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Summary: Framework for Understanding Poverty
Review: I am grateful for Ruby Payne's incisive analysis. There were behavior patterns in some of my students that had puzzled me for over 25 years. When I was presented with her information and her book for the first time there was a HUGH aha!
With her comparison of middle class values and those of generational poverty in mind, I can reach and teach my kids better. I'm lucky that my district recognized how important her work is for our kids. I'm here buying 3 more copies to give teachers I've met in other districts with similar demographics. I wish they could have attended the inservice days. (There haven't been more than a handful of times in the last 30 years when I could say that!) So I'm giving them the book. Enjoy it yourself!
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Summary: Sterotypical
Review: ...There are two pages in the book that discuss hidden rules among the three prominent socio-economic classes (wealthy, middle class, poverty) and resources. Otherwise the book is extremely offensive and absent of relevant content relating to poverty and children in poverty...
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Summary: A good starting manual for teaching those born into poverty
Review: A Framework for Understanding Poverty provides a structure on which to build one's teaching. The way we teach is as important as what we teach, for , as Payne makes quite clear, we will not reach all children until we can understand--and accept--their backgrounds and any accompanying privileges or limitations children carry with them to the middle-class mindset of most American schools. As a high school English teacher, I found Chapter 2, "The Role of Language and Story", quite helpful--in fact, it has changed the way I approach writing in the classroom. Even if you have read bits of this information elsewhere, the author has gathered much relevant research in an easy-to-access format that any harried teacher can appreciate. For those teachers who balk at recognizing and/or accomodating behaviors related to class, I ask them to take the "Could you Survive in Poverty" quiz on page 53. I don't have any idea how to "get and use food stamps" or "how to get by without a car"--do you? I'd love to see a companion manual to this one that lists books for students that address class differences, either fiction or nonfiction.
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Summary: The best book written on children living in poverty.
Review: A Framework For Understanding Poverty, is the most useful book I have read in the twelve years I have been teaching. Payne gives solid reasons, not excuses, for the attitudes and behaviors of children living in poverty. Unlike some other authors, she does not stop there. Instead, she follows through by giving the reader practical ways to improve his or her dealings with these children who so often fall through the cracks.The book is well organized and enjoyable to read. My principal had the insight to buy a copy for the entire staff, and as a result many formidable discussions have arisen. I would recomend it to anyone in direct contact with children living in poverty.
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Summary: Now I know.
Review: A good book, simply written. It tells you why. I purchased
this authors other book on poverty too.
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Summary: RUBY PAYNE KNOWS HER STUFF!
Review: After waiting three years to get in, I took Ruby Payne's workshop on Teaching Children of Poverty this summer. It's was excellent and an absolute MUST for every teacher who cares about understanding their students. In two days, Payne takes you through the experiences not only of people in poverty, but also those of the wealthy. She discusses the hidden rules, the voices of those in charge and how to help people in need. She addresses generational poverty and short-term poverty, and she gives guidelines to help students as learners. One of the most useful items was the curriculum to enhance learning for children whose eye coordination isn't developed because they live in the dark (no electricity, house kept dark to hide secrets inside,etc.) There's so one like her! Every moment spent with Ruby Payne is a learning experience unlike any other! The value of her teaching is outstanding and unforgettable!
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Summary: Every Urban Educator Should Read This!
Review: An easy read, chock full of goldmines of practical information to help make an educator's job easier. I've recommended this book to several teachers and have gotten great feedback. If you work with students/parents in poverty, especially in a school-based setting, READ THIS BOOK!
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Summary: Summarizing Anecdotes is not research
Review: As a psychology researcher in inner-city schools, I am drawn to the description of this book because as a field (edu. research), we do indeed lack a theoretical framework to understand poverty in relation to school achievement. But this book falls very short in presenting such a framework. The conclusions drawn by this author is thinly based on a few limited writings (mostly on linguistics), while largely a collection of personal opinions. The author stated that the idea for the book proceeded her years of "research" experience. That may be the problem. A hindsight retrospection wears very tainted lenses. The "years of experience" is not examined in real-time with specific research questions. Rather, they are selectively drawn upon to be coherent only with the author's current thinking. The reference list in the back is more in depth than what the author actually put in text. The mostly pointless clip art inserted throughout the book made it seem like the publisher is trying to squeeze more pages into a other-wise small book. The two pages comparing classes are interesting (but by no means research or data based). They did become very stereotypical (like the local evening news). Educational recommendations are very simplistic and lack explicit logical reasoning. I question the book's treatment of poverty students as a different breed, indicating that somehow they need to be taught special rules in order to even begin learning. For example, the notion that somehow poverty students don't have a sense of choices thus fail to understand causal relationship leading from choices to consequences. That's a very very broad claim that is unlikely to be measurable. In child development, there comes a certain age where many children have trouble realizing (thus having to learn) that choices are related to consequences, regardless of their race, culture, or, income. These claims are quite outrageously stereotypical. Overall, Framework for Understanding is neither framework nor understanding. It may be of some interest here and there, but its title over-claims the substance of its content.
For interested readers, I recommend John Ogbu's ethnographical study on Shaker Heights, titled "Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb". A more controversial book is Tatum's "Why do all the blacks kids sit together". I don't necessarily agree with these two books, but they both represent good examples of "research" and attempts of form a "framework".
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Summary: So useful! A "must read" for educators!
Review: 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!
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Summary: Generalizations based on an N of 1 are likely to be flawed.
Review: 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."
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