Books by Ruby Payne, Ph.D.
Ms Payne is a sought after
speaker, author, founder and President of aha! Process Inc. Her focus
is helping educators, community members and business understand how to
expand lines of communication between people who come from a background
of poverty and those with a middle class perspective.
A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Ms Payne has recently published a
revised edition of her popular book, A Framework for Understanding
Poverty, that addresses how poverty affects
student performance and explores ways to help all
students succeed in today's
schools and world. The original book has received many reviews
and much press so this discussion will cover the changes in this latest
edition.
The major change in this edition is a sleeker, more scholarly appearing
format. Cartoon graphics, the use of bold type and underlining have
disappeared to be replaced by paragraphs, shaded blocks and more
uniform lists. Unfortunately it has lost much of its user
friendly feel that drew the reader inside the original book. Although
there are very few concrete changes the over all feel of the book is
greatly different. The other
changes are in vocabulary, "cognitive deficiencies" has
been
replaced by "cognitive issues," and some race references are deleted or
vocabulary altered (white to Caucasian and vice versa) in scenarios
and elsewhere. All statistics have been updated to 2003 and there is a
web
address to obtain the latest ones.
The other noteworthy difference is the addition, in an appendix, of the
article "Additive Model: aha! Process's Approach to Building High
Achieving Schools. The author is Philip E. DeVol, coauthor
with Ms Payne of the book Bridges Out of Poverty.
In this article he discusses the difference between the deficit model,
with its
emphasis on fixing the individual, and the naming or identifying the
underlying issues, which he calls the additive model. DeVol describes
aha! Process's term 'additive model' as combing "the value of accurate
problem identification with a positive, strength-based, communitywide
approach to change." He reviews the information contained in A
Framework such as the hidden rules, language, family structure and
branches out to community sustainability. He explains this all in terms
of the goals and focus of aha! Process. It is a direct answer to much
of the current criticisms concerning lack of quantifiable research and
classism being
leveled at Ms Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty.
Working With Parents
Building Relationships for Student Success
Ruby Payne's 2006 contribution to the field of educational literature
is Working With Parents- Building Relationships for Student Success.
This is a very concise discussion on tools that can be used by anyone
in the education field as they deal with their students' parents.
Parents are always both the blessing and the bane of a school, from the
teachers to the administrators. The lines of communication are often
fraught with miscues, misunderstandings and missteps. But both
the school and the parent are working for what they feel is best of the
student. Payne has written a 50 page primer that reviews the
basics of successful communication, the emphasis is on working with
parents from poverty and parents of wealth. 33 pages comprise the
bulk of the information, the rest is called an appendix. Its format is
easy to
follow with bulleted and numbered lists, bold titles and tables. She
includes case studies that challenges the readers to interpret and
respond to scenarios to practice her suggestions. They could be used
both in staff trainings or as a personal learning tool. The
appendix includes an article Ms Payne wrote as part of her No
Child Left Behind series. This one, number IV of the 4 part series, is
"Parent and Community Involvement. It reinterates many of the
points covered in the first part of the book.