In this memoir, a principal recounts the story of his 2 years at Edison Elementary School in San Francisco (CA), a school that was called the worst school in California. The students had the worst standardized test scores in the district, and racial discord and playground violence were common. The school was facing the threat of reconstitution,…

Several international agencies related to the United Nations and the World Bank convened the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtein, Thailand, March 5 through 9, 1990. The 1,500 conference participants adopted two texts, the "World Declaration on Education for All" and the "Framework for Action To Meet Basic Learning…

These two documents discuss two related family literacy projects that were conducted to develop a model for providing sustained literacy and developmental activities to economically disadvantaged families throughout Pennsylvania. The first document details the development/implementation of the Families Reading Together program, which built upon…

Selected papers are presented from a national conference on urban issues. They are: (1) "Collaboration as a Social Process: Inter-Institutional Cooperation and Educational Change" (Charles F. Underwood and Hardy T. Frye); (2) "Mobilizing the Village To Educate the Child" (Valerie Maholmes); (3) "Pathways to Teaching: An Urban Teacher Licensure…

Transition projects have emerged to address Head Start fade-out effects, that is, the disappearance of gains made by Head Start program children by the third grade. The Nebraska Transition Project is one of 31 across the United States providing Head Start-like services to families with children in public elementary school, kindergarten through…

Findings of a 3-year study of the experiences of Black and African-Canadian students in the Ontario public school system are presented. The paper focuses on urban students in four schools and on their parents' perceptions of public schooling. Interviews were held with nearly 150 African Canadian students, including 22 dropouts, some of whom…

This paper examines the current status of programs for preschool children in Chile. Section 1 of the paper provides an overview of the situation of preschool children in Chile. The country's population includes more than 1.6 million children between the ages of 0 and 5 years 11 months, and in urban areas, 18.4 percent of children between the ages…

This study examines the processes by which students are assigned to courses in high schools. The data are drawn from a longitudinal study of five inner-city high schools located in an eastern metropolitan area spanning three separate school districts. Each school served a population of students that was overwhelmingly disadvantaged. The schools…

In 1990, the London Enterprise Agency, a private sector consortium dedicated to inner-city regeneration in London, established a project to address homelessness. Later called GATE (Guaranteed Accommodation and Training for Employment), the project had three central features: a focus on employment as a means of tackling homelessness; the use of a…

It is racism that has undermined the War on Poverty declared by Lyndon Johnson, and the country must come to terms with its history of racism if there is to be any hope of accomplishing welfare reform today. American social policy has continually foundered on issues of race. The antipoverty efforts begun by the Johnson administration were never…

This information booklet for parents answers some of the questions parents often ask about their children's participation in basic skills improvement programs. It suggests ways in which parents can support and reinforce the school's role and offers suggestions for parent involvement and ideas for at-home activities to support skill development.…

This report summarizes the 1990-91 State Performance Reports for the Chapter 1 (Education Consolidation and Improvement Act) local education agency (LEA) program and the Chapter 1 State Agency Neglected or Delinquent program. Chapter 1 represents the largest investment in elementary and secondary education of the Federal government. With the…

Reform efforts in the Chicago (Illinois) public schools represent a radical experiment in decentralization. Half of the 411,000 children in the Chicago public schools never graduate and tens of thousands receive diplomas even though they are scarcely able to read, write, or compute. Recognition of the deplorable shape of the city's schools led to…

The influence of informal literacy learning during the preschool years was studied. Preschool teachers in 4 low-income areas read to their classes regularly in an effort to make students enthusiastic about reading. Teachers were also asked to visit families in particular need of help. Three books were sent home with each child twice a week, and…

Parents in the urban and rural disadvantaged areas in Korea are generally so low in educational attainment, schooling, and motivation that they lack the knowledge and skills to stimulate and teach their children. To address the lack of low-cost day care for children under 4 years of age, a home-based care alternative, involving both parent and…