This report examines urban student achievement using the SAT-9, the most commonly used standardized assessment among the major cities. The study, conducted in collaboration with the test's creator, Harcourt Educational Measurement, highlights student achievement in Great City Schools (GCS) and describes how urban students perform on traditional…

This monograph synthesizes findings from five large-scale studies investigating welfare and employment programs in order to examine the effects on children of key policies: providing financial support for working families, requiring single parents to work, and limiting time on welfare. It identifies program features associated with effects on…

This study examines the effects of early experiences and behaviors on course failure, grade point average, and educational aspirations, analyzing survey data gathered from 20 high schools participating in a whole-school reform initiative aimed at helping troubled high schools. All of the schools served mainly poor and minority students. Students…

This book presents a collection of papers offering practical strategies that teachers can use to enhance student performance at all levels. The authors identify and describe the most effective teaching approaches for helping students learn history, civics, geography, and science. The book extends the notion of diversity by examining different…

This report presents status and trend data in several areas relevant to Latino children in the United States. The Latino population under age 18 years is growing faster than that of any other racial and ethnic group, and the challenges confronting these children have implications for cities and states where they live. While Latino children are…

The federal Universal Service Fund--the E-Rate--helps provide Internet access to schools and libraries. This report analyzes how public schools' participation in the E-Rate program varied by their percentage American Indian enrollment, with a focus on Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools. The analysis covers program Year 1 (January 1998-June…

To commemorate the Centennial of the Foundation for Child Development, this report tells the story of American families who cannot lift themselves out of poverty despite honest, hard work and proposes an agenda for change that reflects the focus of the foundation's grantmaking. The report draws heavily on recent research including that sponsored…

Many programs advocated by civic organizations, parents, and education officials are bringing about positive results in the quality of instruction and services for students in New York City. This report describes the complex process of school improvement as it actually occurred in 10 schools. Members of the Educational Priorities Panel interviewed…

This report details the challenges that immigrant women in the United States have faced since the 1995 United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. It presents a compilation of research and synthesis by immigrants' rights activists and organizations. Data come from immigrant women's testimony. The following topics are featured:…

Three interrelated factors have combined to produce what is rapidly becoming a crisis in access to higher education. In the first place, the cost of higher education has risen steadily as a percentage of family income only for low-income families, but middle-income affordability and merit have begun to displace access as the focus of policymakers…

This study updated statistics about public library outlet and system Internet connectivity and network services using the 1997 public library dataset produced by the National Center for Education Statistics through the Federal-State Cooperative System. Using geographic information system-based techniques, a research team at the Florida State…

This annual report examines student achievement in U.S. schools, using evidence released in the previous 12 months to investigate the enormous gap between the U.S. and other nations in mathematics achievement and analyze the gap in reading achievement between the nation's best and worst fourth-grade readers. The report also explores the culture of…

Even Start programs integrate early childhood education, adult literacy or basic education, parenting education and support, and parent and child time together to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. This progress report describes the Even Start program in Colorado, and includes evaluation questions and methods. The report presents…

This report summarizes data for two components of the Title I program: the Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and the State Agency Program for Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth. The Title I Grants to LEAs provide federal financial assistance to eligible school districts and schools to assist them in providing opportunities…

This report illustrates how official poverty rates vary by age, race and Hispanic origin, nativity, family composition, work experience, and geography. The official poverty rate rose from 11.7 to 12.1 percent between 2001-2002. In 2002, people below the official poverty thresholds numbered 34.6 million, 1.7 million higher than in 2001. At 16.7…