Research and policy issues highlighted during the National Conference on Health Care for the Poor and Underserved are summarized. Needs were identified in the areas of adolescent health care, education, drug and alcohol education, social services delivery, and societal violence. Recommendations are made for system reform. (SLD)

Examines data from published sources and ethnographic studies that assess the economic situation of Vietnamese refugees in the United States. Evidence suggests that, rather than a success story, the economic status of many Vietnamese refugees is characterized by unstable, minimum-wage employment, welfare dependency, and participation in the…

Parents are being invited to step in to help improve public education, but they enter with neither resources nor power. Real parental involvement requires commitment to organizing parents and restructuring schools, as well as inventing rich versions of diverse educational democracies of difference. Schools must function like meaningful…

Explores implications of defining the primary problems of African Americans as those faced by males, questioning whether this approach places African-American men and women in conflict. Considers how social problems are constructed. Image formation and manipulation of social issues may contribute to the perception of African-American women as…

Explores mentoring, and examines the gap between claims advanced for mentoring and actual experience. Mentoring at the present often suffers from fervor without infrastructure. Principles are given for building supportive infrastructure and creating environments rich in mentors that relieve a single person from the weight of super-mentoring. (SLD)

This study analyzed diagnostic profiles of 151 children with disabilities receiving Head Start services. Three clinical clusters emerged which described the children along demographic, developmental/medical, family/home, and academic dimensions. Far more children with learning disabilities (26%) and serious emotional disturbances (29%) were…

Explores the childhood and adolescence of the Hispanic American poet Luis Rodriguez, who grew up in Los Angeles (California) and was involved in gangs with other children of Mexican immigrants. Rodriguez's autobiography is offered so that adolescents, including his own son, may learn from his experience. (SLD)

Compares the following four ways of providing additional funds for low-income students: (1) separate programs; (2) districtwide discretionary funding; (3) building-wide funding; and (4) vouchers for low-income families. Disadvantages of each are discussed, and large scale trial of buildingwide funding is recommended. (SLD)

A study reported the status of approximately 2,900 participants in the student-support-services program for disadvantaged college students, and of 2,900 comparable nonparticipating students three years after college entry, looking at grades received, number of credits accumulated, and retention rates. The study also collected information on how…

Survey of admission directors at 12 medical schools with the largest underrepresented minority (URM) populations found diversity in the makeup of admissions committees and weighting of quantitative and qualitative factors. Although no school gave URM status a specific weight, one added points to a diversity index used as a quantitative measure.…

Describes the transformation of the school library in Lindbergh Middle School, North Long Breach CA that serves a predominantly lower income, multicultural area whose students are struggling readers. Highlights include painting, new furniture, and other physical changes; collection development and circulation increases; hours of operation;…

Overviews black teachers academic preparation and pedagogical training during the early 20th century revealing a broad range of problems from discriminatory salaries, hiring practices, and state certification practices to de jure segregation, lack of publicly funded facilities, and white hostility. Northern philanthropic initiatives and the…

Reviews the literature on delinquency that shows key early childhood factors which are associated with later antisocial or delinquent behavior. The review focuses on programs which have demonstrated long-term effects on antisocial behavior or delinquency, as well as their cost effectiveness. The article reveals that programs combining family…

Offers information on welfare-to-work programs at community colleges. Suggests that all community colleges, including those without such programs, can use existing research to maximize the commitment to further educational opportunities for disadvantaged individuals. (Contains 16 references.) (AUTH/NB)

Although facilitating community participation in disadvantaged schools can be difficult, this article argues that, given the structuring of schooling in contemporary western democracies, it is even more difficult than we might imagine. Drawing on Bourdieu, we attempt to elucidate the complex relations between schooling and socio-cultural contexts…