Anti-Poverty Interventions and Integrated Wraparound Services

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers concepts related to social reproduction, ecological systems theory, and the structural barriers faced by non-traditional students in education.

Modular Solutions

A "plug and play" concept where standalone fixes like building a school or handing out textbooks are applied to systems, which fails when addressing the unpredictable, interlocking web of poverty.

Interdependent Solution

A single overarching system that coordinates multiple moving parts—such as housing, health, transportation, and education—simultaneously.

The Homework Gap

A failed modular solution during the COVID-19 pandemic where roughly $15,000,000$ US students lacked computers or high-speed internet, and providing technology alone did not guarantee academic success.

Summer Melt

A phenomenon where students commit to attending college in the spring but do not matriculate in the fall; the rate for low-income students is between $20\%$ and $$44\%^.

Informational Poverty

The lack of access to people with academic capital, making it difficult to navigate complex administrative hurdles like financial aid audits and registration.

Institutional Maltreatment

A term from the ATD Fourth World study describing help systems that are so convoluted and punishing that they actively repel the people trying to use them.

The Piecemeal Trap

A paradox where receiving one specific grant makes a student financially worse off because they lose other separate supports like childcare or travel allowances.

Social Reproduction Theory

Pierre Bourdieu's argument that educational institutions reproduce social advantage rather than leveling the playing field because they are built around middle and upper-class capital.

Non-traditional Student (NTS)

A student typically defined as being $24$ years old or older, who balances full-time work, parenting, and caregiving while returning to school.

Time Poverty

A condition experienced by adult learners where study blocks are fractured by life responsibilities like childcare or work shifts, preventing intense, uninterrupted focus.

Ecological Systems Theory

Yuri Bronfenbrenner's concept that human development occurs within nesting dolls of interdependent systems, where a disruption in a macro system (like city transit) shatters the micro system (like study time).

Transition Theory

Nancy Schlossberg's framework regarding how adults cope with identity shifts, unlearning old routines, and navigating the loss of previous roles when entering new environments.

Deficit Thinking

The tendency of institutions to blame student failure on a perceived lack of grit or academic preparation rather than questioning the structural barriers that ignore the students' life burdens.

Andragogy

Knowles' theory on how adults learn differently than children, emphasizing that adult learners possess deep resilience and are motivated by real-life demands.

Integrated Wraparound Services

The intentional, systematic coordination of academic support, practical support (transportation, food, childcare), and relational support (mentorship and accountability).

Self-Efficacy

A core belief in one's own capability to succeed, which researchers found increased profoundly in students receiving whole-person support.