Most of the supplemental instruction targeted to particular students in these classrooms provides extra practice in basic skills as discrete entities, without any meaningful context or connection to real-life tasks. Less often, this teaching emphasizes meaning and understanding. Aides are likely to teach basic skills in a highly traditional manner regardless of what the regular classroom teacher has emphasized. As a result, instruction for Chapter 1 children can be inconsistent and disjointed. Lessons learned for teaching the children of poverty.
Governments have many ways of influencing educational practice.
State and federal policymakers can promote dialogue about alternative practices, support professional development, and reconfigure supplemental programs. Mandates without considerable professional support are not particularly effective. Teachers need room to adopt new practices without feeling forced, and they need ongoing advice, training, and resources. Government programs can stimulate and reshape professional development without necessarily requiring new outlays of funds since many programs already support professional development. Supplemental programs rarely support leadership in academic innovation within school buildings.