Nine PowerfulNine strategies help raise the achievement

of students living in poverty.

Ruby Payne

Students from families with little formal educationoften learn rules about how to speak, behave,and acquire knowledge that conflict with howlearning happens in school. They also oftencome to school with less background knowledge

and fewer family supports. Eormal schooling, therefore, maypresent challenges to students living in poverty. Teachers needto recognize these challenges and help students overcomethem. In my work consulting v̂ ath schools tbat serve a largepopulation of students living in poverty, 1 have found nineinterventions particularly helpful in raising achievement forlow-income students.

1. Build Relationships of RespectJames Comer (1995) puts it well: "No significant learningoccurs without a significant relationship." Building arespectful relationship doesn't mean becoming the student'sbuddy It means that teachers both insist on high-quality workand offer support. Wben my colleagues and I interviewedhigh school students in 1998 about what actions show that ateacher has respect for them, students identified thefollowing:

• Tbe teacher calls me by my name.• Tbe teacber answers my questions.• The teacher talks to me respectfully.• The teacher notices me and says "Hi."• The teacher helps me when I need help.The nonverbal signals a teacher sends are a key part of

showing respect. 1 have found that when students feel theybave been "dissed" by a teacher, they almost always point tononverbals, rather than words, as the sign of disrespect.Nonverbal signals communicate judgment, and students cansense when a teacher's intent is to judge tbem rather than tooffer support. Although it's hard to be conscious of nonverbalsignals at times, one way to sense how you're coming across is

to deeply question yourintent. Your gestures andtone will likely reflect thatintent.

2. Make BeginningLearning Relational

when an indi\'idual islearning something new,learning should happen ina supportive context.Teachers should help allstudents feel part of acollaborative culture. Inter-vene if you see an elemen-tary student always playingalone at recess or a middle

or high school student eating lunch alone. Assign any newstudent a buddy immediately and ensure that each student isInvolved v̂ ath at least one extracurricular group at lunch orafter school. Whenever possible, introduce new learningthrough paired assignments or cooperative groups,

3. Teach Students to Speak in Formal RegisterDutch linguist Martin Joos U972) found ihut every languagetn the world includes five registers, or levels of formality:frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate (see fig. 1,p. 51). Both school and work operate at the consultative level[.which mixes formal and casual speech) and the formal level(which uses precise word choice and syntax). All people usethe casual and intimate registers with friends, but studentsIrom iamilies with little formal education may default to theseregisters. Researchers have found that the more generations aperson lives in poverty, the less formal the register that person

48 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/APRIL 2008

Practices

uses, with the exception of people from a strong religiousbackground, who frequently encounter formal religious texts(Montana-Harmon, 1991). Hart and Risley's (1Q95) study of42 families indicated that children living in families receivingwelfare heard approximately 10 million words by age three,whereas children in families in which parents were classifiedas professional heard approximately 30 million words in thesame period. Teachers conduct most tests through formalregister, which puts poor students at a disadvantage. Teachersshould address this issue openly and help students iearn tocommunicate ihrough consultative and formal registers. Somestudents may object that formal register is "white talk"; we tellthem its "money talk."

Have students practice translating phrases from casual intolormal register. For example, a student 1 worked with wassent to the office because he had told his teacher that some-thing "sucked." When 1 asked him to translate that phrase

into formal register, he said, "There is no longer joy in thisactivity/' Teachers should use consultati\-e language (a mix offormal and casual) to build relationships and use fomialregister to teach content, providing additional explanation inconsultative register

4. Assess Each Student s ResourcesOne way to define poverty and wealth is in terms of tbedegree to which we have access to the following eightresources.

• Financial: Money to purchase goods and services.• Emotional: The ability to control emotional responses,

particularly to negative situations, v/ithout engaging in self-destructive behavior This internal resource shows itselfthrough stamina, perseverance, and good decision making.

Teachers should help allstudents feel part of acollaborative culture.

• Mental: The mental abilities and acquired skills (such asreading, writing, and computing) needed for daily life.

• Spiritual: Some belief in a divine purpose and guidance.• Physical: Good physical health and mobility• Support systems: Friends, family and resource people

who are available in times of need.• Relationships and role models: Frequent contact with

adults who are appropriate role models, who nurture thechild, and wbo do not engage in sell-destructive behavior.

• Knowledge of unspoken rules: Knowing the unspokennorms and habits of a group.

School success, as its currently defined, requires a hugeamount of resources that schools don't necessarily provide.Teachers need to be aware that many students identified as "atrisk" lack these outside resources. Interventions that requirestudents to draw on resources ibey do not possess will notwork. For example, many students in households character-ized by generational poverty have a very limited support

A S S O C I A T I O N F O R S U P E R V I S I O N A N D C U R R I C L ' L I J ' M 49

Parents want to know first whether theschool cares about and respects their child.Communicate this early in conferences.

system. Usuch a student isn'tcompleting homework, telling thatstudent's parent, who is working twojobs, to make sure the student does hisor her homework isn't going to be effec-tive, But if the school pro\ides a timeand place before school, after school, orduring lunch for the student tocomplete homework, tbat interventionwill be more successful.

5. Teach the HiddenRules of School

People need to know different rules andbehaviors to survive in different en\i-ronments. Tbe actions and attitudes thathelp a student leam and thrive in a low-income community often clash withthose tbat help one get ahead in school.For example, when adult family

members bave little formal schooling,the student's environment may beunpredictable. Having reactive skillsmight be particularly important. Theseskills may be counterproductive inschool, where a leamer must planahead, rather than react, to succeed. Iflaughter is often used to lessen conflictin a students community, that studentmay laugh when being disciplined.Such behavior is considered dis-respectful in school and may angerteachers and administrators.

Educators often tell students that therules they come to school with aren'tvaluable anywhere. That isn't true, andstudents know it. For example, tosur\'ive in many bigh-poverty neighbor-hoods, young people have to be able tofight physically if challenged—or havesomeone fight for them. But if you fight

in school, you're usually told to leave.The simple way to deal witb this

clash of norms is to teach students twosets of rules. 1 frequently say tostudents.

You don't use the same set of rules inbasketball that you use in football. Its ihesame with school and other parts of yourlife. The rules in school are different fromtht-' rules oui of school. So lefs make a listof lhe rules in school so we're sure weknow them.

6. Monitor Progressand Plan Interventions

One teacher alone cannot address allstudents' achievement issues. Moni-toring and intervening with at-risk kidsmust be a schoolwide process. Take thefollowing steps:

• Chart student performance anddisaggregate this data by subgroups andindividuals.

• Keeping in mind your district'slearning standards, determine whichcontent you need to spend tbe mosttime on. Bloom (1976) found that theamount of lime devoted to a contentarea makes a substantial difference inbow well students learn that content.Set up a collaborative process forteachers to discuss learning standardsand rnake these detenninations.

• Plan to use tbe instructional strate-gies that have tbe highest payoff for theamount of time needed to do theactivity. For example, teaching studentsto develop questions has a much higherpayoff for achievement than completingworksheets.

• Use rubrics and benchmark tests toidentify how well students are masteringstandards; discuss the results.

• Identify learning gaps and chooseappropriate interventions. Interventionscan include scheduling extra instructiontime, providing a supportive relation-ship, and helping students use mentalmodels.

50 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIC/APRII. 2008

• Schedule these activities on theschool calendar regularly.

7. Translate the Concrete

into the Abstract

To succeed in school, students need tomove easily from the concrete to theabstract. For exampie, a kindergartenteacher may hold up a real apple andtell students to find a drawing of anapple on a given page. Even though thetwo-dimensional apple on the pagedoesn't look like the real apple, studentscome to understand that the drawingrepresents the apple. In math, studentsneed to understand that a numeralrepresents a specific number of items.

Teachers can help students becomecomfortable with tbe abstract represen-tations characteristic of school by givingihem mental modeh—stories, analogies,or visual representations. Mental modelsenable tbe student to make a connectionbetween something concrete he or sheimderstands and a representational idea.For example, in matb, one can physi-cally form a square with the number ofitems represented by any squarenumber. We can teach students thisconcept quickly by drawing a box withnine Xs in it. The student can visuallysee that 3 is tbe square root of 9,because no matter how the studentlooks at the model, there are 3 Xs oneach side.

Excellent teachers use mental modelsall the time, although they may not callthem that. 1 have found that usingmental models decreases the amount oflime needed to teach and learn aconcept.

8. Teach Students

How to Ask Questions

When you have asked a student whatpart of a lesson he or she didn't under-stand, bave you heard ibe reply. "All of

FIGURE 1. Levels of Formality of Language

Level

Frozen

Formal

Consultative

Casual

Intimate

Characteristics of Language

The words are always the same. Examples: The Lord'sPrayer, The Pledge of Allegiance.

The word choice and sentence structure used by the busi-ness and education community. Uses a 1,200-word to 1,600-word spoken vocabulary. Example: "Tbis assignment is notacceptable in its present format,"

A mix of formal and casual register. Example: "1 can't acceptthe assignment the way it is."

Language used between friends, which comes out of the oraltradition. Contains few abstract words and uses nonverbalassists. Example: "This work is a no-go. Can't take it."

Private language shared between two individuals, sucb aslovers or twins.

Dutch linguist Martin Joos (1972) idemified these five levels ol fofmalitv of language. Adapted fromA Framework for Understanding Poveny {p. 27), by R. Payne, 1996, Highlands, TX: ahal Process.Copyright 1996 by ahal Process. Adapted with permission

it"? This response may indicate that thestudent has trouble formulating aspecific question. Questions are a prin-cipal tool to gain access to information,and knowing how to ask questionsyields a huge payoff in achievement(Marzano, 2007). In their research onreading, Palincsar and Brovra (1984)found that students who couldn't askgood cjuestions had many academicstruggles.

To teach students how to ask ques-tions, I assign pairs of students to read atext and compose multiple-choice ques-tions about it. I give them sentencestems, such as "Whenhappened, why did do

?" Students develop ques-tions using the stems, then come upwith four answers to each question,only one of which they consider correctand one of which bas to be funny.

9. Forge Relationshipswith Parents

Many low-income parents are so over-whelmed with sui"vi\ing daily life thatthey can't devote time to their children'sschooling. Even when time is available,the parent may not know how tosupport the child's learning.

It is essential lo create a welcomingatmosphere at scbool for parents. Askyourself these questions about the kindof experience parents have when theyenter your building:

• How are parents usually greeted?With a smile, a command, a look, or theparent's name?

• What is the ratio of educators toparent in meetings? Six educators to oneparent? Many parents experience such asituation as being "ganged up on." Toavoid tbis perception, designate a

ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOi-MCNT 51

A teacher or administrator who

establishes mutual respect is providing

a gift that will keep affecting lives

from one generation to the next.

person to greet the parent five minutesbefore the meeting stans and tell him orher who will be present and what islikely to happen. This is much betterthan haNing the parent walk into theroom cold. When the meeting is over,have all the educators leave ihe room(and don't have another obvious consul-tation In the parking lot). The personwho met the parent ahead of timeshould walk the parent out of thebuilding, ask how he or she is feeling,and find out whether the parent hasmore questions.

• Is ihe language used in parentmeetings understandable, or is it"educationese"?

• Are parents often asked to makeinterventions they do not have theresources to make?

• Do parents realize that people at theschool care about their children? Parentswant to know first whether the schoolcares about and respects their child.Communicate this message early in theconference. It also helps to say, "Weknow that you care ahoui your child, oryou wouldn't be here."

1 recommend doing home xnsits.Arrange to have a substitute for a partic-ular day and send a letter home to a fewparents saying that because teachersalways ask parents to come to school, apair of teachers would like to come bytheir house, say hello, and bring a gift.The gift should be something small,such as a magnet listing the school'sname, phone number, and hours. If aparent wants to have an in-depth talkabout the child, schedule a time that's

good for both parties to talk further.Schools that have taken this approach,such as East Allen County Schools inFort Wayne, Indiana, have strengthenedthe rapport between parents and teachersand lessened discipline referrals.

The Gift of EducationEducators can be a huge gili to studentsliving in poverty. In many mstances,education is the tool that gives a childlife choices. A teacher or administratorwho establishes mutual respect, caresenough to make sure a student knowshow to survive school, and gives thatstudent the necessary skills is providinga gift that will keep affecting lives fromone generation to the next. Never has itbeen more important to give studentsli\1ng in poverty this gift. Si

ReferencesBloom, B. (1976). Human charactaistki and

school [earning. New York: McGraw-Hill.Comer, J. (1995). Lecture given at Education

Service Center, Region IV Houston, TX.Hart, B., & Rislcy, T. R. (1995). Mcaningul

differences in the everyday experience oJyoung American children. Baltimore: PaulH. Brookes.

Joos, M. (1972). The styles ofthe fiveclocks. In R. D. Abrahams & R. C. Troike(Eds.), language and cultural diversity inAmerican education {pp. 145-149).Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Marzano, R. J. (2007). The art and science ofleaching.' A coniprehensivc framework foreffective instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Montana-Harmon, M. R. (1991). Discoursefeatures of written Mexican Spanish:Current research in contrastive rhetoricand its implications. Hispania, 74(2),417-425.

Palincsar, A. S.. & Brow-n, A. L. (1984). Thereciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-moniioringactiWties. Cognition and Instruclion, 1(2),117-175.

Ruby Payne is President of aha!Process. Her most recent book is Under-resourced Learners: Eight Strategies toBoost Student Achievement (aha!Process, 2008); RubyPayne@msn.com.

52 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/APRI I. 2008