District of Columbia School Superintendent Franklin L. Smith faces overwhelming challenges, including student shootings, dilapidated facilities, undersupplied classrooms, and low student achievement. Franklin's biggest problem is a city budget crisis stemming from overspending, poor management, and bureaucratic incompetencies. Smith has pared his…

John Marlowe, currently working with the Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt, highlights the lessons about education that he has learned in Cairo. Closer to home, Judie Glave describes how love and discipline are the hallmarks of the Children's Storefront School in Harlem, New York. Its pupils come from homes scarred by drugs and violence.…

School administrators should immediately inform representatives and senators in Congress about local construction needs in their own school districts. Administrators should also lobby for renewing the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), particularly the Chapter 1 program. AASA will push for a new ESEA that tackles poor…

The problems that poverty, recession, racism, and disinvestment create for communities must be attacked through grassroots community involvement. Cooperative community planning can result in a more positive socioeconomic cycle. (SK)

Examines the research findings of the April 1994 issue of "Child Development," which focused on research and intervention studies of children and poverty. Also discusses other studies that focus specifically on the effects of Head Start on students' subsequent development and academic achievement over time. (MDM)

Used data from 1982 New Beneficiary Survey to examine financial stress in retirement for highly committed women workers. Separate regressions were conducted for married and unmarried women, with attention paid to impact of gender-segregated jobs. Results suggest relative importance of work history and sociodemographic variables as predictors of…

Reviews the interconnection of economic, political, and legal structures and their implications for adult education in a global context. Describes adult education's role in alleviating poverty and powerlessness and spurring social transformation by advocating equitable distribution of resources, equal educational opportunity, and peace. (SK)

Despite well-publicized political gains, more than 40 percent of the nation's elderly are living precariously. About 20 percent of our children live in poverty and/or have no medical insurance. Intergenerational discord may diminish if citizens recognize and work for shared concerns, such as prevention of child/elder abuse and quality health care.…

Reviews Toni Morrison's novel "Sula" as a celebration of the working-class African American. The characters of this novel provide an understanding of the social, psychological, and sociological issues that might otherwise have been evident only to African Americans. (SLD)

Suggests that librarians should include street newspapers, produced by homeless people and their advocates, in their collections. Discusses characteristics and features of these newspapers and describes different papers from cities across the United States. (AEF)

A study of women who went off welfare between 1997 and 1998 (n=753, 693) showed that those with the most work involvement over the year had higher levels of financial and subjective well-being. Regardless of work involvement, substantial numbers reported serious economic difficulties and financial strain. Many still needed income supplements and…

Argues that full employment must be acceptable on both social and economic grounds. Examines profound changes in industrialized economies since the 1970s and the diversity of employment contracts. Suggests that difficult policy decisions surround full employment. (SK)

Examines the Phipps Houses Group, a nonprofit housing developer, in its attempt to foster a sense of community and family well-being in housing developments. Discusses the community development program and gives a profile of tenants. Suggests that this model should become more common as direct federal housing development diminishes. (RJM)

An ethnographic study of Kalhor nomads in Iran showed that the government's top-down approach to development and weak local institutions obscure the impact of technology on women and poor people. Despite rhetoric about participation, these groups are not consulted about their needs, priorities, and interests. (SK)

Found that beginning the immunization schedule at the recommended age was crucial to appropriate vaccination later in life, and that health provider practices (such as failure to administer vaccinations simultaneously) were important predictors of underimmunization. Serious delays in vaccine administration were observed for poor children in all…