The author's students were an unhappy, skeptical group of middle school students. Many of them had emotional issues. Many had drug addiction and prostitution in their broken and poverty-ridden families. Her school, which is a small charter school in a remote Arizona town, was a place of last resort for these students, who probably would not…

This article explores the student resistances that shape orientations to schooling. Drawing on a study of Latina/o youth, I examine how race and gender influence whether they perceive education as oppressive or useful in resisting oppression. The key lever that may alter their perceptions is how school and society treat Latinos differently from…

Todd County, South Dakota, is synonymous with the Lakota Rosebud Reservation. It stretches across the state's south-central edge, bordered on one side by the better known Pine Ridge Reservation, where the American Indian Movement got its start, and on another side by Nebraska. Until the 1970s, generations of Indian children were forced from their…

A few years ago the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF) revised its mission statement to include language about working to "foster educational and social equity." The revision makes sense to the author as a graduate student in urban education and a former Philadelphia middle school teacher, as well as in her role as a facilitator of Critical…

Policymakers have long been concerned about the disparities in college attendance between more and less advantaged groups of students. Upward Bound is one of the largest and longest running federal programs designed to help economically disadvantaged students prepare for, enter and succeed in college. Since December 1991, Mathematica Policy…

Children's poverty rate in the United States, over 20%, exceeds that of all industrialized nations except Australia. This interdisciplinary book examines the impact of changing public policies on children. Section 1 gives a current and historical overview of children in poverty. Sections 2 through 5 address arenas of possible change from policy…

This review of the research literature on ability grouping and tracking draws on professional and scholarly research journals and electronic databases. Five assumptions have been used to support the recurring practices of tracking and ability grouping, but none of these assumptions has withstood close examination in 70 years of research. They are:…

This booklet contains an address presented before the Council of Advisors of the National Center for Children in Poverty, explaining the need for programs to help reallocate resources and energies to aid not only the disadvantaged but the country as a whole. Many issues related to aiding impoverished children are also discussed. The address…

Two booklets, "A Blueprint for Iowa's Young: Implementation Directions for the Framework Paper," and "Investing in Families, Prevention and School Readiness: Working Draft of a Framework Paper" present a framework for creation of a blueprint for implementation and management of community investment initiatives. The framework is…

Project Aprendizaje was designed to ease the transition of Latino immigrant students to life and education in the United States. In 1991-92, the project admitted 153 male and 145 female students of limited English proficiency plus 1 student of unspecified gender in grades 9 through 12 at Seward Park High School in Manhattan (New York City). The…

In Iowa in the 1980s, dreams of prosperity were suddenly replaced by economic nightmares as plummeting land values generated economic decline and dislocation in rural communities and individual lives. This book examines the experience of over 400 Iowa families who lived through the Great Farm Crisis and now face an uncertain future. Interviewed as…

A House of Representatives subcommittee hearing addressed the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, focusing on Chapter 1 and bilingual education needs and services in California. Statements were received from legislators, Los Angeles educational administrators and teachers, teacher educators, early childhood providers,…

Even Start is a family support program focusing on family literacy and school readiness. These first seven issues of the "Look at Even Start" newsletter cover topics such as transition between preschool and kindergarten, collaboration between programs and between parents and programs, ways Even Start programs respond to parents' needs…

This report evaluates school-based initiatives aimed at eliminating educational disadvantages at a small, rural state primary school in Meiki, New South Wales (Australia). Meiki is a small impoverished community of approximately 850 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The community has a history of racial tension that directly affects the school…

This paper identifies differences in educational outcomes for rural students in South Australia compared to their metropolitan peers. This information was compiled by a task force whose aim was to develop an action plan to achieve equality of educational opportunities for rural students. Available information suggests that students in country…