There is no question that students who are homeless, like all students, are entitled to be educated. A federal law, known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, requires states to provide homeless children and youth with the same access to free public education as is available to other students. The Act also requires states to eliminate…

This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to answer two questions about the effects of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program: (1) Does the length of time that one receives AFDC affect the likelihood of permanently leaving AFDC?; (2) What personal and family characteristics are associated with…

This guide urges all black adults and all caring Americans to join the crusade of the Children's Defense Fund to protect black children. Chapter 1, "Why Everyone in America Must Care about Black Children--and All Children," sets for key facts about the status of black children and suggests a personal audit each adult should perform to…

This executive summary, part of a larger study that will include an examination of Title I implementation in selected districts and schools, assesses the extent to which the policies and enforcement practices of the U.S. Department of Education have fulfilled the promise of the recent reauthorization of the Title I program. The summary is…

This report assesses the extent to which the policies and enforcement practices of the U.S. Department of Education have fulfilled the promise of the recent reauthorization of the Title I program. The study is organized around five broad sets of questions about the impact of Title I on the academic achievement of poor children, centering on: (1)…

This report focuses on three crucial questions about resources in California's K-12 schools: how resources (i.e., class size, curriculum, and teachers' education, credentials, and experiences) vary among schools; whether schools serving relatively disadvantaged populations tend to receive fewer resources; and whether existing inequalities in…

The Student Career Awareness Network (SCAN) at L. B. Johnson Middle School, New Mexico, seeks to target a wide range of students with differing abilities while incorporating School-To-Career's philosophy of instruction. SCAN uses work-related experiences such as project-based assignments, applications-based instruction, hands-on experience, and…

Homelessness in the United Kingdom has very wide ramifications. Young homeless people face a difficult transition into adult life as poverty, low self-esteem, lack of family support, and lack of qualifications reinforce each others' effects. Homeless young people start behind their peers in educational achievement. Government policies put up…

As demands for more complex literacy skills have increased, and competition in economic and technological arenas at home and abroad have grown more intense, many U.S. students enter high school with literacy skills unequal to this challenge. In U.S. society, where the information base doubles every 5 years, an educated citizenry is essential.…

This monograph is the first in a series of reports related to the Successful Secondary Schools Study in three Canadian provinces, a study that will contribute to high student achievement outcomes for students of low socioeconomic status. This document provides a synopsis of the literature and research dealing with successful and effective schools,…

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved a $1.1 billion reduction in the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), a decrease of almost two-thirds of funding. This program has provided a flexible source of funding that enables states to meet the needs of their most vulnerable populations, low- and moderate-income children, and people who…

Some 40 individuals from 12 Central and Eastern European partner countries and experts from Austria, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom participated in a roundtable session designed to stimulate discussion and action on reforming vocational education and training (VET) so that it can prevent youths from dropping out of school and experiencing…

This publication presents the best available data on children living in the 50 largest cities in the United States. Each city is assessed in terms of 10 key indicators of child well-being. These indicators focus, as they do in the annual "Kids Count" report, on outcome measures of children's educational social, economic, and physical well-being.…

This digest summarizes information suggesting that long bus rides are part of the hidden costs of school and district consolidation. Rural school districts spend more than twice per pupil what urban districts spend on transportation. A review of studies shows that rural school children were more likely than suburban school children to have bus…

This paper discusses one of the arguments that has been advanced against the use of standardized college admissions tests: the notion that their use leads admissions officers to reject non-Asian minority students on the basis of small and insignificant differences in scores. In the aggregate, the disadvantage minority students face as a result of…