This paper describes the need of educators for small-area data on low-income populations, how it has been met in the past ten years, and some of the steps that have been taken to improve the effectiveness of the data for federal purposes. The first section concentrates on how concern for the low-income pupil is translated into a quantitative…

The revision of Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I provides an excellent opportunity for examining the dynamics of educational policy making at the Federal level and the parameters of the educational subsystem that determines educational policy. It provides a fascinating interplay of the demands for greater rationality in public policy and…