Framework for Understanding Poverty [Paperback]

Ruby K. Payne (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1929229143 | ISBN-13: 978-1929229147 | Publication Date: October 15, 2003 | Edition: 3rd

A Framework for Understanding Poverty teaches the hidden rules of economic class and spreads the message that, despite the obstacles poverty can create in all types of interaction, there are specific strategies for overcoming them. Through case studies, personal stories and observations that produce some aha! moments, Payne clearly strikes a chord in her readers., and provides a hopeful message.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Ruby Payne, speaker, author and CEO of aha! Process, a training/publishing company, has more than 30 years of experience in public education and staff development. Payne is best known for her work on "hidden rules of economic class" and their affect on learning. She says, "I never want to hear again, that poor children can't learn!"

Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: Aha Process Inc; 3rd edition (October 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929229143
• ISBN-13: 978-1929229147
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. of Baytown, Texas has been a professional educator since 1972. She has been a secondary-school teacher and department chairperson, an elementary-school principal, a consultant, and a central-office administrator. The lessons learned during these years are the bedrock on which aha! Process, Inc. has been built. Her first book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, is a powerful tool for educators to use when teaching children from poverty. She has led hundreds of workshops and has worked with several thousand teachers and administrators, both nationally and internationally. Ruby Payne founded aha! Process, Inc. (formerly RFT Publishing Co.) in 1996 and serves as its president. In that capacity, she continues to consult and write.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

162 of 189 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So useful! A "must read" for educators!, January 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Framework for Understanding Poverty (Paperback)

As an educator, I found Dr. Payne's book to be one of the most useful and practical books I've ever read. Just as the title reads, she offers a framework for understanding an issue that is influencing not only our schools but also our society. Her definition of poverty as related to the eight resources she describes rather than being solely defined by one's lack of finances is especially helpful for educators. In addition, Dr. Payne offers concrete strategies for working with some of our most misunderstood students. I found her explanation of the registers of language and issues surrounding them to be particularly useful in understanding some of the problems in schools today that are related to both cognition and behavior. I highly recommend this book for educators and believe also that anyone who works with individuals from poverty will also find it helpful. It makes so much sense!

80 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must" read for teachers who teach children in poverty, September 7, 1998

By 

Ann ([e-mail]) (Lafayette, Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Framework for Understanding Poverty (Paperback)

I teach in an inner-city school where poverty is prevalent in almost every family. Not until I read Ruby Payne's book did I have an understanding of the differences involved when one teaches a child who is living in poverty. The book gives specific case studies that make you think and relate to poverty-stricken people. It then goes even further and gives the teacher examples of how to use the new knowledge in the classroom. It is, without a doubt, the best book I have ever read on the subject of poverty and how it relates to school children. I learned more from the reading of this book about how to relate to the students I teach than I have from any other book I've ever read about any subject. I have no reservations whatsoever in recommending this book to any teacher who truly wants to understand the individuals she/he teaches.

74 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Generalizations based on an N of 1 are likely to be flawed., March 5, 2005

By 

Retired Educator (Oshkosh, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Framework for Understanding Poverty (Paperback)

Dr. Payne has authored a book that is intended to provide a framework for teachers or others who work with poor children to help them better understand and deal with the issues their behaviors present in the classroom. A major caveat for potential purchasers, however, is that this book is remarkably free of content supported by peer-reviewed empirical findings. It is more like a fragmented collection of chapters supporting the contention that a poverty culture produces children unlikely to succeed in the classroom or later as adults. It seems to be in use as companion reading material for the author's widely-held seminars on the subject. It is also authored by her own publishing company, Aha! Process, Inc.

While the literature predating the War on Poverty was replete with studies suggesting causal factors such as those espoused by Payne, some of the more recent empirically-referenced literature such as Rebecca Blank's, "It Takes a Nation: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty," Princeton University Press/Russell Sage Foundation, 1997, takes a more balanced approach. That approach examines both the cultural as well as structural aspects of poverty and their impact on populations at risk, particularly damaging to women, children, and persons of color. Changing flawed character in the classroom is an uphill battle without understanding the structural factors that impact on adaptive behavior among the poor.

The egregious stereotyping of people in Chapter 3 pertaining to "Hidden Rules Among Classes" seems to stem from what the author characterizes as personal data-gathering over a twenty-four year period as a teacher employed in varying socio-economic school districts. Should generalizations based on an N of 1 truly be accepted as truth? This framework may well reinforce unintended biases about people of all classes, but particularly the poor where, as the author states in the final page of her conclusion, the choice for success "always belongs to the individual."