Journal Article -- Miseducating Teachers about the Poor: A Critical Analysis of Ruby Payne's Claims about Poverty

In a new article in Teachers College Record, Randy Bomer et al. conducted an examination of a popular professional development program based on teaching and working with impoverished students. They analyzed the relationship between Ruby 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. Bomer an his colleagues demonstrate through their 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 is more often dominated by rote drill and practice.