> no amount of teaching skills can offset disinterested parents, dysfunctional family life, hunger, and poverty Well, not teaching skills alone. But what about

> no amount of teaching skills can offset disinterested parents, dysfunctional family life, hunger, and poverty Well, not teaching skills alone. But what about teaching skills + experience + passion + willingness to be a social worker and defacto parent? Maybe teachers who have all these qualities can 'offset disinterested parents, dysfunctional family life, hunger, and poverty'? Imagine a teacher who discovers that a student is going hungry and visits the parent at home to explain in person why it vital for the long-term outlook of the student that the student not go hungry. In addition: (a) The teacher tries to understand the root case of the problem - is the parent on drugs, or has to work 3 jobs, or has an abusive husband? (b) The teacher investigates government or charity services that might have an impact on the problem. (c) The teacher visits the student's household regularly and tries various ways to motivate the parent to correct the problem. (d) The teacher contacts other members of the student's family like aunts, uncles, grandparents and elder siblings to explain the problem and try to get them engaged. (e) The teacher celebrates any academic success of the student with all members of the family and links this success to their efforts. (f) The teacher gives the student her phone number and tells the student to call with any questions about the homework - this gives the teacher the opportunity to find out in real-time if the student is going hungry at home, giving a deeper understanding of extent of the problem and perhaps allowing the teacher to tackle the problem in real-time. Can such a teacher overcome the effects of poverty? Here is a summary of a few studies as reported in Teaching as Leadership [1]: "The schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student background" [2] "Having a top-quartile teacher rather than a bottom-quartile teacher four years in a row would be enough to close the black-white test score gap" [3] "Differences in this magnitude -- 50 percentile points in just three years -- are stunning. For an individual child, it means the difference between a 'remedial' label and placement in the accelerated or even gifted track. And the difference between entry into a selective college and a lifetime of low-paying, menial work". [4] [1] http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-As-Leadership-Effective-Achie.. http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-As-Leadership-Effective-Achie.... [2] Marzano, R. J. What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD, 2003, p. 7 [3] Kane, T., Gordon, R. and Staiger, D. Identifying Effective Teachers Useing Performance on the Job Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2004, p. 8 [4] Peske, H. and Haycock, K. Teaching Inequality: How Poor and Minority Students Are Short-Changed on Teacher Quality: A Report and Recommendations by the Education Trust. Washington, D.C.: Education Trust, 2006, p. 11