There is a strong need for effective teachers of language minority students. Teacher preparation programs have a long way to go in this area, but many are beginning to emphasize the necessary skills as part of their standard curriculum.
Southern states have some of the highest rates of children living in poverty.
In 2000, the Annie E. Casey Foundation also ranked the five states in the bottom third when measuring the status of children's well-being, which is based on a combination of such factors as teen birth rate, child death rate, and percentage of high school dropouts. Educators must instead work to find where the system is deficient in meeting the needs of these students. Although statistics of poverty seem to parallel many of the racial and ethnic demographics, there are other, perhaps more important, factors that help determine socioeconomic status, such as the educational level and marital status of a child's parents. Poverty functionally lessens access to mainstream culture, creating obstacles to learning in an education system that is based on middle-class norms. Educators across the nation must work to break through the barriers erected by poverty.