Learning Poverty Among Disadvantaged Primary School Students in Rural Areas: A CHAID Analysis

By the end of primary school, every student is expected to be able to read and comprehend a simple text comfortably. A 10-year-old student's inability to comprehend what they read causes them to experience learning poverty. Learning poverty is a significant problem that many students face today. The purpose of this study is to investigate the levels of learning poverty in the context of reading proficiency among disadvantaged primary school students in rural areas. The study, developed using quantitative research methods, employed a criterion sampling method. All 606 students in the study, whose data were collected in 2025, are in the fourth grade of primary school. The students continue their education in five different rural provinces of Türkiye. The CHAID analysis revealed that primary school students in rural areas have high levels of learning poverty. According to the research findings, the strongest predictor of learning poverty among primary school students is teacher mobility in rural schools. In addition, inadequate nutrition and the absence of lunchboxes emerge as significant determinants of learning poverty. Furthermore, having a large number of siblings in the household (particularly seven or more), low levels of parental involvement in schooling, limited access to reading resources, and student absenteeism are also prominent factors associated with learning poverty. The findings indicate that learning poverty cannot be explained solely by individual academic failures or deficiencies; rather, it is strongly shaped by structural inequalities and socioeconomic disadvantages. In this regard, ensuring the continuity and stability of teachers assigned to rural areas is as critical as increasing the number of teacher appointments to these regions. Based on these results, the implementation of school-based and national nutrition programs, along with initiatives aimed at strengthening parental involvement, appears essential for effectively combating learning poverty.