Middle Grades Student Achievement and Poverty Levels: Implications for Teacher Preparation

This paper provides a history of the standardized testing and accountability movement, the curriculum standards attached to the accountability movement, and the attempted shift to common core. Student poverty and its impact on student achievement the focus of this paper. Recognizing the impact of poverty on student achievement as measured by standardized tests the authors question the explicit practices of teacher preparation programs in preparing teacher candidates to work with students of poverty