[Minnesota] District searches for strategy on poverty

from The Duluth News Tribune

BY JAKE WEYER

School staff members, parents, and School Board members packed Duluth Denfeld High School's lecture hall Wednesday evening to hear a critique of popular author Ruby Payne's book "A Framework for Understanding Poverty."

District staff members have used the book to better understand and address the needs of students from impoverished backgrounds. Teachers at Denfeld each received a copy of it this year.

Paul Gorski, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Hamline University in St. Paul, shared his critique of the book. Gorski said Payne's work does not adequately explain the causes of poverty or the systemic classism that keeps low-income families poor.

The likelihood of schools with a high percentage of students in poverty to receive less money, offer unrigorous curricula, employ fewer experienced teachers and face other challenges needs to be recognized to address poverty, he said. Those issues are not mentioned in Payne's book, Gorski said.

Rex Hein, director of curriculum, assessment and staff development in the Duluth school district, said the district does not intend to stop using the book, which Gorski said has some good points.

Gorski's visit was meant to help the district explore alternative methods of addressing poverty in Duluth schools.

"The issues he's bringing up are important for Denfeld -- and for other schools," Hein said. "If you're only looking in one direction, you're only going to find one solution."

The amount of impoverished students in the district, determined through free or reduced-price lunch counts, has grown in recent years.

Throughout the district's traditional schools, nearly36 percent, or 3,568 of 9,932 students, who were enrolled Oct. 1 applied and qualified for free or reduced-price lunches.

Melissa Taylor, a member of the district's Desegregation, Integration and Advisory Council, said the district is addressing the growing impoverished population, but something could be done on a grander scale.

"This is not just about an-alyzing Ruby Payne's framework," said Bill Howes, Integration specialist in the district. "It's about educators looking for anything they can do to help students."