Passed by the U.S. Congress in the spring of 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was one of the most significant and expansive education policy initiatives ever undertaken by the federal government. The main component of the act, Title I, allocated significant resources to…

Early Head Start services are typically offered through home- or center-based delivery models. A formative evaluation of an example of each service delivery model was conducted. The purpose was to examine the issues involved in the implementation of these two service delivery models relative to the content of services, intensity of services,…

This critique of the "America 2000" educational reform initiative claims that its fundamental proposals highlight "old" ideas based on a "puritanic" perfect society with little attention to equity and the multidimensional needs of such groups as African-American at-risk students. The paper discusses the impact of the…

This book examines the stereotypes and superficial categorizations of America's children in crisis, and discusses the nature of childhood disadvantage. Findings from interviews with children and professionals, and a reexamination of past and present research, reveal that most children at risk are not poor. The evidence suggests that factors such…

Even Start is a family-centered national literacy program whose goal is to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by expanding the educational opportunities available to low-income families with limited educational experiences. To reach this goal, all Even Start projects provide services in each of three core areas: adult education, parenting…

This study used data from the national study of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) to investigate the impact of college on income, educational aspirations, and educational attainment for students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds compared to those from high-SES backgrounds. The study was based on concepts of…

This report presents conclusions and recommendations of a study of possible criteria to define educationally underserved populations in Texas in light of the 1994 Court decision (Hopwood v. Texas) ending the use of racial quotas. The study identified qualitative variables related to social and cultural factors and 10 quantitative criteria (such as…

This annual report on minority, female, and disabled groups in Illinois higher education details efforts to improve student and staff representation, and surveys trends in enrollment, degree completion, and staff employment. The report shows increases in black and Hispanic graduate/professional enrollment, transfers from community colleges to…

This booklet presents statistics concerning the well-being of Illinois' 3.3 million children between 1980 and 1990. Statistics are compared county by county for each of the state's 102 counties, and statewide statistics are compared with those of the entire nation. A statewide analysis focuses on spending per pupil on education, the percentage of…

Problems that beset urban education in general are analyzed, and solutions are discussed and evaluated by a policy working group of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. The most acute problem in American education involves the unmet needs of disadvantaged students, who are heavily concentrated in urban school…

The experiences of the first middle school to pilot the ideas and concepts of the Accelerated Schools Project are described. The school is an inner-city public school with a population of at-risk students presently scoring below district and state achievement averages. The 689 students are 53 percent Hispanic, 23 percent Portuguese, 17 percent…

Project Survival was a special innovative project conducted by the Atlanta (Georgia) Public Schools in the summer of 1991. By combining instruction in basic skills, opportunities to learn and practice conflict resolution strategies, and work experience, Project Survival addressed some of the major problems associated with high dropout and…

An evaluation was done of a precollege intervention program that aimed at introducing ninth graders to the idea of going to college, and to challenge them to think about and make a commitment to attending college. The program brought 450 mostly Black and Hispanic ninth graders from an inner-city school district to visit a mid-sized rural…

The City of Austin (Texas) provides funds for an educational initiative to involve minority high school students in water quality issues and to reduce the dropout rate through positive role model interaction with academically successful students. Principal program activities were testing river water for pollutants and tutoring at-risk students by…

Vocational staff from 10 Pennsylvania vocational schools were given information and instructional materials to enable them to create effective programs for disadvantaged populations. A needs assessment was conducted to identify specific needs of the participating vocational staff pertaining to programming for disadvantaged students. After…