This guidance report offers early years professionals seven practical evidence-based recommendations to provide every child--but particularly those from disadvantaged homes--with a high quality and well-rounded grounding in early literacy, language and communication. One recommendation focuses on the importance of high quality interactions between…

"Imagination for Inclusion" offers a reconsideration of the ways in which imagination engages and empowers learners across the education spectrum, from primary to adult levels and in all subject areas. Imagination as a natural, expedient, and exciting learning tool should be central to any approach to developing and implementing…

This report from the Community College Research Center sheds light on the current policies and practices that shape "dual enrollment" efforts in California. The report, funded by The James Irvine Foundation, demonstrates the feasibility of using dual enrollment programs to enhance college and career pathways for low-income youth who are…

Serious concerns are being raised by the poor and uneducated underclass in the United States. Four main points are given which expand upon these concerns. (1) The affluent and middle class white U.S. population does not have enough interest and commitment to the poor and undereducated population to pay the price it will take to educate the U.S.…

Faults Lawrence J. Schweinhart and David P. Weikert's article in this "Educational Leadership" issue for concluding that disadvantaged preschoolers taught by direct instruction have twice the teenage delinquency rate of children experiencing the High/Scope program. Accuses the authors of exaggerating statistical differences, research…

Criticizes Lawrence J. Schweinhart and David Weikart's article on early childhood development in this "Educational Leadership" issue for overemphasizing inadequacies of the direct academic approach. Claims that findings were based on insufficient data and disclosed no significant differences in self-esteem, locus of control, suspension,…

Changes in homelessness since the 1950s and 1960s involve increasing numbers of homeless persons, striking differences in their composition, and marked deterioration in their condition. Beyond similarly high levels of mental illness and substance abuse, the new homeless are younger, poorer, often shelterless, and include more minorities, women,…

Across the nation, more than 2.2 million children attend 2,750 rural school districts that suffer from chronic, severe poverty. The National Rural Small Schools Task Force oversees nine regional educational laboratories as they identify and develop promising educational practices for rural, small schools. One laboratory developed a data base…

Summarizes the benefits of early childhood education programs offering new hope to disadvantaged children and long-range savings to taxpayers. Reviews major issues concerning public preschool education, including funding, eligibility, need for high quality programs with a child development emphasis, adequate staffing, and appropriate child and…

Government policies of developing nations to stimulate economic development do not necessarily improve the living conditions of their citizens, most of whom are economically poor and politically powerless. A major criticism of attempts by most Western and national governments to promote development is that they serve only the elite. This study of…

This volume examines two-generation interventions as models that represent a new approach to assisting families in poverty. Five of the chapters examine current programs--their design, characteristics of participants, implementation issues, and in one case, evaluation outcomes. Other chapters offer a research and policy context for this…

Despite the proliferation in the last decade of school-college collaboratives designed to help disadvantaged students, a number of unsolved problems about their operation have limited their effectiveness. Schools and colleges collaborate to solve mutual problems in the areas of student development, school improvement, and college improvement. Some…

Reports on a study of second-generation high school students who were children of Cuban and Vietnamese immigrants (relatively advantaged groups) and of Haitian and Mexican immigrants (relatively disadvantaged). Discovers that parents' socioeconomic status, length of stay in the United States, and hours spent on homework affected academic…

Describes a game designed to impress upon undergraduates the difficulty of economic mobility for minorities. The game involves two groups, "Majorities" and "Minorities," and their efforts to build a simulated social network with string. Minorities receive shorter lengths of string and cannot leave their seats. Discusses follow-up exercises. (MJP)

Describes a simple in-class exercise that reveals some flaws in capitalist, individualistic-oriented ideology by following specific assumptions to their logical conclusion. Poses the question, if drive and ambition are sole determinants of success could society accommodate a population where everyone possessed those qualities? (MJP)