Analyzes a student-loans scheme in Thailand to increase access of poor students, for example, to upper-secondary and postsecondary education. Finds average repayment ratio of loans is 10 percent or less. Recommends conversion of upper-secondary loans to grants and reforms in postsecondary loan procedures to improve repayment and recovery ratios.…

Examines the advantages and disadvantages of specialist schools in England. Concludes that specialist schools attain higher levels of student achievement at the cost of socioeconomic diversity, especially when these schools set their own admission criteria. Suggests ways for specialist schools to increase student diversity. (Contains 23…

Roberta Guaspari-Tzavoras teaches 125 young violinists in 2 East Harlem elementary schools. Students are chosen by lottery. The only prerequisite is a willingness to do the hard work of practicing and learning. Her success in coaching inner-city students to a performance in Carnegie hall is the subject of a documentary and a feature film. (MLF)

Presents the characteristics and needs of adolescent students who are underrepresented in gifted programs. Addresses the specific populations of young women, students with learning disabilities, and students living in poverty. Presents the academic and social-emotional needs of students from underrepresented populations, followed by strategies…

Describes how in one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods, a survivor of those streets came back to help others because "kids' lives are at stake." Explores Principal Gallon's efforts to offer education as an option beyond poverty and prison. (EV)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the processes of care, organizational attributes, cost of care, staffing level, and staff mix in a sample of Missouri homes with good, average, and poor resident outcomes. Design and Methods: A three-group exploratory study design was used, with 92 nursing homes randomly selected from all nursing…

Attrition statistics for first-year students in many tertiary environments suggest that students face a wide variety of obstacles. Students in developmental education programmes usually have one additional obstacle: They have a history of failure in academic settings. Therefore there are emotional and psychological barriers in addition to academic…

Young children in poor communities are spending more hours in nonparental care because of policy reforms and expansion of early childhood programs. Studies show positive effects of high-quality center-based care on children's cognitive growth. Yet, little is known about the effects of center care typically available in poor communities or the…

The current study examined how individual differences in children's temperament and motivation relate to attention skills in children from economically disadvantaged families. A total of 73 motherchild dyads participated in this study. Children were between the ages of 3 and 5, and all attended a Head Start program. Using multiple hierarchical…

The accepted wisdom is that private schools serve the privileged. Everyone else, especially the poor, requires public school. The poor, so this logic goes, needs government assistance if they are to get a good education, which helps explain why, in the United States, many school choice enthusiasts believe that the only way the poor can get the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts and school dropout among youth with poor reading in comparison to youth with typical reading (n = 188) recruited from public schools at the age of 15. In a prospective naturalistic study, youth and parents participated in repeated research assessments to…

Six weeks of field research on 14 poor youth who sell services or products on the opulent Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, explored their work, play, aspirations and childhood outcomes. Comparing the 12 younger children to the two older youth workers who supervised them and to the few Brazilian longitudinal accounts of street youth, the…

This article draws from research conducted with poor and working-class youth in California attending schools that suffer from structural disrepair, high rates of unqualified teachers, high teacher turnover rates, and inadequate books and instructional materials. Arguing that such schools accomplish more than simple reproduction of class and…

Significant resources have been directed at understanding and alleviating the achievement gap in education. Most programs focused on this aim rely on a top-down approach, including funding for infrastructure improvement, curriculum development, class size, and teacher salaries. This article presents findings from a randomized field trial that…

Like all politics, adult and continuing education is local. Future directions for the field and its national associations should benefit local programs and the adult learners they serve. This column explores features of collaboration that could strengthen educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged adults. The foregoing ideas about…