Educators face increasing demands to raise student achievement, to improve classroom instruction, and to demonstrate accountability in an environment of high stakes testing. However, meeting these demands is challenging in the face of numerous risk factors that jeopardize the academic success of elementary and secondary students. To that end, the…

The authors of this report analyzed the most recent data to illustrate the impact of literacy skills on both the micro- and macro-economic levels. The report explores whether there is a case to be made for direct links between literacy skill and income level. Data relating to the ability to get a job, job retention and promotion, risk of job loss,…

The Task Force attempted to answer the following questions: What is occupational therapy? What is an occupational therapist? How can we best organize and structure ourselves during the next three years so that we can operationalize the objectives derived from this report on target populations? (JA)

Defines handicapped persons according to recent legislation, estimates the incidence of handicaps in the United States' population by disability area, and discusses the opportunities needed and the barriers to be removed in order to best facilitate the participation of handicapped persons in the labor market and in society. (BM)

Eleven indexes of rurality and their effect on the classification of Michigan's 83 counties were investigated. The indexes were based on different concepts of rurality: (1) percent of employment in agriculture, fishing, and forestry; (2) population density and distance to urban centers; and (3) economic conditions. Index rankings were compared to…

Population characteristics of rural youth (persons under 25 years of age) living in the Southwestern States of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas are presented. Data were collected from the 1970 U.S. Census of Population Final Reports for the individual States. This report is organized into two sections: (1) the analytical text…

The first in a series of bulletins prepared for each region and with a national summary, this report presents relevant data about the South's rural youth (persons under 25). The total rural population of the South includes some 22.2 million persons, representing slightly higher than 41 percent of the rural people in the entire nation. There are…

Although knowledge of how the population of an area is structured and how it is constantly changing will not solve problems created by the changes, it will provide a basis for understanding the needs of an area and for better program planning. Population processes that produce growth or decline in areas include natural increase, migration, and…

This monograph attempts to describe the rural population as reported in the 1960 Census of Population and to evaluate the residence categories used. The hypothesis that the proximity to large metropolitan centers plays a crucial role in determining the characteristics of rural areas is applied. Substantive and analytical portions of the monograph…

The 'rural' definitions applied by the Federal Government, especially by two data-gathering agencies, the Bureau of the Census and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), emphasize different dimensions of the concept, and delineate the rural-urban continuum in different ways. This report discusses the inconsistency of curent "rural"…

Describing issues relative to economic development in nonmetropolitan areas, this document presents narrative and tabular data re: (1) the causal forces behind economic decline in rural America (technology, shifting patterns of demand for goods and services, and changes in life styles and residential preferences); (2) the incidence and indicators…

An attempt is made to clarify the language of the Adult Education Act of 1966 to yield operational criteria for identifying its goals within a needs assessment/treatment framework. Criteria for general and special target populations are set forth. Singled out are the group of those with four or less years of formal education and those determined…

A variety of ecological, economic, and social changes are now reshaping rural America. The deterioration of the economic structures and perceived quality of social life in large metropolitan centers of the United States has stimulated the dispersal of population and economic resources throughout rural America. During the last decade almost three…

Federal statistical services grossly underestimate the size of the farmworker population; as a result, the current federal farmworker programs (CETA, Migrant Education, Migrant Headstart, Farm Labor Housing, and Migrant Health) are unable to identify a total target population in need of services and unable to allocate funds in ways which reflect…

Volume IV of a four volume report on the results of a national study of the Upward Bound (UBO and Educational Talent Search (ETS) programs focuses on Upward Bound itself. The first three chapters provide a general descriptive background to the study, its design and limitations. The next four chapters focus on: (1) characteristics of the UB staff,…