The percentage of children in Hawaii who live at or below poverty level jumped from 9.9 percent last year to 13.8 percent in the last 12 months — another blow as the public school system struggles to raise student achievement.

The median income for families with children also dropped from $73,000 to $69,000.

These statistics, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest American American Community Survey, are especially relevant to your education reporter-host, because poverty¹ has a number of significant impacts on children and their ability to succeed academically. And a lot of Hawaii’s lowest-performing schools are also located in some of its highest-poverty areas.

Just a few of the stresses poverty can add to a child’s life:

• Poor nutrition. Hungry tummies need to be filled before little intellects can even begin to think about feasting.
• Fewer educational resources at home. Parents worried about making ends meet are less likely to invest in “luxuries” like children’s books, home computers and other tools to enhance learning. They are also less likely to make time to help their children with homework.
• Uncertain living situation. Sometimes when parents can’t meet their children’s basic needs, the children are handed over to aunties and uncles, grandparents or other relatives who can better afford to shelter and feed them. This can mean the children have to change schools and make new friends.
• Increased violence in the home due to financial stress. The violence can distract from homework and cause children to fear adults — even those who are trying to help them.
• Embarrassment. Children who can’t afford to dress and live like their peers have a difficult time interacting with them socially and in a classroom setting.

Amid talk of restructuring and turning around schools, often the childhood poverty aspect is overlooked by those who don’t see its impacts every day. But as I work on a series of articles about schools currently undergoing restructuring, I’ve spoken with at least one complex area superintendent who can barely think beyond her students’ physical needs and providing what are known as “wrap-around” social services.

Lisa DeLong, who oversees the Leeward District complex area, talks of the need to provide or facilitate eye exams, dental care and proper nutrition for children in Nanakuli and Waianae schools. All of these are needs that must be met before the children even step into a classroom and become students. And yet this is her burden, because she knows the students will not learn well until their most basic needs are met. (See: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.)

And yet the Hawaii State Board of Education recently eliminated 10 percent of its social workers, whose primary responsibility is to help bridge the gap for students between a difficult home life and school. Seven of the department’s 69 social workers were laid off in the last nine months in the wake of budget cuts. That brings the ratio of social workers to students to about 1 social worker for every 3,000 students. The National Association of Social Workers says the national standard is 1 per 400. (We are working on a couple of articles about this matter.)

The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss posted some more thoughts about the effects of poverty on student achievement this summer on her Answer Sheet blog. The majority of the post is a letter or e-mail from David Berliner, a professor and educational psychologist who has researched the issue of childhood poverty extensively.