Examines traditional functions that the family has performed and describes what happens when sizable numbers of families do not fulfill these functions. Presents data on the scope and significance of childhood poverty and declining academic achievement. Explores implications for public policy of links between family change and child development.…

Explores interconnected movements to restructure school-family and school-community relationships, focusing on increased parental involvement in school governance, instructional partnerships, school-to-community outreach, and children's service coordination. Emphasizes the national crisis in urban children's lives, complementary societal…

Explores the relationship between Latino "machismo" and the "cool pose" of the African-American male. It is suggested that both masculine postures can be used to design empowering psychological interventions in clinical, community, educational, and policy areas. Positive features could be used in curricula of diversity. (SLD)

The urban teacher recruitment challenge documented in this report is the harbinger of potentially more serious nationwide shortages to come. The need for teachers of color in America's schools has already reached critical proportions. Data in this report were collected as part of a broad-based commitment to improved teacher recruitment and…

Diverse explanations have been offered for the complex problems facing inner-city families. This paper considers how policies designed to solve urban problems can benefit from research conducted to examine elements from three prominent arguments: (1) family behavior contributes to urban problems; (2) structural changes in the U.S. economy have…

The SUCCESS program of the Des Moines (Iowa) public schools serves children, youth, and families experiencing conditions that put them at risk of not achieving the goals of their educational programs or thriving in their families or communities. SUCCESS integrates community resources within the school system in family resource centers. The…

The Kansas state plan for the education of homeless youth and children provides operational strategies to help local school districts and attendance centers facilitate an environment that is conducive to meeting this population's special needs. The plan confronts barriers to homeless children and youth to provide them with public education that is…

This study evaluates characteristics and critical issues facing urban schools in 1992 via a survey of school districts with membership in the Council of Urban Boards of Education and in several eligible districts. Sixty-two urban school districts responded to the survey. Of this total, 47 (68 percent) of the Council's participating districts…

The lives of poor single mothers and their children are explored, first grounding the present situation historically and pointing out their "other" status when examined against normal motherhood and family images. The first two chapters discuss the historical images of childhood and the family as they have developed in Western civilization. Part 2…

Many have regarded the recent civil disturbances in Los Angeles (California) as a wake-up call, a warning that the deterioration of America's cities, education systems, and public services, and the continuing decline of the underclass may result in a race war that could destroy society. The wake-up call is directed primarily at middle-class black…

A study of inner-city youth in San Francisco (California) shows that behavior and street ideology once associated exclusively with gangs have now become the world view of a large segment of inner-city young people, especially males. Inner-city young people who aspire to material success do not see a realistic connection between public education…

This volume offers nine chapters on focal issues in current urban education that are of a middle-range of abstraction and have long-term consequences for students. Individual chapters provide examples of possible interventions appropriate to the unique context of urban schools. The following chapters correspond to nine problems of practice, which…

This book describes and documents the existence of the black helping tradition, and offers a theory regarding its origin, development, and decline. The book is based on research operating from the fundamental assumption that a pattern of black self-help activities developed from the black extended family, particularly the extended family's major…

This instructor's guide has been developed to help teacher educators and staff developers use the cases in "Teaching Diverse Students: Cases and Commentaries" in preservice and inservice seminars. It promotes the use of discussion methods as a vehicle for engaging teachers and students in analysis of real-life situations. These…

This report addresses the sources and remedies for child poverty in the United States through a review of the effects of trends, policies, and changes in social relationships; and an analysis of data concerning poverty and children. An introduction sketches the present condition of children in poverty and the policies and attitudes of the past 30…