Since home is the most unequal environment in education, school should be an arena of equity. Alternative education can catalyze America's unrealized hopes by helping poor, discouraged youngsters overcome their most debilitating handicaps: rampant pessimism, failure to trust in effort, and mistrust of societal institutions. Doing nothing is not an…

Examined patterns of school segregation and other ecological characteristics of 89 schools attended by Puerto Rican students who migrated to the mainland United States (New Jersey). Correlations show that the higher the proportion of Hispanics/Latinos, the higher the student body's proportion of students from economically impoverished households…

A 1993 study explored the relationships among literacy, drug/alcohol misuse, victimization, and economic hardship in rural central Texas schools, using survey instruments and regression techniques. The association between violence and youth's academic performance in rural schools may be mediated by economic influences and magnified by local drug…

Examined caregiving environments for 243 premature, low birthweight infants living in poverty to determine effects on health and development. Found that children's health and development benefited significantly from six protective caregiving factors: (1) increased parental responsiveness; (2) availability of toys and learning materials; (3)…

Examined the impact of day-care participation during the first 3 years of life on the cognitive functioning of 867 school age children who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Found that children from impoverished homes who started day care before age one had higher reading scores than children from similar homes who did not…

Assessed the effects of preschool education on achievement in primary school for 88 impoverished African American children and their families. Found that the positive effects of a preschool intervention program on intellectual development and academic achievement were maintained through age 12 and that school-age intervention alone was less…

Examined differences in intelligence test scores of black and white five-year-olds born premature with low birth weight. Found that black children's IQ scores were 1 SD lower than those of white children. Adjustments for ethnic differences in poverty reduced the differential by half; adjustments for differences in home environment reduced it by…

Presents the view that genuine educational reform is impossible in today's political, social, and economic climate. Today's policymakers are not truly antipoverty and do not truly care about the plight of the less fortunate. The current preoccupation with economic progress means that reform has come to mean inattention. (SLD)

Addresses the relationship of education and training to employment and how this discourse shapes policy and programs for public assistance recipients and dislocated workers. Problematic assumptions about how education and training affect employment are discussed, along with statistical data that raise questions about these assumptions. Race,…

Rural respondents in the (English) Rural Lifestyles Project frequently denied rural "deprivation" through representations of rural areas as problem-free and idyllic, portrayals of deprivation as an individual fault, and constructions of deprivation as an urban feature. Argues that normative constructions of "deprivation"…

Used national sample of 3,595 public and 176 private kindergarten teachers to obtain information regarding teachers' practices related to the transition of children into first grade. Found that over half used some form of transition practice, with more private school teachers using transition practices than public school teachers. Teacher- or…

"All children can learn" has become a simplistic mantra leading to practices that can be harmful to students and unfair to schools. Unintended consequences include establishing accountability based on state-developed tests, downplaying poor children's need for early intervention, and using punishment to motivate school improvement. (MLH)

A framework is provided for thinking about how welfare reform affects young children with disabilities and their families and strategies are presented for addressing their unique needs. The article documents the relationship between disability and poverty, reviews major changes in the law, and highlights challenges. (Contains references.)…

Examines the relationship between teacher quality and California high school student mathematics achievement, investigating student dropout rates in conjunction with faculty characteristics. Results suggest that poverty strongly affects student achievement. A direct relationship exists between teacher experience and preparation and student…

Describes general development assistance available to rural areas through federal programs that fund housing, extension education and research, rural community development, rural business development, resource conservation, and development activities in American Indian reservations and disadvantaged rural areas. (SV)