In 1986-87, the school board of the Austin Independent School District approved an assignment plan that returned most elementary students to their neighborhood schools and created 16 predominantly minority schools with many students from low-income families. To assure that these students received a quality education, a 5-year Plan for Educational…

This project located in Glasgow, Scotland, is concerned with the use of distance teaching for a non-formal community education program that is a component of a social change strategy to combat poverty. The study shows that the use of distance learning courses in non-formal community education is successful in attracting, at a reasonable cost per…

This report, covering the program year 1987-1988, is designed to inform the Congress of the status of children with disabilities in Head Start programs. The report states that the program's mandate of having 10 percent or more of the total number of enrollment opportunities in Head Start programs available for handicapped children was met in each…

This report describes the activities of the Head Start program relating to children with disabilities in the 1988-1989 year. Head Start nationally achieved a 13.5 percent level of enrollment of children with professionally diagnosed disabilities. All states and jurisdictions met the federal mandate of at least 10 percent enrollment of children…

The current displaced worker initiative towers over the 30-year effort to bring the economically disadvantaged into the mainstream of the labor market. The Congressional Budget Office defines displacement as all workers 18 years of age and older who lose full-time employment due to slack work, job abolition, or plant closure. Major displaced…

SER's National Hispanic Literacy Initiative, which is implemented through a network of 51 family learning centers (FLCs) that serve economically disadvantaged adults and children, is described. The concept is based on the objective of intergenerational learning, which prescribes that parents and grandparents will desire to learn so that they may…

A study was conducted to provide much-needed, in-depth qualitative information and direction regarding the experiences, attitudes, value systems, and aspirations of various segments of the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) recipients. Eight focus groups, each composed of 8 to 10 persons, were conducted in May 1990 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Discussion…

Project READ (Reading Education for Adults in Dayton) sought to enhance the literacy of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA)-eligible adults in the Miami Valley through improved coordination efforts. The major task of the activity to coordinate promotion of literacy resources was to create new awareness and linkages between the Human Services…

A hearing was held to discuss the reauthorization of the Follow Through Act, legislation designed to combine the resources of local schools, universities, and parents to consolidate and enhance gains that low-income children make in preschool program such as Head Start. Testimony concerned: (1) characteristics of high quality Follow Through…

The demographic, educational, and personal attributes of the 1980 entrants to The City University of New York (CUNY) were studied, and a 6-year longitudinal analysis was undertaken. Of the total freshmen class of 31,890, 11,625 students completed a questionnaire concerning their social origins, financial resources, employment situations, and…

The Creative Business Ownership for Women Project was established at Valencia Community College (Florida) to provide displaced homemakers and single parents with the special help they need to achieve entrepreneurial success. During the course of the project, displaced homemakers, single parents, and rural disadvantaged women interested in owning a…

The people of the City of Boston have made a commitment that, during the Winter of 1988-89, no homeless person will be denied a warm bed, a hot meal, quality health care, and transportation to shelters. This document comprises a progress report on Boston's efforts to address the needs of the homeless. The following summary points are discussed:…

This study analyzes Census data which indicate the following U.S. poverty trends for 1988: (1) the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any point in the post World War II era; (2) the poverty rate showed no improvement and remains higher than the most severe recession years of the 1970s; (3) the share of the national family income going to…

The personal developmental levels of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds were studied; and the hypothesis that students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds would be less mature than other students in the developmental levels of autonomy, purpose, and interpersonal relationships was assessed. The effects of participation in…

Existing research evidence on the ability of several kinds of public policy used to increase labor force attachment among the disadvantaged indicates that (1) policies for reform of the U.S. welfare system do not substantially help the problem; (2) increasing child support payments would have essentially no effects on the work effort and earnings…