More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
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I teach in the southwest side of a major inner city in the Midwest that has faced major budget cuts. I currently teach 6 classes of English Language Arts to a population of students who have been under-served and under-prepared for college. The school is of high needs since more than 85% of the student families are under the poverty line. The community I teach in faces high crime and gang violence that places so much pressure and stress for my students. Currently, there is only a 50% high school graduation rate in my city and as a middle school teacher, I want to be able to empower, academically prepare, and strengthen my students so that they will excel and graduate from high school and succeed in college. Due to poverty, many of my students do not get a chance to travel outside of the city and I want to be able to take them on a world tour through literature and like Paulo Freire says, through literature "read the word and read the world". Reading liberates and empowers!
About my class
I teach in the southwest side of a major inner city in the Midwest that has faced major budget cuts. I currently teach 6 classes of English Language Arts to a population of students who have been under-served and under-prepared for college. The school is of high needs since more than 85% of the student families are under the poverty line. The community I teach in faces high crime and gang violence that places so much pressure and stress for my students. Currently, there is only a 50% high school graduation rate in my city and as a middle school teacher, I want to be able to empower, academically prepare, and strengthen my students so that they will excel and graduate from high school and succeed in college. Due to poverty, many of my students do not get a chance to travel outside of the city and I want to be able to take them on a world tour through literature and like Paulo Freire says, through literature "read the word and read the world". Reading liberates and empowers!