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The brief, Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success by David C. Berliner, reviews seven major (OSF) that impact student achievement. He introduces the article by explaining how the NCLB act is creating imbalance in the ways in which educators seek to close the achievement gap, relating directly to (OSF).

Brief summary of the seven Out of school factors discussed:

1.) Low birth weight and prenatal influences-examines how factors such as multiple births causing low birth weights, lack of vaccinations, intrauterine drug/alcohol exposure, mothers elevated stress levels, and lack of adequate prenatal nutrition negatively affect student’s behavioral and cognitive development.

2.) Medical care and schooling- discusses the impact that inadequate medical care has on student achievement. In addition to excessive absences, when basic medical needs such as vision and dental are not met, academic performance suffers.

3.) Food insecurities- explains the correlation between hunger, poor diet, and food insecurities and student achievement. Students who’s basic Physiological are not being met are not able to perform as well academically. http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm

4.) Pollutants and schooling- looks at the direct effect that exposure to different forms of pollutants, such as mercury, incinerators, pesticides, PCB, and different forms of air pollution has on student achievement. It was stated that students from minority or low SES families encountered more exposure to pollutants, negatively impacting academic performance.

5.) Family relations, stress, schooling- discusses the negative impact of familial alcohol/drug abuse, as well as domestic violence, consequently causing emotional problems hindering full academic potential. http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2531/Violence-Children-s-Exposure.html

6) Neighborhood norms and schooling- examines how neighborhood responsibility/collective efficacy impact student performance, as well as the impact of student mobility rates.

7.) Extended learning opportunities and achievement- explains the benefit that summer and afterschool programming has on student academic success. It can provide excellent learning opportunities with positive benefits for children. One downfall mentioned was that programs are not always available to the students from poorer families who may be in the highest amount of need.

As a CPS teacher serving low SES students on the south side of the Chicago, many of my students are faced with several these OSF on a daily basis. I found this brief to be especially interesting since I am faced with issues such as the ones mentioned in the article on a daily basis. I try to help my students work around these barriers in order to achieve their full academic success, which is not always an easy task. I found this study to be a very insightful description of OSF that so many of our youth are dealing with, and am delighted that professional writings are being published to draw attention to these very relevant issues.