgrounds to perform better, while those from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds tend to perform worse, appears to be connected to several factors.

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One study found that families from higher socioeconomic backgrounds tend to have more time to
spend with their children, providing bonding time and opportunities to share in and encourage
academic progress (Lacour & Tissington, 2011). For families in poverty, their economic
insecurities often mean families are subjected to higher levels of stress, making it harder for them
to find the time to spend with their children in this manner. This study also found that access to
educational materials and resources was higher among individuals from better socioeconomic
backgrounds, indicating individuals from poverty may not have access to the fundamental
materials, such as books and educationally stimulating media, that promote the kind of mental
stimulation that individuals from higher socioeconomic statuses enjoy. In this manner, children in
poverty are often at an innate disadvantage compared to children from economically stable
households.
In some manner, this helps explain some of the educational issues we find at some of the
worst off schools in the Muncie Community School system. For example, Grissom Elementary
school, the Muncie Community School with the highest rate of free and reduced lunch
participation (Indiana Department of Education, 2015c), also has the lowest ISTEP+
standardized test scores among the region school system (Indiana Department of Education,
2015b). This highlights the effect that poverty, especially endemic poverty within a school
district, can have on individuals and the community. With the basis of school districts being
small areas in which all children are assigned to a particular school, society has now added
impoverished neighborhoods and communities to the economic barriers these children face in
their pursuit of education and a life free from poverty.
The escape from poverty for many individuals is rather clear: education. Education has
routinely been shown to increase yearly income, lifetime income, and career consistency (Tilak,

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2002). Education, ultimately, is the best tool to help individuals, especially young individuals,
escape poverty. For these children who are presently living in poverty and often living without
educational resources, their long term escape very much appears to be in the very area their
circumstance often hinders them from creating high achievement scenarios. As a society, we
must recognize this tragic set of circumstances, the impoverished having limited access to the
materials best associated with the escape from poverty, and ardently fight to ensure that every
child in poverty has access to educational materials. While we cannot directly affect the parents
ability to spend time fostering their childrens educational interest (although we can certainly
contribute to this through encouraging and aiding families in poverty), we all contain the ability
to advocate for educational access and provide educational literature to these communities.
Education is the key to creating a brighter tomorrow. We must all help shine a light to those who
need it most.

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References
Davis-Kean, P.E. (2005). The influence of parent education and family income on child
achievement: The indirect role of parental expectations and the home environment.
Journal of Family Psychology. 19 (2). 294-304
Indiana Department of Education. (2015a). Corporation enrollment by ethnicity and free/reduced
price meal status. Retrieved from
http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/accountability/corporation-enrollment-ellspecial-education-2006-14.xlsx
Indiana Department of Education. (2015b) ISTEP+ public school results by grade level.
Retrieved from
http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/accountability/historical2014istepschoolpublic_
1.xlsx
Indiana Department of Education. (2015c). School enrollment by ethnicity and free/reduced
price meal status. Retrieved from
http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/accountability/school-enrollment-ethnicity-andfree-reduced-price-meal-status-2006-15.xls
Lacour, M. & Tissington, L.D. (2011). The effects of poverty on academic achievement.
Educational Research and Reviews. 6 (7). 522-527.
Tilak, J. G. (2002). Education and poverty. Journal Of Human Development, 3(2), 191-207.
doi:10.1080/14649880220147301
United States Census Bureau. (2015). Muncie quickfacts. Retrieved from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/18/1851876.html