In this course, teachers will learn how poverty hurts children, families, and communities and how schools can improve academic achievement and life readiness for students coming from poverty. Author Eric Jensen’s research demonstrates that chronic exposure to poverty can result in negative changes to the brain, but equally how this ability of the brain to change can result in success for economically disadvantaged students when given the right circumstances. Teachers will learn how to create a rich, balanced learning environment and strong teacher-student relationships that have the potential to change the trajectory of students’ lives for the better.

At the completion of this course, the learner will be able to:

• Evaluate poverty and how it affects students’ brains and their performance in school. InTASC 3
• Interpret what drives change at a school/district level and also on a student-brain level. InTASC 1,5
• Recommend effective strategies from those who have succeeded and ways to replicate those best practices in his/her own school. InTASC 1,2,9
• Engage the resources necessary to make change happen for students coming from poverty. InTASC 9,10