A Framework for Understanding

Poverty

aha! Process, Inc., Highlands, TX

www.ahaprocess.com

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D.

The mission of aha! Process, Inc. is to positively impact the education and lives of individuals in poverty around the world.

This is a workshop about economic diversity, not racial or cultural diversity.

Day One Objectives:

Participants will be able to …• Analyze the eight resources of a student.

• Explain language registers, discourse patterns, and story structure.

• Give examples of hidden rules among classes.

• Identify discipline interventions that are effective.

• Explain mediation and cognitive strategies.

• Explain how economic realities affect patterns of living.

•Establish a mental framework for understanding economic realities.

Objective for Module 1:

1. Poverty is relative.

Key Point

2. Poverty occurs in all races.

Key Point

$0

$20,000

$40,000

$60,000

$80,000

$100,000

$120,000

MaleFemale

U.S. Median Income for Persons Age 25 and Older, by Sex and Educational Attainment: 2003

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Male Female Male FemaleOverall 89,558 97,319 $37,288 $25,499

Less Than Ninth Grade 5,804 5,943 $18,710 $12,978Grades 9-12 (no diploma) 7,766 8,233 $22,196 $13,695

HS Diploma (includes GED) 27,889 31,921 $31,411 $20,759Associate Degree 6,751 9,013 $40,454 $26,872

Bachelor's Degree 16,632 17,134 $51,507 $35,109Master's Degree 6,157 6,451 $62,495 $42,466

Professional Degree 1,925 1,027 $100,000 $56,143Doctorate 1,621 801 $77,525 $56,182

Numbers of Persons with Income

(in thousands)

Median Income in 2003 Dollars

GROUP AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOMERANGES: 2003

LOWEST 20% $0–$17,984 SECOND 20% $17,985–$34,000 THIRD 20% $34,001–$54,440 FOURTH 20% $54,441–$86,860 HIGHEST 20% $86,861+ *TOP 5% (part of highest 20%)

$154,120+

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

POVERTY STATISTICS

Extreme-poverty, poverty, and near-poverty rates for children under age 5 by living arrangement: 2003.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

2.8%9.7%

14.5%

32.3%

53.7%

62.4%

0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%

EXTREMEPOVERTY

POVERTY NEAR POVERTY

Rat

e (%

)

Living with married parents Living with single mother only

• According the U.S. Census Bureau seven states- Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, SOUTH DAKOTA, Texas and Virginia- showed increases in their poverty rates based on two-year averages (2001-2002 and 2002-2003).

3. Generational and situational poverty are different.

Key Point

4. This work is based on patterns. All patterns have exceptions.

Key Point

5. Schools operate from middle-class norms and values.

Key Point

Survival

Relationships

Entertainment

Work

Achievement

Material security

Political, financial, social connections

Key Point

6. Individuals bring with them the hidden rules of the class in which they were raised.

Key Point

7. There are cultural differences in poverty. This study is cross-cultural and focuses on economics.

Key Point

8. We must neither excuse them nor scold them. We must teach them.

Key Point

9. We must teach them that there are two sets of rules.

Key Point

10. To move from poverty to middle class, one must give up (for a period of time) relationships for achievement.

Key Point

11. Two things that help one move out of poverty are:

• education• relationships

Key Point

12. Four reasons one leaves poverty are:

• too painful to stay• vision or goal• key relationship• special talent/skill

Key Point

"No significantlearning occurs

without asignificant

relationship."

–Dr. James Comer

• Will be in control• Will be smarter• Will win more often• Won’t be cheated• Will be safe when you are old

Also:• Life is like a card game—you get bad hands• The mind is tool or weapon that no one can

take away

You need to learn this, or do this, so that you: