Considers the role of social welfare and public assistance policies in the promotion of African American family life. Examines race, sex, and age demographics as predictors of poverty in the United States. Reviews the history of social programming and public family assistance, including intervention assumptions and demographic characteristics that…

Both elementary/secondary education and postsecondary education are responsible to some degree for existing conditions that foster underachievement in students, many of them poor students or students of color. Barriers at the K-12 level include unequal learning opportunities and inadequately trained teachers. Barriers in postsecondary education…

Provides teachers, librarians, and general readers with resources to educate themselves and others about the complex reality of today's Haiti. It offers an introduction to Haiti's history, politics, society, and culture and cites works available within the following categories: children's/young adults' books, literature, film and video, and music.…

Evaluates biographies of Cesar Chavez for children and teenagers and provides descriptions of recent books on the children of migrant farm workers. The books, mostly published in the 1990s, cover Chavez's rise as a farm worker activist and include several new works that address the social history of Chavez and the farm workers' struggle. (GR)

Presents a model that combines patient medical history and physical examination as a risk-assessment model for gang violence risk and as a tool in promoting violence prevention. The paper explains the evaluation methodology and criteria and offers examples of questioning techniques designed to obtain assessment information. (GR)

Describes a paradigm for identifying male involvement in Comprehensive Child Development Programs (CCDP) that is based on 4 years of service delivery for 40 adult males participating in Project EAGLE, a federally funded CCDP in Kansas City (Kansas). The paper addresses issues of diversity of characteristics and participation patterns of the males…

Studies real household income after the birth of a baby reporting median child care expenses were zero in first and $6 in fourth quarter; mean expenses in fourth quarter were $210. Fertility rate of women aged 18-44 without high school education who had baby in 1988 was 87, compared to 63 for women with college degree. (LB)

The shift to service occupations and technological changes contributed to a dramatic decrease in earnings of male high school graduates. Because family income is a strong predictor of educational attainment, educational reforms and policy initiatives for disadvantaged children are extremely important to improve their earnings prospects. (SK)

Examines the attitudes of a sample of parents of ninth grade students in a large midwestern city. Finds that parents strongly approve of youth work in general, and their children's jobs in particular. More "advantaged" parents would prefer that their children obtain paid jobs at an earlier age. (FMW)

Academic objectives are important, but more attention must be given youngsters' social, physical, emotional, and moral development. Schools are struggling to teach children whose home life is anxiety-ridden and learning-unfriendly. Because taxpayers resist generosity to poor families alone, we must design social programs to help all families and…

Deviations in children's mental test performance were studied for children of 169 disadvantaged mothers at 24, 48, and 96 months to determine whether aspects of the child rearing environment predicted the deviations from expected values. Relationships between aspects of the environment, child intelligence, and child characteristics are discussed.…

Argues that librarians must strive to unlock people's minds from an early age with the power of the printed word, and urges them to be active advocates for children, to speak out for children's rights to read, to become educated, and to succeed. It is suggested that librarians mobilize through involvement in professional associations. (SD)

Describes how an archdiocesan education foundation developed a program promoting school choice for low-income Milwaukee families. Tuition grants provide access to alternative educational opportunities through the support of businesses and foundations. (LWL)

Discusses a tutoring project employing student teachers in a rural residential school for the socioeconomically disadvantaged in Israel. Pupils were asked to write about their experiences with tutors. Evaluators found that pupils appreciated the sympathetic companionship of tutors close in age to themselves. (DM)

Describes an elementary school six years after it adopted the Comer process, an educational philosophy promoting ongoing collaboration among parents, teachers, and administrators to do what is best for student learning and development. Consensus whenever possible and open expression of feelings and issues builds professionalism and community.…