ERIC – EJ825992 – Miseducating Teachers about the Poor: A Critical Analysis of Ruby Payne’s Claims about Poverty, Teachers College Record, 2008

Background/Context: This is the first research study to examine the content basis of Payne’s in-service teacher education program, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, though others who have reviewed the book have agreed with our analysis. The study took place within a policy context in which the federal government, with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), created a new category of students (economically disadvantaged) whose test scores would be monitored by officials in the U. S. Department of Education. This law ensures that the improvement of poor children’s test scores becomes a major concern of every public school in the country. These federal requirements have fueled the demand for professional development programs such as that offered by Ruby Payne and her Aha! Process, Inc. Purpose: This article reports on an examination of the content of Ruby Payne’s professional development offerings, as represented in A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Given the
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