Ruby K. Payne is an American educator and author best known for her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty and her work on the culture of poverty and its relation to education. Payne received an undergraduate degree from Goshen College in 1972. She holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University in Illinois, and is the founder of aha! Process, Inc., a company that informs schools, companies and other organizations about poverty.
Dr. Payne knows her stuff. She's done thorough research into the effects of poverty, both situational and generational, that were set forth in her first work, A Framework for Understanding Poverty. She brings those insights into bear along with new studies to propose strategies to help educators close the achievement gap for students of poverty. Very highly recommended, but read Framework first!
As this was for a school-related book study, reading will be discontinued until August. I will say that I enjoyed the real life stories and examples. Those are always the most interesting and touching!