This question-and-answer format paper looks at some of the basic issues surrounding the chronically poor and initiatives and services designed to break the poverty cycle. A first section explores some of the myths and realities surrounding the characteristics of the chronically poor population and notes that this population is comprised of…

Nearly one million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are victims of violent crimes each year, and this has been true since at least 1985. Children are becoming involved in violence at ever younger ages, both as victims and as perpetrators. The threat of firearms is the greatest concern in adolescent violence, but no single factor can be…

David R. Jones shares his knowledge and experience and the research done by his organization, the Community Service Society of New York, in his twice monthly column in the "New York Amsterdam News," New York City's leading African American newsweekly. The column, "The Urban Agenda," explores practical options that can help…

This novel relates the story of Jesse and Abel, two Mexican American brothers trying to improve their life situation and and escape their heritage of tedious physical labor by furthering their education through junior college. Jesse loves his mother, but grows tired of his mean and disrespectful Anglo stepfather. Jesse doesn't understand why his…

It is argued that the United States is declining as a nation, a decline that can be confirmed by any of the criteria that historians have ever used to measure the state and condition of a nation and its people, and it is asserted that this decline is rooted in the overall decline of the intelligence capital of the nation, a decline in the levels…

Classroom teachers and teacher educators involved in implementing global education in schools have described their efforts as making connections across cultures and civilizations and across global issues instead of teaching them separately; identifying historical antecedents to current world issues and problems; linking global content to the lives…

This document contains the following papers, which were developed during a project in which barriers to participation in adult education in rural England were examined through case studies of the historical/geographical, economic/social, and political/public/administrative barriers to participation in four regions of England (East Sussex,…

A 3-day conference brought together health and education experts to explore responses to adolescent health problems and to suggest ways to implement the recommendations put forward in "Fateful Choices: Healthy Youth for the 21st Century," by Fred M. Hechinger. Conference participants identified a number of adolescent health problems and the areas…

What is being done at a local level, in the neighborhood, to prevent and discourage small-time drug dealers is discussed. Partnerships of law enforcement and grassroots citizens' groups are working in many places to reduce the availability and impact of drugs in their communities. The book opens with a discussion of drug use and the urban…

The articles in this reader provide a review of the history of education policy in relation to issues of equality and inequality. They also offer an overview and critique of specific areas of policy and a look at the ways policies operate in practice. The eight papers of Part 1, "History of Education Policy," outline the history of…

Almost one quarter of American children live in poverty, and the effects of poverty on these children are mediated by many family and social conditions. Poverty affects parenting practices and the home environment, with consequential effects on child adjustment and functioning. Changes in income cause changes in parenting and the quality of the…

As many as 40 percent of America's school-aged children are at-risk of failure within the current educational system. Many factors outside of school, such as poverty and debilitating parent and family influences, contribute to student failure. Within the school, the most effective factor of intervention for at-risk students is the individual…

The phrase "prosocial gang" may seem a contradiction but such gangs do exist. This book describes a gang intervention program, Aggression Replacement Training (ART), which resulted in reduced arrest rates among violent gangs in a large urban area. The book opens with a list of prosocial gangs followed by an analysis of the development,…

The effectiveness of a secondary alternative school for at-risk students was studied with respect to the development and implementation of certain components that are generally thought to be critical to the success of at-risk education. The Hamilton Optional Program for Education (HOPE) school of Hamilton (Ohio) was the study site. Twenty percent…

Thirteen papers explore the African American experience of poverty and ghetto formation; forces shaping contemporary urban poverty; and mobility and family strategies among groups differentiated by ethnicity, race, and labor market position. The introduction, "The Urban 'Underclass' as a Metaphor of Social Transformation" (M. B. Katz),…