State summative assessments play an important role in measuring student learning and guiding educational improvement efforts, despite their limitations. But there is growing momentum in individual states and nationally to rethink these assessments with an eye toward reducing time spent on testing and increasing the tests' instructional relevance.…

This study aims to better understand the social ecology of infant care (IC) as experienced and perceived by mothers living in a deprived Arab Bedouin community in Israel, where children's health indicators are poor. We used the integrative model of Garcia Coll et al. (Garcia Coll C, Lamberty G, Jenkins R "et al." An integrative model for…

This paper examines the relationship between contemporary racial inequality of schooling and the black-white wage gap in the U.S. In particular I ask: what policies would be effective at reducing the black-white wage gap in the U.S.? In order to address this question, I develop a model of human capital accumulation in which agents differ by race.…

Although planning theory is regarded as an analysis of the relationship of knowledge to action by many theories, a view from the poor and minority strata of this society suggests a different alternative--that planning theory is an analysis of the relationship of "knowledge" to inaction, particularly with regard to the continuation of deteriorating…

A primary reason for increased government involvement in health care delivery resides in the acknowledged difficulty of the poor in obtaining adequate care. However, in the absence of knowledge about how health, health care, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, and geographic location are related, policies aimed at implementing right to health…

The International Conference on Rural Aging (June 2000) endorsed policy recommendations in the following areas: health and active aging of older rural people; education, participation, and rights of older rural people; policy development, advocacy, and implementation; components of successful model policies and programs; implications for…

Efforts to prevent mental retardation have been encumbered by lack of scientific and technical knowledge, vague understanding of incidence and prevalence, and scarcity of resources to implement effective public policies. Scientific and social progress toward prevention has pursued a wavelike, erratic course, driven primarily by prevailing social,…

Most welfare-to-work programs may be classified as quick employment programs emphasizing individual or group job searches or skill-building programs emphasizing basic education. Although both types of programs offer benefits, they also suffer from significant limitations. To be more effective than their predecessors, current-generation…

The importance of higher education for women on welfare, the needs of welfare women in college, and college services provided to this population are discussed, along with model college programs, and policy implications for local, state, and federal programs. It is proposed that single-parent women on welfare have access to higher education so they…

The effectiveness of state enterprise zone programs was examined by using a hypothetical-firm model called the Tax and Incentives Model-Enterprise Zones (TAIM-ez) model to analyze the value of enterprise zone incentives to businesses across the United States and especially in the 13 states that had substantial enterprise zone programs by 1990. The…

This book, consisting of 17 chapters written by different authors, traces the progress that has been made in developing lifelong learning policies over the past 30 years and examines current challenges to lifelong learning policymakers. Focusing on a global agenda, the book is organized in six parts with thematic chapters following an introductory…