Session Eight Activity Three-Contemporary Influences

The most predominant person who has done research on poverty is Dr. Ruby Payne.  Dr. Ruby Payne has created a framework for poverty, as well as several other fine educators.  I have come to define poverty as the ability of a person or persons to live without some form of resources.  It appears that the only way to stop the cycle of poverty is to get educated.  With an education comes a better job and with a better job comes money.  Obtaining money often leads to the ability to purchase resources.  Resources include but are not limited to:

a)    financial
b)    emotional
c)    mental
d)    support
e)    physical
f)    spiritual
g)    cultural
h)    relationships
i)    educational

Many people believe that the only reason why students are considered impoverished is because they have a lack of financial resources, however, there are other factors involved.  At-risk students are at-risk of remaining in a cycle because they often have generational poverty.  Generational poverty is when a person has two generations of poverty in the family.  Other at-risk students have situational poverty.  Situational poverty is where a situation of one sort or another caused the student or the students’ family to loose a resource.  The loss of a resource left the student in poverty and therefore defined as at-risk.  

Sources:

APQC Publications
http://www.apqc.org/pubs/

aha! Process
http://ahaprocess.com/AboutUs.html

World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/socialprotection/srm/seminarsvc/pdfdppt/srmenglish.pdf

The Leadership Academy
http://www.dese.state.mo.us/divteachqual/leadership/rpayne/PayneSeries.pdf

Understanding and Responding to Poverty
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/mission/up1.htm


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