Ruby Payne, founder and CEO of aha! Process, wrote a four-part series of articles on poverty in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These articles are just as relevant today as they were then. aha! Process is highlighting each of the four articles in the series as part of its weekly Tuesday blog posts.

In the fourth article, titled “Campuswide Interventions That Improve Student Achievement,” Payne writes about the gap between staff/curriculum development and the realities that many schools face.

Payne writes about the lack of money and time for teacher training, an increasing number of students who come from poverty, teacher turnover, and more.

She offers ideas for staff development that directly address one of the main objectives of school: student achievement.

“With simpler models that are operational and involve 100% of the staff, the roller-coaster ride that students take through school can be significantly lessened,” Payne writes. “One of the reasons that middle class students do better in school is that their parents intervene to lessen the impact of the roller coaster. (These parents do so by paying for tutoring, requesting teachers, and providing assistance and instruction at home.)”

Click here to read the article in full, and click here for a podcast version of the piece.