This research investigated factors affecting children's health, based on empirical analyses of data from Washington, D.C. and national data. By most measures, poor children experience disproportionate morbidity and mortality. Yet certain ear and vision problems exhibit a U-shaped relation to family income in both national statistics and the…

Investigated were school children's recognition of social class distinctions, cues they used, and the relationship of their ideas about social class to other beliefs and attitudes about the social world. An ethnically mixed group of 201 male and female subjects participated in the study. Five age groups were represented: second, fifth, and sixth…

This document summarizes the first report of the Study of Academic Instruction for Disadvantaged Students, a 3-year investigation of curriculum and instruction in elementary schools serving high concentrations of poor children. (The first report constitutes volume 2 of a projected series). Recent scholarship, theory, and experimentation in the…

Growing income disparities between wealthy Americans and those in low or moderate income brackets are contributing to a widening income gap between rural and urban areas. Proposed federal tax policy changes would primarily benefit upper income brackets and would likely widen the gap further. An analysis of census data indicates that since the…

New York City's Dropout Prevention Program (DPP), founded in 1985, has reduced the dropout rate at city schools from 42 percent to 30 percent. This information packet offers an overview of the dropout problem, the philosophy behind the DPP, and information on the steps New York City has taken to provide solutions. The program contains the…

This study describes the status of 34 million rural women and analyzes how they and their families will be directly affected by cuts in the 1983 federal budget in the areas of legal services, vocational education, domestic violence intervention, energy assistance and alternative energy development, public housing, unemployment compensation, social…

The handbook contains documents that the reading support assistant will need to implement the Orange County, Florida public schools Chapter 1 program. Included are the following: (1) lists of Chapter 1 schools, staff, and staff assignments; (2) job description of reading support assistant; (3) duties clarification; (4) fact sheet about Chapter 1;…

The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) sees a strong connection between the dropout decision and unemployment in the teen years and beyond. It developed JOBSTART, a model of a project giving youths a chance to work and focusing on educational remediation, occupational training strategies, and support services to dropouts. To…

The 1985 evaluation of the Adolescent Vocational Exploration Program (AVE) found that this New York State Department of Labor intervention and pre-employment project has been successful in increasing young people's chances of gaining employment and functioning productively in the labor market. Primarily for 14- and 15-year-olds, AVE seeks to…

Shortly after the local jurisdictions responsible for administering the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) completed their transition year and entered into their first full year of operation, the National Alliance of Business undertook two major data collection projects. The 593 service delivery areas (SDAs) and a sample of private industry…

This document contains a transcript of a Congressional hearing on children and families in poverty. Testimony was presented by children and parents who described how they cope with or have overcome poverty, and by representatives of community service groups who work closely with poor families in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Also included…

This document is a model state statute to provide educational entitlements for students at risk of school failure. The statute is predicated on the conviction that children coming from the most impoverished circumstances have the ability to learn and succeed. It is also based on the belief that legislators have a pivotal role to play in…

This paper looks at performance standards and related policies as tools for influencing the direction of local programming as well as ensuring accountability throughout the service delivery system. It suggests various ways in which the different components of the Job Training Partnership Act's performance management system can be used to promote…

Most economists agree that the difficulties of targeting minimum wage increases to low-income families make such increases ineffective tools for reducing poverty. This paper provides estimates of the impact of minimum wage increases on the poverty gap and the number of poor families, and shows which factors are barriers to decreasing poverty…

The present study examines the impact of the Direct Instruction (DI) program on the high school careers of the economically disadvantaged students who participated in the DI model of Project Follow Through. The study involves six sites: East St. Louis; New York City; Flint, Michigan; Williamsburg County, South Carolina; and Uvalde, Texas. A…