Hierarchy of Needs

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Hierarchy of Needs for a Self-Actualized Society

A useful way of visualizing the remedy for the chronic problem of low achievement of poor and minority students is to return to Abraham Maslow’s 1954 hierarchy of needs to “realize one’s full potential” (i.e., self-actualization). A hierarchy of needs for a self-actualized society has been patterened after Maslow’s.

“For nearly half a century, the association of social and economic disadvantage with the student achievement gap has been well known to economists, sociologists, and educators. Most, however, have avoided the obvious implication of this understanding—raising the achievement of lower-class children requires amelioration of the social and economic conditions of their lives, not just school reform.” Richard Rothstein, Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White.

Nearly one-third of the nation’s poorest children have attended three different schools by third grade. High mobility depresses student achievement.
One in four American workers today earns poverty-level hourly wages. Raising the minimum wage, protecting workers’ rights to organize and join unions, and implementing living wage ordinances will certainly benefit poor children and families.
Poor and minority children who participate in Pre-K programs are better prepared for school.
Teachers have known intuitively for years that small class size provides them with the opportunity to devote more individual attention to students. Small classes provide students with immediate and long-term benefits. They are key to helping close the achievement gap.
Good instruction requires good teaching, and good teaching is something that is learned. This puts a premium on teacher education, preparation, professional development, and lifelong learning.

Excerpts from Class Matters - In and Out of School, Phi Delta Kappan, September, 2008

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