Running head: BOOK REVIEW

Book Review: A Framework for Understanding Poverty

Grant M. Smith
University of St. Thomas

Professor: Dr. Patrick Huff

March 20, 2016

BOOK REVIEW

Educators often make the mistake of believing all students come to school with the same
skills, tools, and resources. This mistake can be as simple as taking for granted that a student
slept a full eight hours the night before, or that every student has a parent to help with
homework. Each and every student in our school system has a different story or set of
circumstances. For many students living beneath the poverty line, school is a boundless
assortment of challenges each and every day. For students raised in a culture of poverty, the
challenges presented at school are often unbearable and inappropriate. In her seminal work, A
Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby Payne lays out the challenges faced by students
living in poverty and the implications these students bring for aspiring administrators.
Book Review
In her book, Ruby Payne lays out the differences between students living beneath the
poverty line and their wealthy colleagues, and the implications for teaching all manner of
students in our classrooms. Payne devotes a considerable portion of her book to the elucidation
of the differences between growing up with resources, and growing up without resources. First,
Payne (1996) dispels the notion that poverty is simply a lack of financial resources, but rather a
lack of financial, emotional, spiritual, mental, physical, support systems, and relationships (p.
7-8). In this manner, Payne concludes that a student living in poverty operates at a severe deficit
across multiple realms. Thereby, Payne establishes that poverty affects not just a childs clothing
or nutrition, but their ability to build relationships, make connections, and think critically.
Indeed, it is easy to believe that the only ramifications of an empty stomach are physical.
However, chronic malnutrition leads to an inability to focus in class or take a test.

BOOK REVIEW

Moreover, Payne argues the deficit faced by these students equates to a handicap when
approaching various situations in and out of the classroom. Payne (1996) presents a substantial
number of scenarios and asks the educator to take an inventory of each student or parents
available resources. The casual observer will easily surmise that the student living beneath the
poverty line is at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to solving problems (p. 11-25). Payne
argues the resource deficit inhibits students of poverty from responding to situations in the same
manner their wealthier counterparts might. In bringing this resource deficit to the forefront of the
readers mind, Payne is establishing a clearer picture of the holistic damage poverty wrecks on
our most vulnerable students, thereby dispelling the notion that lack of finances is the only
barrier faced by our poorest students.
In a particularly enlightening chapter, Payne puts forth the linguistic differences and
restrictions presented by poverty. Payne (1996) explains the difference between formal register,
proper syntax and elocution, and casual register, the typical slang spoken between friends (p. 27).
In this chapter, Payne asserts that children of poverty often converse in their homes in casual
register, and receive little to no instruction or opportunity to speak in the formal register. Payne
rightly states the lack of formal register inhibits students from poverty from excelling in
interviews, on standardized tests, or in the classroom environment (p. 28). When students from
poverty enter the school setting, they find themselves literally speaking a foreign language. Their
wealthier counterparts live in situations where they are afforded the opportunity to converse in a
formal register on a regular basis, perhaps rubbing elbows at their parents country club or dinner
parties. When children from poverty enter these situations, they communicate in the casual
register and are therefore often regarded as out of place or unintelligent.

BOOK REVIEW

Unfortunately, too little instruction in the differences between formal and casual register
is provided to students. Payne (1996) argues students from poverty should receive direct
instruction in the use of the formal register so they might utilize it in the appropriate situations
(p. 29). In this way, teachers could begin to bridge the gaps wrought by years of poverty by
empowering students from poverty to use appropriate language given certain situations.
Paynes final assertions come in the form of hidden rules and the effect of generational
poverty on our students. First, Payne (1996) lays out the case for hidden rules characterizing the
differences between each economic group in society (p. 37). Each socioeconomic group operates
under the direction of a set of hidden rules. Belonging to said group requires mastering the rules
of the group. For instance, understanding how to live from paycheck to paycheck, or without
electricity, is a hidden rule of poverty. Understanding how to navigate through a web of mutual
funds and stock options is a hidden rule amongst the wealthy. Rules are taught to the newest
members of each class, and then repeated throughout time. Schools are unfortunately operating
under the hidden rules of the middle and upper classes (Payne, 1996, p. 61). Thereby, assuming
that students from poverty can simply adapt to the rules of a different class is damaging and
foolish.
Implications
Ruby Paynes body of research regarding the effect of poverty on Americas students
provides interesting implications for school administrators. First, school administrators must
commit to the explicit teaching of formal register and the hidden rules of the middle class to
students living in poverty. Payne (1996) implores school administrators to recognize the need to
teach cognitive processing and the hidden rules necessary for at-risk students to succeed in

BOOK REVIEW

Americas classrooms. Educators cannot take for granted that students will eventually learn what
they need to learn, or succeed in school without direct intervention.
Payne ends her work by calling on administrators to review pertinent research on the
education of Americas poorest students, and to implement tried and true methods for intervening
in these cases. For instance, Payne (1996) cites the importance of access to pre-school programs,
literacy initiatives, smaller class sizes, and school-wide interventions and supports as warriors in
the fight against poverty (p. 107). Regardless of the method chosen, Payne asserts the need for
school administrators to realize that students from poverty will require extra supports and
interventions in order to be as successful as their wealthier counterparts.
Conclusion
Ruby Payne leads a call to action for educators across America. Her research confirms
the need for direct intervention in the lives of students living in poverty. Through understanding
the differences between economic classes, forms of communication, and the hidden rules of
generations of division, Payne argues that school administrators can begin to close the
socioeconomic achievement gap currently plaguing Americas schools. Through direct
intervention and basic human understanding, Payne believes educators can and will make strides
in helping at-risk students succeed in the classroom.

BOOK REVIEW

References
Payne, R. K. (1996). A framewrok for understanding poverty. Highlands, TX: Aha! process.