"Making Connections" is an effort to improve the life chances of vulnerable children by strengthening their families and neighborhoods. It helps families raise healthy, confident, and successful children by tapping the skills, strengths, leadership, and resilience found in all neighborhoods. The first section, "Introduction," reviews key issues…

This booklet describes "Samenspel Op Maat," an initiative started 10 years ago as a small-scale experiment to meet the growing need for day care for migrant children in Rotterdam. There are now hundreds of Samenspel groups in the Netherlands consisting of play afternoons for small groups of mothers and young children, usually under the…

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, and the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funds that states are required to spend in order to draw down their full TANF allocations, are potential funding sources for youth corps. Youth corps address the goals of the new welfare law and are eligible to receive TANF funds. TANF and MOE funds…

This digest briefly describes the symptoms and "triggers" of asthma, which is an increasing problem among urban students. The digest also presents some suggestions for maintaining a school environment conducive to the attendance of children with asthma and for developing a curriculum that supports their academic achievement. Children in…

The Census Bureau estimates that more than two million children were missed in the 1990 Census, accounting for more than half the total net undercounted population. This undercount has financial implications because Census data are used to distribute public funds. This paper provides detailed statistics related to the children missed in the 1990…

This retrospective paper highlights pedagogical approaches that best engaged at risk middle school (sixth grade) males at a private school that opened in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1997, the year after civil disturbances there made national news. Because of the "treachery" of students' neighborhoods and the isolationist policy of many…

The development of early literacy was studied in Spanish-speaking children aged 5 to 7 years from disadvantaged backgrounds in Santiago, Chile. The findings are compared to applications of similar tests in other contexts to suggest some universal and specific conclusions about the assessment and evaluation of early literacy. The study used the…

This paper recommends that the federal government take steps to reassert the sense of partnership and common purpose that undergirds college finance in the United States by enacting an old idea that never had become a reality. The original authorizing legislation for the Pell grant program envisioned direct institutional grants to colleges that…

In 1988, Congress mandated a national longitudinal evaluation of the effects of the Title I program on students' academic achievement and classroom behavior. This paper presents an overview of the study design, analysis methods, and impact results for student achievement. The analysis used four types of designs to assess the impact of Title I: (1)…

Marin City is an isolated African American community located in mostly affluent Marin County, California. Thirty-six percent of households in Marin City fall below the poverty line. This report provides three case studies from the Marin City Families First (MCFF) program, an intervention that aims to develop a model comprehensive child and family…

In 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared the United States "A Nation at Risk" because of inadequate education. A decade and a half later, the United States is still at risk because U.S. schools are failing children. Dropout rates have declined, and college attendance has risen, but student achievement has…

In 1996 the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program was replaced with a federal block grant program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which imposed time limits and work requirements on welfare recipients. The welfare legislation placed a lifetime ban on TANF and food stamp benefits for convicted drug felons, although…

This report illustrates how poverty rates in the United States vary by selected characteristics: age, race and Hispanic origin, nativity, family composition, work experience, and geography. The estimates in the report are based on interviews with population samples. The Current Population Survey each March interviews approximately 50,000…

The four Peabody Language Development Kits emphasize reception, expression, and conceptualization in organized lessons (180 in each kit) for disadvantaged and mentally retarded children, 3 through 9 1/2 years of age. (MC)

The article describes application of the epigenetic model to work with children in the period of early childhood development. The focus is placed on verbal learning. Projects wherein disadvantaged children gain in verbal skills through supervised mother-child interactions are described. The response of families to this approach suggests important…