.The Beginnings of Poverty & Despair versus Education & Opportunity:
The genesis for this work was the exchanges between the authors on the education of children in poverty. One author, who had years of experience working with children in the inner city of the South Bronx in New York City, questioned the other, with years of experience as an educator, as to what was wrong with the schools and why were they not doing a better job of educating the children of the South Bronx. Many discussions followed on the impact poverty has on student success or the lack thereof. - in school and life beyond school. It became clear that education was the means of escaping poverty and its imbedded inequalities but poverty interfered with accessing that education. A fitting analogy is the use of nausea medications, If one is nauseous, the remedy is to take the medication. Unfortunately, the nausea gets in the way of swallowing the medication in the same way poverty gets in the way of getting an education.
The methodology used in the authors' research and analysis efforts was to [1] gain a comprehensive understanding of the connectivity between poverty and education, [2] determine the outcomes produced by this connectivity and [3] identify the many complex and interrelated factors that interplay between poverty and education.
Having done this, the challenge then became one of 'translating' the results of this methodology into a representation [aka 'model'] suitable for analysis and an enhanced understanding that might lead to the development of relevant, credible and effective 'solutions'. What is a 'solution' in this situation? Integral to this methodology is the awareness that poverty-enabled inequalities - indeed - a spectrum of inequalities - have long and dramatically damaged the overall quality of life for those living in poverty. Another factor of considerable import to those who might care little about the quality of life of the impoverished is the vast sums spent by America and all Americans to essentially maintain families in poverty. Sums that could be used to eliminate poverty. Another question arose, i.e., if poverty were to be eliminated - What then? More than likely, the spectrum of poverty-driven inequalities would be inevitably eliminated as would the triggers within poverty that perpetuate poverty [think in terms of stress induced mental and physical changes]. More families enjoying the American dream and none caught in the nightmare of poverty!
The solution to a given problem depends on clearly identifying and understanding the base cause of the problem. Too often, as we shall see with the case of student test scores, symptoms of a problem can be confused as being the problem. And, as we shall also see, treating symptoms does not correct the base problem but, at best, ameliorates the symptoms for a period of time.
Functional models for education and poverty were developed based on the noted factors - and their dynamic interconnectivity. The term 'dynamic' refers to variations in time and the situational environment - it is crucial that the models embrace the dynamics associated with the network of connectivityas reflected in Figures 10a, 10b, , 10f. The methodology employed consisted of a rigorous literature search complemented by an extensive series of discussions with indivduals and organizations addressing the issues of poverty in the American society. Together, these activities enabled the authors to identify those entities in the arena of poverty and their inter-and intra-linkages; the same approach was also used for the educational arena. These functional models for education and poverty are provided in Figures 11a and 11b.
Looking at the functional model of education [Figure 11a], the most glaring observation is that the spectrum of educational arenas and their respective collateral learning and teaching requirements extends well beyond the traditional and innovative pre-school, elementary and secondary school systems. Another significant observation is that the educational strategies and programs need to be 'shaped' to fit the learning and teaching requirements for the entire spectrum of educational arena. Simply put, 'one size just does not fit all!'. This same rationale and mindset is equally applicable to those entities [Figure 11b] that need to be included in the functional model for poverty.
Figure 11a: Representative Functional Model for Education
Figure 11b: Representative Functions of the Model for Poverty
The functional model of Figure 11a is one of several versions developed by the authors; Figure 11b identifies those entities of interest within the arena of poverty; although versions of the functional model for poverty, with the linkages similar to those in the educational model, were developed, the resultant functional model for poverty in the format of Figure 11a was quite large and expansive and unwieldy for inclusion in the book or this website; it was the foundation upon which the carefully graduated functional models [of Figures 1, 2,..., 10 were developed. However, the entities of Figure 11b - not strictly ordered, grouped or prioritized, follow:
| Poverty | Undoing Poverty Damage | Poverty/education Linkage |
| Racism | Outcomes of Poverty | Poverty-driven Inequalities |
| Housing Issues | Family Stability/Instability | Educational Readiness |
| Employment | Unemployment | Training Readiness |
| Access to Employment | Transportation | College readiness |
| Employment Readiness | Advocacy & Support | Life readiness |
| Assistance Effectiveness | Lost Opportunities | Jobs Creation |
| Entrepreneurships | Innovative Initiatives | Leadership |
| Alliances | Partnerships | Life Skills |
| Learning Readiness | Teaching Readiness | Lost opportunities |
| Classroom Management | Poverty Culture | Health Issues |
| School Drop-outs | School Discipline | Inhibitors |
| Gang Membership | School Dismissals | Accountability |
| Domestic Violence | Incarceration | Gentrification |
| Street Violence | Recidivism | Metrics |
| Stresses of Poverty | Legal Issues | Policy/Planning |
| Uneven Justice System | Poverty Costs | Visionaries |
| Poverty Priorities | Legal Punishment | 'Voice' of Poverty |
NOTE !: It is important to note that the functional model of Figure 11 and those entities of Figure 11b that shaped the functional model for poverty are respresentative models. Like all models, they are 'living' models that will be modified via their their use and application for a particular poverty or educational environmemt.
NOTE 2: There are 54 entities of poverty; there is a real-world direct connectivity between each of them and some of the others. For the sake of understanding and visualizing the scope and complexity of a single functional model for poverty, let each entity be linked to, say 10 [a conservative estimate] other entities. That would require over 500 linkages...somewhat unfeasible for a single page of the book or a single technology-enhanced website window.
NOTE 3: The authors shared Figures 11a and Figure 11b [in the format of Figure 11a] with individuals each with an established experience and expertise; a common response was, initially, some difficulty in absorbing the models' entirety in scope. However, after some interactive discussion, there was a consensus that these functional models fulfilled an outstanding need but they also presented too much too soon - a point understood by the authors. It was this common observation that motivated the authors to develop the more graduated functional models found both in the book and this website. Reviews of both provided an endorsement of the graduated-model approach as a basis for understanding and further analysis. It does provide both the readers of the book and the website users with a more useful set of tools to match their respective areas of interest.