This issue of ETS Policy Notes focuses on highlights from the ETS African American Education Seminar. The day-long event, which drew more than 100 education and public affairs professionals, assessed the challenges facing African Americans in all levels of education, including access to high-quality prekindergarten, elementary, secondary, and…

This publication is a transcription of a forum held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 19, 2006 on background knowledge and reading proficiency. This topic goes to the heart of the education reform agenda, according to the first speaker, Eugenia Kemble, executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute, the sponsor of this…

Reading for pleasure is associated with numerous educational and social benefits. For example, it has been associated with increased reading attainment and writing ability, greater breadth of vocabulary and greater general knowledge (e.g. Cox and Guthrie, 2001). Children who read very little do not reap these benefits, and studies show that when…

When Albania began its transition to a market economy, its education was geared to meeting the productive needs of a controlled economy and the social and ideological needs of a socialist state. Expanding the economy's long-term productive capacity in a market environment and building a democratic system called for thorough reform of the education…

In rural Mexico, the Progresa program provided educational grants to poor mothers of children enrolled in grades 3-9 and attending 85 percent of the school days. Payments were increased at the higher grades, a premium was paid for girls enrolled in grades 7-9, and every 6 months the grants were adjusted upward to compensate for inflation. The…

This publication consists of materials from a conference session on creative programming for the children of low-skilled individuals who are usually labeled as "at risk," as well as the replicability of such programs. Contents consist of handouts and/or transparency masters that provide the following: (1) information on the Personal…

A study examined time limits from the perspectives of welfare recipients and line staff in welfare agencies. Data on time-limited welfare were drawn from staff surveys and from group and individual interviews with both staff and recipients in selected locations in Florida, Vermont, and Wisconsin during the first half of 1996. Findings indicated…

The transformation of education and the formation of social capital in Texas has been brought about by local organizations of the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation, or the Texas IAF. The organizations have operated in innercity neighborhoods to develop mutually reinforcing matrices of school improvement and community uplift. By 1992 Texas IAF…

One of the factors hampering welfare reform policy decisions is that local child care markets, particularly those used by low-income families, are not well-understood. This study addressed the need to increase the knowledge and understanding of low-income child care markets, the effects of different child care policies, and the differences…

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 purports to reform welfare policy and encourage parents to achieve self-sufficiency, but the legislation raises many problems for children and their families. This guide is designed to highlight an array of decisions regarding the most important welfare and child care…

The highlights of this statistical update include a new profile of the extremely poor, poor, and near poor population of young children; the use of an alternative measure of young child poverty that provides new insights into the impact of programs and policies on the economic well-being of young children; and a brief examination of why the…

The work of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) in rural education focuses on the intersection between school renewal and rural community development. NWREL's Rural School-Community Renewal Research and Development project aims to develop the capacity of small rural schools enrolling many economically disadvantaged students to…

This issue of WIN (Welfare Information Network) Issue Notes focuses on helping low-income mothers with criminal records achieve self-sufficiency. Section 1 offers background. Section 2 answers these policy questions: why states might want to focus on serving low-income mothers with criminal records; how states can encourage employers to hire…

The Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas is a 5-year effort to assist the revitalization of rural communities. Guiding principles of the program are that the rural Carolinas matter, this generation of workers matters, effective community development involves the entire community, solutions must be locally determined, healthy…

This paper discusses the disadvantaged state of women in South Africa, including statistics that illustrate effects of their lack of status on their health and well being. It then focuses on the role in South Africa of the community library and information services in empowering especially women. Barriers experienced in information delivery to…