Boosting School Performance of Children from Low-income Families

Despite decades of interventions and billions of dollars spent, a large gap in school achievement stubbornly persists between children living in poverty and their more advantaged peers. A team of Morgridge Institute for Research Discovery Seed Grant recipients will focus on an overlooked cause of this problem for African American children from low-income families. In their early years, many of these children become fluent in one English dialect, called African American Vernacular English, only to encounter another, Standard American English, when they enter school. Co-principal investigators are Mark Seidenberg, Psychology, Jan Edwards, Communicative Disorders, and Julie Washington, Communicative Disorders.

Outcomes

Ultimately, intervention techniques to help children become familiar with the dialect of instruction before school entry.

Focus Areas

  • Education

Counties

  • Dane

Partners

  • Madison Metropolitan School District

Leader

Jan Edwards, Professor

Department or Other Unit

Communicative Disorders, Psychology

School or College

College of Letters & Science

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Project last updated on 5/04/2009