Students from generational poverty need respect and mentors if they are going to break through the cycle of poverty, and educators can be the key to providing that support, according to Donna Beegle.

“Education continues to be held up as the best escape route from a life of poverty,” she told school leaders during her Assembly session, “Breaking Barriers: Concrete Tools for Working with Students in Poverty.”

Beegle who was raised in severe poverty and was married, divorced, a mother of two, and homeless by the time she was 25, urged principals to create situations that are welcoming to students who come to their schools from a background of poverty. She traced how education was challenging but led her to success.

She reported that studies show these students believe that teachers don’t care about them, judge them as unintelligent, don’t know what to do with them, and humiliate them. She called upon principals to urge teachers to believe in all students and focus on their positives rather than single them out for negative reasons.

Special attention needs to be given to these youngsters’ grammar and vocabulary skills, which typically become barriers to their success in literacy.

“When students from poverty backgrounds enter the world of education, their communication styles are likely to clash with the formal nature of print-culture communication,” she said.

She also urged schools to provide mentors for these students, pointing out that if they have mentors early in life they are far more likely to earn bachelor degrees.

More information about Beegle’s work can be found on her Web site, www.commbarriers.com.