Argues that special needs education in Britain has lost sight of the relationship between children's difficulties in school and wider patterns of socioeconomic disadvantage and inequality, and suggests that special needs education is incapable of addressing basic inequities in our education system and within society as a whole. (Author/CR)

Martin Haberman, a distinguished teacher educator who helped shape American educational reforms for 35 years, explains his current research interests and concerns. He favors development of "star teachers," alternative teacher certification programs, restructured schooling for six million urban children in poverty, and gentle teaching strategies.…

Addresses issues of early intervention with young children with disabilities in the context of poverty as a risk factor for disability and recent welfare-to-work legislation. Concepts developed by Uri Bronfenbrenner and Peter Neville are reviewed to show the need to integrate concepts of risk and ecological support into the contexts of caregiving…

School-community partnership programs can help teachers reach children in the crucial years from birth to 4, thereby preventing reading difficulties and raising future test scores. Many organizations help families in starting their children on the road to lifetime reading by distributing free books and pamphlets on reading aloud to children. (SM)

Examines a five year period of the perceptions of University of Durban-Westville (South Africa) student teachers who wrote narratives portraying a significant experience in their schooling. Explains that five themes emerged in the stories: (1) violence; (2) authoritarianism; (3) passive ways of learning; (4) poverty; and (5) language-medium…

Focuses on pedagogical relationships established in three different Australian primary schools designated as disadvantaged schools and located in ethnically diverse working-class areas. Contrasts the schools' pedagogical responses to children in poverty and analyses them in terms of their capacities to contribute to socially just outcomes from…

Reviews child poverty in the United States. Child poverty rates have been high since the 1970s, and it is expected that one-third of all children will be poor at some time. African American and Latino children and children in mother-only families are disproportionately poor. Both family structure and the labor market are implicated in child…

Explores the new mission outlined by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the efforts of the federal government to help the working poor. The review of welfare reform proposals suggests that real solutions will depend on comprehensive plans for a broader sense of well-being for all citizens. (SLD)

Critiques a collection of articles on accountability, testing, and academics in schools with minority group and low-income students, examining their polar positions and explaining that polar positions are often equally biased. Expresses concerns about the TAAS, discussing what changes are needed in the educational system and the TAAS in order for…

Challenges a central orthodoxy of school-effectiveness work-that schools should strive to become more consistent learning environments. Ironically, the effective-school model has become embedded in the educational politics of the UK and USA, where conditions do not favor successful implementation. Educators must first address rampant socioeconomic…

Despite growth in the service sector, manufacturing remains a vital part of the rural South's economic base and is related to lower poverty rates. However, manufacturing is changing, adopting new technologies and management practices, and seeking more highly skilled labor. Poor rural schools, an unskilled workforce, and absence of community…

Examined the parenting practices in 99 young, low-income, African American multigenerational families through home-based observations of grandmothers, young mothers, and the mothers' 3-year-old children. Residence with grandmothers was found to have negative consequences on the quality of both mothers' and grandmothers' parenting. (MDM)

Poverty rates for nonmetro families with children increased during the 1980s. Of these families, those headed by women had the highest poverty rate at 50.7% and were the household type whose rate increased most in nonmetro areas during the 1980s. Discusses differences in poverty rates and child poverty rates by county type and region. (KS)

Examines research on schoolwide programs with the views of experienced practitioners in 21 highly regarded schoolwide projects under Chapter 1, to identify the principles guiding effective schoolwide programs. The framework that the most successful schools build on is described, and practices that future Title 1 schoolwide programs can adopt are…

Selfishness has spawned a new breed of racism, driven by fear, fed by scarcity, and manifested through economic imperatives. California's Proposition 187 and Herrnstein and Murray's book "The Bell Curve" are built on racist foundations. Our current obsession with race is driven by an economy and an elitist social system that is…