A 3-year study of welfare reform in Ohio's 29 Appalachian counties surveyed human services agencies, county commissioners, poor families, and employers and found that rural barriers to employment included lack of jobs, lack of child care, poor health, lack of education and job skills, and transportation problems. Many former welfare recipients…

Examined the relationship between poverty and children's developmental outcomes, the effects of the timing and duration of poverty, and the effects of poverty at the family and neighborhood level, analyzing data from two longitudinal surveys. Found that poverty status was strongly related to low levels of cognitive development, even after…

Examined associations among poverty, measures of social support, and parents' reports of punitive and unsupportive behaviors, using data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Found that parents' reports of punitive behavior decreased with perceived social support and that the more help received from others, the less likely parents…

Census Bureau data, 1970-90, indicate that families of nonmetropolitan poor children relied more heavily on parental earnings and less on public assistance than their metropolitan counterparts, but reliance on public assistance rose sharply during the period, especially for nonmetro children. Welfare's ability to ameliorate poverty was modest and…

Determines the extent to which people with and without health care insurance use public health care facilities and various health care services. Analyzes 6,298 patients from 4 county-funded primary health care clinics. Patients were overwhelmingly poor regardless of insurance status. High cost-sharing requirements, coupled with larger families and…

A former U.S. Commissioner of Education during Lyndon Johnson's administration discusses his 50-year educator career and his views about leadership responsibility, school desegregation, funding for black colleges, the limitations of poverty and standardized tests, and putting excellent teachers in charge of teacher preparation programs. (MLH)

Describes the Interagency Education Research Initiative, which joins specialists from many areas of science, medicine, and education in a common crusade to improve learning. Projects include brain research on people with reading disabilities, development of an automated reading tutor, and a cross-cultural study of how young students in three…

Discusses the impact of geographical space on student achievement, examining academic achievement in schools located under the flight path to a major international airport and including statements of impoverished students living and educated within that traumatizing, noisy environment. Results highlight the social justice and equity-excellence…

Explores how authors and illustrators of 21 children's picture books with international settings portray children of poverty. Discusses causes and representations of poverty in the books: fathers who leave home to find work; child laborers; modes of transportation; housing; children who lack material goods; and the barter system. Finds…

Discusses the interplay between assessment policies in Uruguay and state-society relations. Shows how national student evaluation has come to symbolize an agreed-on mechanism of social accountability by which the central government upholds its responsibility for educational provision as it intervenes on behalf of impoverished communities.…

Describes a federally-funded literacy program in five Harford County, Maryland, schools, which combines a summer teaching institute, monthly training sessions led by reading specialists, and an extensive classroom library. The programs serve the county's poorest children. (SM)

Examines a Calcutta street child's experiences with vocational education within a broader historical framework of colonial and post-colonial discourses on formal education and the poor. Provides an ethnographic narrative of the child's experiences, exploring how colonialism, by establishing a modern education system and transforming children's…

Describes how the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the San Diego Housing Commission, and San Diego State University worked together through the UCSD Community Outreach Partnership Center to engage students in the design and implementation of an applied research project in City Heights, a low-income neighborhood in San Diego. (EV)

Examines the scope of poverty and the growing disparity in income among people. Discusses the consequences of poverty for adults and children and presents strategies to improving their resilience. Although focusing on individual characteristics can enhance resilience, it suggests that the best changes will come about with improved national…

Many people believe that public education holds the key to success for individuals and society. However, too often they do not prioritize equitable educational opportunities for all students. To provide quality education for all students regardless of life circumstances requires community reform, not just academic reform. Education can provide…