Addresses information-seeking behavior within an information-poor life style; examines knowledge gap theory and the role of interpersonal sources. Concludes that mass media do not respond to the needs of the poor. (AEF)

This article summarizes the educational rights of homeless children and youth afforded by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and describes the educational problems they confront, including academic underachievement and poor school attendance. Factors exacerbating the outcomes of homelessness are outlined. (SLD)

The literature suggests that growth of rural industries in developing nations indicates rural poverty and lack of farm employment rather than rural development. A survey of 115 small producers of various goods in rural West Java (Indonesia) confirms that most are poor, have little education, and undertake production for survival reasons. Contains…

Current Population Survey data indicate an overall decline in the rural-urban pay gap during the early 1990s (due to declining urban wages, not rising rural wages). In 1993, the earnings of 30 percent of rural full-time workers were below the poverty level. Compares low-income workers by gender, age group, education, and race/ethnicity. (LP)

Documents living conditions of adolescents (n=390) who left home and were living in the streets of Toronto, Canada. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the most consistent predictions of hunger, criminal activity, and incarceration were the conditions of street life itself: lack of secure shelter and length of time on the street. (JBJ)

Follow Through, a Head Start transitional model serving low-SES children, requires active home-school collaboration. This study, which examines methods used by Follow Through teachers to contact families, shows that positive attitudes may not translate into innovative communication practices. Two-way methods were used primarily for high-ability…

Discusses certain educational, demographic, and economic trends challenging rural education and summarizes Rural Attitude Survey results. Despite consolidation efforts, rural schools are poorer and smaller than nonrural schools. Despite their marginalization by the dominant culture, rural communities have precisely the qualities valued by critics…

Mary Jean LeTendre, director of U.S. Education Department's Office of Compensatory Education, wants to concentrate Chapter 1 dollars on the neediest students in the neediest schools. John F. Jennings, general counsel for the House Education and Labor Committee, predicts more public education funding, a continuing push for national standards and…

These seven articles focus on Shelter and Street Night, a recent Census Bureau effort to include components of the nation's homeless population in the 1990 census count. The success of investigators in Chicago (Illinois), New York City, Los Angeles (California), Phoenix (Arizona), and New Orleans (Louisiana) is analyzed. (SLD)

Views President Bush's America 2000 plan as a rhetorical masterpiece with minimal public input and maximum government interference. Examines program recommendations regarding teacher improvement, choice, the New American Schools Development Corporation, and national testing. Discusses three omitted topics: school finance, growing youth poverty,…

Reviews nonbehavioral parent-child psychotherapy research, summarizing generic principles as to outcome. Focuses on these conditions affecting outcome and process of treatment: amenability of person to treatment, comprehensiveness of treatment, treatment duration, and treatment intensity. Creates profile of intervention roles among poverty level,…

In 1985, poverty rates in Texas nonmetro areas were 41 percent for Latinos and 53 percent for Blacks, compared to 27 percent for both groups in Texas metropolitan areas. Individual, household, and structural factors were related differently to poverty status among the ethnic/residence groups. Contains 62 references. (SV)

A study investigated perceptions of the causes of poverty held by undergraduate social work students (51 beginning, 29 intermediate, 39 senior). Results suggest students develop beliefs about poverty appropriate to the profession's values. Rise in fatalism and external locus of control correlated with completion of a social welfare policy course.…

Emphasis on school performance and lack of emphasis on societal harm suffered by U.S. children are misguided. Bush administration decries 9 year olds' eighth-place finish among 15 nations in the mean science score while disregarding the U.S.'s nineteenth-place world ranking in infant mortality. America 2000 is a quest for image; educational…

Appalachian Kentucky's low rates of labor utilization were the result of underinvestment in human capital and unequal distribution of marketable skills. Large proportions of growth in employment have been absorbed by returned workers, young adults who otherwise would have left the region, and in-movers. Unbalanced labor utilization made the…