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The Burden of Poverty

A series on poverty in the schools and how it affects students’ learning. We examine the problems poverty creates for students and their families and the schools and strategies that are helping disadvantaged students succeed.

Schools, organizations step up to feed students, families

All Districts Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

Area schools continue to provide free grab and go meals at regular distribution events and community partners are helping to fill in the gaps to make sure everyone is fed during a very challenging time...

A and B student strives for success, from a motel room

Homeless, with Homework Erin Albanese

A homeless Kent County teen talks about stressors, family, schoolwork and life in a motel...

Overcoming homelessness to get her degree, she’s ready to help others

Grads with Grit Erin Albanese

Jordan Lovett, once homeless, graduated from Grand Valley State University with a bachelor’s degree in social work. She is eager to advocate for others facing similar struggles to her own...

Got Breakfast?

All Districts Erin Albanese

Just after the morning school bell rings, West Kelloggsville Elementary School teacher Joy Howard calls up her kindergartners one-by-one to hand them breakfast. They...

Report: Are We Caring for Our Children? Not Well Enough

All Districts Charles Honey

When Carol Paine-McGovern sees child poverty continuing to rise in Kent County, she takes some comfort in the work local schools and their communities...

Wanted: A House We Can Afford

Lowell Morgan Jarema

Dawn Broene is well aware of the challenges of finding affordable housing in the Lowell area. Breone, director of Flat River Outreach Ministries, said the...

Brain Games: Focusing on Memory to Reduce Effects of Poverty

Kelloggsville Erin Albanese

Second-grade teacher Patrick Sokol is working to close gaps in achievement seen in students raised in poverty, and he's zeroing in on helping students...

First Generation College Student Struggles to Fit In

Godfrey-Lee Erin Albanese

Jordan Lovett feels a little like a puzzle piece that doesn't quite fit lately. She sits in the Moose Cafe at Aquinas College holding...

Mom Is ‘Determined to Do It’

Rockford Charles Honey

When Danielle Warner-Cavasos gets an A on a test, she puts it right where her children will see it: on the fridge. That's how much...

Providing Equity in Education Can Mean Everything to a Child

Kent ISD Erin Albanese

In science, a paradigm shift occurs when there is a change in underlying assumptions, when conventional wisdom comes into question as a result of...

Equity Leads to Excellence in Schools, Requires Courage and Tenacity

Kent ISD Erin Albanese

A child's background remains the biggest predictor of his or her success in the classroom, said professor and author Pedro Noguera. But that doesn't...

SNN Series Shows Team Approach Can Help Students Overcome Poverty

Kent ISD Charles Honey

I knew there was poverty up there in northern Kent County, but I didn’t know it felt this cold. Flossie Bliss sat in a plastic...

Lee High School: A Tale of the Need for Equity

Godfrey-Lee Erin Albanese

Lee High School freshman Paul Villarreal wrote down his vocabulary words: "zest," "campaigner," "poliomyelitis" and "delegate" while in the Scholastic READ 180 classroom. The...

Grand Rapids Gets Behind Getting Students to School

Grand Rapids School News Network

Antonio Zavala is the kind of student Grand Rapids Public Schools has been cultivating recently: the kind who comes to school every day, on...

‘You Can Be a Victim or a Victor,’ Homeless Coordinator Tells Teens

Kentwood Erin Albanese

Conversations between Aliya Armstrong and her students usually begin with the same question: "How are you doing?" For the students who show up in Armstrong's...