The major premise of this paper concerns the existence of an intrinsic connection between the institutional culture of school and students' dispositions to learning. The data presented shows three things in particular. These are firstly, the strong mono-culture of the Israeli school, secondly, a virtual absence of knowledge, understanding and…

Working memory plays a key role in supporting children's learning over the school years, and beyond this into adulthood. It is proposed here that working memory is crucially required to store information while other material is being mentally manipulated during the classroom learning activities that form the foundations for the acquisition of…

Children's lead and pesticide exposures are used as examples to examine social disparities in exposure reduction efforts as well as environmental policies impacting children in poverty and minority children. The review also presents an estimate of the effect of social disparities in lead exposure on standardized test performance. Because including…

California continues to widen access to local child care and preschool programs--albeit in fits and starts--for a variety of families. About 65% of all four year-olds statewide now attend a preschool center. Government spends $3.6 billion on early care and education programs statewide, including a three-fold increase in state spending since 1996.…

This study examines the impact of 2 professional learning community (PLC) classroom practices on the English Language Arts achievement of California's most at-risk subgroups between selected higher- and lower-performing elementary schools in a southern California school district. The conclusions from this study agree with the body of research,…

This study examined the influence of perceived parental, peer, and cultural factors on Black American adolescent attitudes toward substance use. One-hundred-eight Black American youth (grades 9-12) from economically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods of New York, completed self-report measures on: (a) parent-child involvement, parental supervision,…

The structure and admission policy of secondary and postsecondary education in Egypt constitutes a culture of great prestige in general school and university education, as opposed to vocational school and technical education. Youth mainly from rural and underdeveloped urban areas enroll in technical education. Because of poverty, many girls and…

This paper represents a pooling of diverse perspectives and experiences of four organizations concerned that the current block grant structure of funding for social and family support services will not adequately improve the social services system or the lives of children and families. Focusing on ways in which the current re-examination of…

The General Accounting Office was asked by the House Committee on Education and Labor to review state implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant to determine the problems states encounter as they integrate the block grant and the other federal child care programs for low-income families into their child care delivery programs and…

The Acquisition of Learning by Facilitating Academics (Project ALFA) was an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VII-funded project in its second year in 1993-94. The project operated at a high school in Brooklyn, and served 75 Haitian-speaking students of limited English proficiency with fewer than 5 years in an English-speaking school.…

Whereas political inequality was once seen as the key element of the American race problem, today the problem can be seen in terms of social and economic disparities. Three general socioeconomic classes have emerged in the United States, a middle class, a working class, and a poverty-stricken class. The status of African Americans can no longer be…

As part of a larger exploration of the role of community colleges in bringing the poor, working class, and ethnic minorities into higher education, this study looked at how students and institutional cultures at four urban community colleges interacted to achieve unusually high transfer rates to four-year colleges and universities. In the 1994-95…

This review of the literature looks at family influences on the achievement of economically disadvantaged youth, with an emphasis on relationships among families, academic achievement, and gifted education. Theoretical perspectives on the study of families have focused primarily on families as static systems and families as dynamic systems and,…

This general guide provides information on the 15 Project Connect Learning Guides for secondary education that are adaptations of the guides developed for adult consumer and homemaking education programs. An introduction discusses usefulness of the guides, participation in Future Homemakers of America-Home Economics Related Occupations, and…

A study examined the costs, outcomes, and administrative structure of the Job Corps program. Information obtained from the Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Job Corps and discussions with DOL officials was used to study the structure of the Job Corps program, cost differences between Job Corps centers run by contractors and Civilian…