The Effect of Poverty on Student Achievement

At a Glance There is a strong relationship between students’ socioeconomic status and their levels of academic achievement. Although educators should be held accountable for improving the performance of all students, including those living in poverty, schools alone can’t eliminate the negative factors associated with poverty that lead to a large achievement gap between low income students and their more affluent peers. Factors that have a negative effect on poor students’ achievement but are beyond schools’ control include a higher incidence of prenatal adversity, illness and injury, exposure to pollutants, nutritional problems, residential mobility, and a lack of educational activities and materials in the home. This Information Capsule reviews studies conducted on the relationship between poverty and student achievement, including the effects of both individual poverty and school poverty concentration on academic performance. Research indicates that low income students tend to have significantly lower levels of academic achievement than their more affluent peers. The number of disadvantaged students attending a school also affects student performance: students at all income levels have been found to have lower levels of achievement when they attend schools with high poverty concentrations. Data collected within Miami-Dade County Public Schools confirmed that as poverty concentrations in the District’s schools increase, academic performance declines. Finally, strategies to help schools raise low income students’ achievement levels are summarized.