Although researchers have found that family involvement impacts educational outcomes for children, there remains a dearth of knowledge regarding the connection between strengthening families and children's academic success. This study examined what parents' perceptions regarding the internal and external factors that strengthen families who face…

This implementation research report describes the local programs, home visiting staff, and families who participated in the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE), a national evaluation of the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program launched in 2011. This national evaluation is…

A pioneering residential child care project in inner city Dublin began operations in July 1981. The project was designed to function as a resource for seriously deprived or at-risk children and their families. The community served is one characterized by exceptionally high unemployment, a 10 percent rate of heroin addiction among local 15- to…

Describes programs for low-income families in Appalachia, including the Parents and Children Together program, which provides preschool lessons in a converted bread truck; the Christian Appalachian Project's infant stimulation program; and Sand Gap Elementary School's family resource center, offering a variety of parent education and child care…

The goal of England's PEERS Early Education Partnership (PEEP) is to support early communication and literacy skills and to support parents as their children's first educators through both home- and group-based programs. The program is offered to children under 5 and their families in a disadvantaged area of Oxford, England. This report describes…

This fact sheet begins with an overview of family support programs, which includes a discussion of the premises of family support programs and a list of typical program components. The remainder of the fact sheet focuses on one approach to family support, comprehensive and collaborative (C&C) services. The fact sheet underscores the need for…

To serve poor youngsters and their families, South Bay Union School District developed its own preschool campus, the VIP (Very Important Preschoolers) Village. The program depends on strong administrative support, planned staff development, parent involvement, parent education programs, community partnerships, curriculum/assessment alignment, and…

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…

This question-and-answer format paper looks at some of the basic issues surrounding the chronically poor and initiatives and services designed to break the poverty cycle. A first section explores some of the myths and realities surrounding the characteristics of the chronically poor population and notes that this population is comprised of…

Transition projects have emerged to address Head Start fade-out effects, that is, the disappearance of gains made by Head Start program children by the third grade. The Nebraska Transition Project is one of 31 across the United States providing Head Start-like services to families with children in public elementary school, kindergarten through…

Designed primarily for instructors and others who will use Mountain-Plains produced curriculum products, this orientation guide accompanies twenty-two units of curriculum materials developed to carry out the Mountain-Plains mission of testing and reporting the advisability of residential career education as a method of improving the economic…

The Success for All elementary school restructuring program attempts to ensure that all students in high poverty schools will be at or near grade level in basic skills by the end of the third grade and will maintain or better that standing through the rest of their elementary school careers. The program emphasizes prevention and early…

Describes the Public Assistance Comprehensive Education (PACE) program, a vocational training program established for individuals receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The PACE program was designed to assist public assistance recipients with many financial and personal problems in obtaining education and jobs. (TE)

This report presents an approach to welfare reform using the welfare-to-work programs possible under the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) portion of the Family Support Act. The document describes how state and local governments can design and implement two-generation interventions that combine services to help parents achieve…

This annotated bibliography describes 53 books, papers, and articles written about efforts toward integrating and improving human services for children, youth, and families living in poverty. The bibliography has been developed for individuals working on and interested in service integration, including policymakers, program administrators,…