Book Review: What Poverty Does to the Brain (original) (raw)

Exposing Gaps in/Between Discourses of Linguistic Deficits

concept of a "word gap" (aka "language gap") is widely used to describe inferior cognitive development and lower academic achievement as by-products of the language patterns of families from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In recent decades, this line of deficit research has proliferated and caused a surge in public exposure in the media and political realms. In this discussion, we employ critical discourse analysis to illuminate intertextual links across three essential domains of "language gap" discourse: (a) academic research literature, (b) public news media, and (c) institutional narratives. The data are analyzed in terms of interdiscursive connections within and between research articles; news and magazine stories; and institutional documents from academic, political, and philanthropic organizations. Here, we demonstrate how discourses that are generated within a socially insulated "language gap" research paradigm propagate a deficit orientation of linguistic minority communities, problematically validate behavior intervention programs among particular socioeconomic groups, and reify linguistic and cultural misperceptions of traditionally marginalized groups.

Interview with Eric Jensen: Enriching Mindsets for Teachers of Students in Poverty

National Youth-At-Risk Journal, 2017

In this interview, Eric Jensen, an internationally recognized speaker and writer on student poverty and brain-based learning, discusses how the educational mindsets and practical strategies from his latest two books, Poor Students, Rich Teaching: Mindsets for Change (2016) and Poor Students, Richer Teaching: Mindsets for Change (2017), can enrich the learning of students in poverty. Some of the new mindsets include how to enrich classroom relationships, student achievement, student engagement, and school climate for student success.

The Elephant in the Living Room: Racism in School Reform

1999

When serving economically disenfranchised African American children, school systems often unconsciously respond from a racist and class biased paradigm. Teachers often unconsciously operate from a framework of low expectations for these students' success. Society often supports the notion of students getting by with less because less is all the schools believe they can do. The Urban Atlanta Coalition Compact (UACC) is one current reform effort. As researchers engage with UACC schools that are struggling with ways to create better learning environments for African American children, they have observed that racism is a significant factor in the failure of schools to meet these students' academic needs. A 1997-99 research effort explored what could be done as a collaboration of schools and universities to remedy this situation. This paper discusses the early manifestations of racism encountered in the formation of the UACC project during its planning meetings with the steering committee, the boards of education, school leaders, parents, and other parties. Because of these experiences, part of the research was driven by the question of whether the prejudices, stereotypes, and misconceptions of well-intentioned educators sabotage educational reform efforts. The paper also explores reasons for the resistance of mainstream educators to discuss the impact of racist politics, economics, and educational theory on the school's capacity to teach all children. (Contains 33 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. S

Miseducating teachers about the poor: A critical analysis of Ruby Payne's claims about poverty

The Teachers College …, 2008

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 immense popularity of the program, an assessment of its representations of poor people is warranted and significant. We analyzed the relationship between Payne’s claims and the existing research about low-income individuals and families. This study of Payne’s work provides administrators and teachers with an evaluation of the reliability of Payne’s claims. It also provides scholars in education, anthropology, sociology, and related fields with a description and critique of one of the more common conversations that is engaging teachers about the nature of the lives of many of their students, and the struggle to identify directions in which to improve schooling for the most vulnerable students in the education system. Research Design: This is a qualitative research study whose data were derived from an analysis of A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Conclusions/Recommendations: Our critical analysis of Payne’s characterizations of people living in poverty indicates that her work represents a classic example of what has been identified as deficit thinking. We found that her truth claims, offered without any supporting evidence, are contradicted by anthropological, sociological and other research on poverty. We have demonstrated through our analysis that teachers may be misinformed by Payne’s claims. As a consequence of low teacher expectations, poor students are more likely to be in lower tracks or lower ability groups and their educational experience more often dominated by rote drill and practice.