This document is part of a Bridgespan Group research project that focused on the question: "How could a philanthropist make the biggest improvement on social mobility with an investment of $1 billion?" In answering this question, the authors have sought to understand "what matters most" for improving social mobility outcomes.…

This paper offers a broad overview of vocational education in Singapore. Looking at vocational education from Independence, it argues that the development of a skilled labour force was not only crucial in the age of globalisation and the dominance of multinational companies, but also an empirical litmus test of the newly elected post-colonial…

At the author's institution, the majority of preservice teachers pursuing a master's degree in education curriculum and instruction are White middle-class students, so preparing them to be reflective practitioners with adequate knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach English learners, whose cultural perspectives often differ significantly…

The evidence advanced in this report demonstrates that using tax credits to fund scholarships for students is both well-established and sound practice. Three existing credits allow taxpayer funds to flow to faith-based organizations, and one of those, the Qualified Endowment Credit, rewards contributions to more than a thousand charitable…

"Civil defence pedagogies" normalise continuous emergency through educational channels such as school, community and adult education. Using critical whiteness studies, and critiques of white supremacy from critical race theory, as a conceptual base, the protection of whiteness, and particularly the white middle-class family, is considered to be…

This chapter provides an international perspective on the promotion of positive development and the prevention of risky behavior among youth. We discuss some of the specific challenges that youth face in low- and middle-income countries and identify six key evidence-based policies and programs that aim to promote positive youth development and…

Examines Black occupational mobility and factors that have influenced the growth of the Black middle class since the 1960s. Argues that the Black middle class occupies a fragile market position because Black mobility depends on fluctuating government policy rather than on free market factors. (Author/MJL)

To explore meanings attached to children in Mexican society, this article examines two changing aspects of child circulation, a widespread reproductive disruption to the families of Mexico City's working poor. In the late 1890s, a rapid rise in admissions to the public foundling home was matched by a striking increase in retrievals. At the other…

The federal Hope Scholarship program, designed as a middle-class tax break, required substantial negotiation and diverse, often conflicting tactics to become policy. The story of the idea's creation and its journey to policy, based on interviews with over three dozen college officials, Clinton administration aides, lawmakers, and others is…

While economic capital is not synonymous with cultural, social or symbolic capital in either its constitutional or organizational form, it nevertheless remains the more flexible and convertible form of capital. The convertibility of economic capital has particular resonance within "Celtic Tiger" Ireland. The states reluctance to fully…

The studies and policies of the U.S. Children's Bureau in the era of Progressive education benefited many children, but its emphasis on the middle-class family ideals and relative disinterest in poverty issues left a legacy with policy implications in today's climate of welfare reform. (SLD)

Over the last century, Americans have formed a social contract with higher education through the development of and changes to student financial aid programs. These federal, state, and institutional programs are the manifestation of the value we place on who should and who does pay the costs of higher education. Grants versus loans and low-income…

Discussion of the role of languages in Macau focuses on three areas: forces in determination of language policy; actual language use in Macau; and prospects beyond 1999. Four main forces for language policy are identified: emergence of a middle class due to economic progress and access to higher education; arrival of well-educated, liberal…

The task of designing future postsecondary education policy in fiscal year 1981 is discussed in relation to two unique conditions. First, the federal role as a provider of student assistance was increased dramatically in 1978 by passage of the Middle Income Student Assistance Act, and the full costs of implementing MISAA are coming due. Second,…

This report proposes several distinct--yet interrelated--policy opportunities that can move more Texans into the middle class. These proposals blend greater state-level investments with common sense policy changes to increase economic well-being for working Texans. While Texas policy makers have recognized the connection between workforce…