[ti:Study Shows How Poverty Could Limit Learning]
[ar:Jonathan Evans]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
[00:05.42]Studies have shown that children from poor families 
[00:09.84]have more difficulty in school than other boys and girls. 
[00:14.60]Children with higher socioeconomic roots seem better prepared 
[00:20.23]and perform better on school tests.
[00:23.39]Now, American researchers may have found a biological reason for that difference. 
[00:31.82]They found differences in the brains of students who had low standardized test scores. 
[00:39.97]Their brains had less gray matter and their temporal lobes 
[00:45.58]developed more slowly than the other children. 
[00:48.95]The findings were reported in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
[00:54.48]Temporal lobes and gray matter are very important brain areas, 
[01:00.56]says researcher Barbara Wolfe. 
[01:03.70]She is a professor of economics, population health 
[01:08.16]and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
[01:13.19]The brain areas are "critical in the sense that they keep developing 
[01:18.81]until individuals are well into their adolescence or early 20s, 
[01:24.24]and critical in the sense that they are important for executive function," she said.
[01:29.59]Researchers studied brain images of nearly 400 children and young adults. 
[01:37.75]The youngest subjects were four years old. 
[01:41.33]The oldest were 22. Researchers looked for a connection 
[01:47.33]between the person's socioeconomic status and his or her test results.
[01:53.54]On average, young people from poor families had test scores 
[01:59.34]between three and four points below what is expected for their age group.
[02:05.20]The poorest students scored between eight and 10 points below the developmental norm. 
[02:12.06]Ms. Wolfe says there are several reasons why poorer students often have lower scores. 
[02:20.05]One reason could be poor children do not get the food they need for healthy development. 
[02:26.05]Poor parents are less likely to stimulate their children's brains through talk, play, and activities. 
[02:34.48]Ms. Wolfe also blames the "stress that parents face 
[02:40.24]in trying to deal with poverty, putting food on the table."
[02:44.11]The researchers say that up to 20 percent of the achievement gap, 
[02:50.68]or difference in test performance, could be tied to poverty.
[02:55.48]Ms. Wolfe suggests early action may improve the brain 
[03:00.71]development of children living in poverty. 
[03:03.88]Reaching out to children when they are very young 
[03:08.16]could help raise their test scores and academic performance when they are older.
[03:13.99]She says that when the source of the deficit is known, 
[03:19.04]"these areas of the brain can be developed," she said. "... 
[03:23.00]It means that policies can be developed that overcome this deficit."
[03:29.68]I'm Jonathan Evans.
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