The COVID pandemic has led to a prolonged period of educational disruption with few precedents from the recent past to guide recovery. The Institute of Education's project, "Learning Through Disruption," set out to explore the knowledge schools have acquired from working with children and families during the crisis. The authors found…

Many recreation and leisure professionals are looking for opportunities to upgrade their skills and knowledge in the context of their work. For some professionals that involves returning to post-secondary education. Yet, most undergraduate degree programs are designed in formats for students who are assumed to have little prior professional…

The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program provided education and occupational training to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other adults with low incomes. HPOG training is for healthcare occupations that pay well and may experience labor shortages or be in high demand. This report details common themes…

Throughout history, military children and families have shown great capacity for adaptation and resilience. However, in recent years, unprecedented lengthy and multiple combat deployments of service members have posed multiple challenges for U.S. military children and families. Despite needs to better understand the impact of deployment on…

For most full-time employed parents, the gap between the end of the school day and the time they arrive home from work adds up to about 20 to 25 hours per week. Thus, many parents look to afterschool programs to satisfy their desire for safe, enriching experiences for their children while they are working. "Afterschool" is the general term used to…

These conference proceedings contain short abstracts of major sessions from the conference of the National Council on Family Relations held in observance of the 1994 United Nations International Year of the Family. Topics for the sessions were wide ranging, and included: (1) parenting and parent education; (2) marriage and family relationships;…

The successful summer day camp program of Saint Louis University (Missouri) is described. Program rationale, philosophy, objectives, structure, staffing, activities, and benefits to the university community are discussed. A majority of the children served by the camp are the children, ages 6 to 12, of university employees. (MSE)

This issue of "Interchange" reports the findings of a survey of parents of children ages 14 and under in Scotland regarding child care demand. The purposes of the survey were to: (1) establish the types and quantities of child care used; (2) identify the financial costs of child care; (3) identify reasons why parents select different…

An overview is presented of social and demographic trends prompting changes in workforce composition and workers' values, and a conceptual model for understanding these changes and their effects on the work environment is offered. The Ohio State University's shared approach to managing the work/family overlap and its policy implications are…

This report examines alternatives to state-sponsored child care disregards, which allow working low-income families to offset child care expenses against earned income, thereby receiving higher Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) payments than they might otherwise obtain. It explains the need for continuous, stable child care for…

Asserting that community foundations have a crucial part to play in supporting the role of fathers in families through research use and support, public policy influence, and program development, this publication is an outgrowth of a fatherhood institute in which representatives from 24 community foundations examined promising ideas for promoting…

This report is the first step in a multi-year effort to identify and demonstrate community-based strategies for helping family, friend, and neighbor caregivers meet the needs of working parents, their children, and employers. Information for the report was obtained through interviews with experts, employers, employees, and their caregivers. The…

This white paper examines the relationship of child care to business interests. Areas explored include: (1) the relationship between a robust economy and increasing family stress; (2) family-friendly benefit options and the bottom-line rewards for employers who offer them; (3) how businesses are getting involved in partnerships to address issues…

Noting that one of the biggest challenges in the United States today is the increasing number of infants and toddlers younger than age 3 who are cared for by someone other than their parents during work hours, this issue of NCEDL Spotlights announces the publication of a book examining out-of-home care for infants and toddlers. The book is an…

Noting that the need for basic skills education among the current labor force cannot be easily met by vocational training alone, this booklet presents the case for family literacy education to improve the skills of unemployed workers and describes the work of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). Family literacy is defined as having four…