Most changes in education including the rise of standardized testing holding teachers accountable for their students academic performance and rewriting math and reading standards don t address poverty Understanding the relationship between poverty class and education for decades has been framed through studies on the behavior and culture of poor students and their families Educators are caught up in the history of classism and are often guilty of buying into the mindset including the implementation of activities and strategies for working with parents in poverty or students in poverty that leads them to believe in the need to fix the poor instead of eliminating the inequities that oppress them So it is not just one or the other nature or nurture poor or not poor Poverty is a potential outcome for all of us Culture Poverty and Education What s Happening in Today s Schools is intended to not only discuss 5 myths about the culture of poverty and its effects on education but provide some resources on alternatives for educator s to better address this growing barrier to student achievement in today s schools