Poverty and brain function

The National School Board Association Blog has some interesting information on how poverty impacts learning. An example:

The study, which will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, suggests that the difference in brain function between low income children and their economically stable peers can represent a gap that rivals the difference between a stroke survivor’s brain and a healthy one. Now that is a big difference!

it’s not up to schools to end poverty among their students. But BoardBuzz believes schools are in a good position to curb the effect that poverty has on the brains of children. For instance, BoardBuzz has seen how much schools can accomplish by providing healthy meals, increased opportunities for physical activity, and access to counseling and psychological services. Schools can better coordinate such programs by implementing Coordinated School Health Programs, an eight component model promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health.

You can read the article here.