Poverty 101: Breaking the Iron Cage of Poverty
(Room Hyatt Regency C)
22 Jan 19
1:30 PM
-
5:00 PM
Tracks:
Student Achievement
Born into migrant-labor poverty, Donna Beegle grew up not knowing the words her teachers used or understanding the examples provided to explain them. Education was an additional stress on an already over-stressed life, so Dr. Beegle dropped out of high school in her freshman year and got married. After continuing to live in extreme poverty and homelessness, she returned to school at age 26 to get her GED, and—within 10 short years—achieved her doctorate in Educational Leadership. Like Dr. Beegle, many students living in poverty have received strong messages that they are not smart and have internalized the poverty impacts as personal deficiencies. In this engaging workshop, Dr. Beegle will provide a knowledge base of poverty necessary for improving educational success and a shared understanding of what students need in order to develop to their full potential. Participants will gain tools for recognizing how the many different life experiences of poverty have an impact on education and what can be done to improve outcomes. Dr. Beegle will explore policy choices that are (and are not) making an impact on the lives of students in poverty. She will also share examples of schools that are implementing her strategies and having success in removing poverty-related obstacles as well as explore the action steps for creating a vision for the district, formulating a professional development plan for teachers, and producing the types of policies that improve the educational outcomes for all students. In addition, Dr. Beegle will discuss what administrators and board members can do to become community leaders in developing the systems and partnerships necessary for assisting students and families who live in the crisis of poverty.