Author's Poverty Views Disputed Yet Utilized

Payne's backers contend that teachers who can grasp the realities of impoverished households -- whatever those might be -- are better positioned to help students in those situations succeed.

Critics say that that approach demeans low-income families and that there are better ways to raise scores -- among them, intensifying coursework, lowering teacher-student ratios and ensuring that experienced teachers do not leave low-income schools for those with wealthier students.

Payne, a former teacher and administrator in Texas and Illinois who has worked with low-income students, says her characterizations of poverty come from her professional experience and from spending time with the low-income family of her ex-husband.

"I ask the critics this question: Have you ever taught poor kids? The answer every time is, 'No,' " Payne said. "So how do they know [my descriptions of poverty] are not true?"

Another consultant, Glenn E. Singleton, based in San Francisco, contends that race influences achievement more than poverty. Singleton, who is black, coaches teachers on cultural sensitivity.

"Why is Ruby Payne popular?" he asked. "It's a safe place to go. When you've determined kids are poor, there's nothing you as a teacher can do about that. When you deal with race, it's about how we perpetuate racism and how that gets in the way of higher student performance."

Payne said she doesn't focus on race in part because of her skin color. "The real issue is that I am white, and there's a huge belief out there that if you're white, you can't talk about poverty and race," she said.

To establish Payne's credentials, her company has conducted research that attempts to show that the author-consultant has helped boost scores on state standardized exams. The study, drawing on data from five states, found that 63 percent of the students in classes with "high fidelity" to Payne's tenets had greater growth on their math exam scores over a two-year period than students who were in "low-fidelity" classes. On reading exams, 78 percent of students in Payne-influenced classes had greater growth.

Critics say these findings have not been reviewed by independent experts.

In Prince William, Payne has influenced many educators. Principal Joanne Alvey of Marumsco Hills Elementary -- where nearly 70 percent of students are economically disadvantaged -- credits Payne's work among many factors that helped her school recently meet the academic standards of No Child Left Behind.

Alvey said she bought some of Payne's literature for her staff even before school officials sent the teachers for countywide training.

"We talk in Ruby Payne terms all the time. What's really important is the teacher having a relationship with the children. Children in poverty tend not to work for grades, but they work for the teacher," Alvey said. "Another thing I discovered is how they address adults. Children of poverty don't generally know how to do that. We have to teach them that."

Rita E. Goss, principal of Dumfries Elementary, where about 65 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, said Payne's work has helped her and her staff understand what goes on in low-income homes and why some students misbehave in class.

"She talks in her book about generational poverty, like background noise and the TV always being on, how it's always important to show their personality and to entertain and tell stories," Goss said. "You may assume that kids have certain knowledge of the rules and how to adapt to [school] but, in fact, they really don't."

But debate about Payne is growing in Prince William. "I don't know the last time Ruby Payne stepped outside the Ruby Payne atmosphere," said Pam Bumstead, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Potomac Middle School. "We have kids whose parents are alcoholics, kids whose parents are in jail and kids whose parents who live in McMansions, and those three different kids can come to school with the same problems."

Victor Martin, the county's supervisor of multicultural education, is trying to determine what to do with Payne's materials. As he led administrators last month in a discussion of her work, Martin wondered aloud about Payne's "hidden rules" of poverty.

He took issue with one conclusion in the "Framework" book: "The noise level is high (the TV is always on and everyone may talk at once)."

"As a person that comes from poverty myself, I look at these 'hidden rules'," Martin said. He paused. "The noise level in my home wasn't high. My dad worked shift work, and if he was sleeping and if you had TV on -- there [would be] no entertainment."

Martin asked: "How is that information being filtered? Like, 'Well, that child is loud because he's poor'?"