The New Reality for Suburban Schools: How Suburban Schools Are Struggling With Low-Income Students and Students of Color in Their Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: Disparities, Criminalization, and Microaggressions: The Struggles of Minority Youth in U.S. Schools

Abstract

One of the most effective strategies for meeting the needs of low income students and students of color is strong teacher-student relationships. Yet, with external accountability demands on schools, very few prioritize relationship-building as a strategy to improve academic achievement. In suburban schools where there are increasingly high populations of low income students, it is important to understand how schools define, form, and support teachers and students in building strong relationships. This paper shares research conducted in three, inner ring suburban middle schools outside a city on the east coast with high populations of low income students and students of color to illuminate the struggles that schools have building relationships with their poor students and students of color.

Author

• Jessica Shiller, Towson University