Summarizes the articles in this special issue on child poverty, policy, and welfare reform. Introduces and discusses the four major themes addressed by these articles: (1) poverty and economic policies affecting children; (2) consequences of poverty for child well-being; (3) qualitative research on family life and child poverty; and (4) programs…

Argues against the Bush administration's school choice proposal from historical and sociocultural perspectives. The Bush approach to education reform espouses educational excellence without addressing needs of children who are at risk of school failure. Equity for minority groups has never occurred as a by-product of a focus on excellence. (SLD)

Estimates costs of (1) full public funding of part-time and full-time programs for children under five who live in poverty; and (2) public and private funding for full-time programs for children under five who are not poor. (LB)

Examines the impact of children's attendance at preschool on teaching and learning in 77 low-income Hawaiian families' homes. Data from the families (18 participating in a year-long series of interviews) illustrate the development of 2 parental scripts, 1 for skills used in the home, and 1 for preparation for school. (SLD)

Describes two middle schools (IS 218 in New York City and Hanshaw School in Modesto, California) that stand out as models of how to put together innovative schooling plus help children and their families by providing health and social services on site. Both schools are located in poverty neighborhoods and enroll mostly students from disadvantaged…

Conventional explanations attributing the high infant mortality rate in United States to the prevalence of poverty and lack of adequate health care do not tell the whole story. Contributions of parental behavior, lifestyles, and public health care availability versus utilization must be examined in determining public policies to address the…

Provides statistical data and state rankings related to day-care center enrollment and financial support. Includes data on population, state expenditures, child care, corporal punishment, poverty, working parents, family income, single parent families, teen births, church-operated centers, and educational attainment. (PAM)

Comments on "The Timing of a First Birth and High School Completion" (Dawn M. Upchurch and James McCarthy) (1990). In considering relationships between adolescent childbearing and completion of high school, Upchurch and McCarthy misinterpret socioeconomic data. Their conclusion that young mothers are no less likely to graduate from high school is…

Demonstrates how several factors interact to diminish the chances of academic success for the children of public housing, and suggests how these chances might be improved. A first step is renewed commitment to housing conditions. Reduction of class size is a strong option for increasing achievement for children. (SLD)

Proposes a Marshall Plan for America to be implemented by the private sector and volunteer organizations as well as government. Goals related to improving the conditions in which U.S. minorities live are established for the business community, educators, and the African-American community. The African-American community must commit itself to…

Using standard data sources, information is presented for each state on the importance of rural education to the state's overall educational performance and the urgency for state policymakers to develop explicit rural education policies. The 8 importance and 11 urgency indicators for each state are presented in table and graph form, and…

Describes programs that focus on preparing and retaining highly qualified teachers in schools serving California's impoverished urban and rural children. The Governor's Teacher Scholar programs emerged as a result a commitment by California's governor and the University of California's president to address teacher quality and teacher shortage…

Notes that many from across the ideological spectrum suggest that welfare reform address policies that promote marriage and two-parent families. Discusses marriage, family structure and economic well-being, the benefits of marriage for adults and children, and low-income unwed mothers and marriage. Suggests that marriage and two-parent families…

Describes theoretical and practical problems facing the field of early reading, examining: readers and texts (reader processes, text difficulty, linguistic and cultural knowledge, and unique learners); home and school (home-school match, communities and reading, preschools as contexts for reading acquisition, and best practices); and policy and…

Parenting is a subject about which people typically hold strong opinions, but about which too little solid information or considered reflection exists. And clearly critical questions about parenting abound. Moreover, the family generally, and parenting specifically, are today in a greater state of flux, question, and re-definition than perhaps…