This paper draws on demographic data on children spotlighted in the 2000 Census (called the Childrens Class of 2000) to examine how forces like poverty and family instability work to prevent equality of opportunity in school and in life. The paper describes some programs and techniques that effectively reduce the effects of these forces and…

This activity involved on-line tutoring by preservice teachers for high-risk students. It was part of a Technology Literacy Challenge Fund grant from the Michigan Department of Education. The project provided iMac computers and other technology resources in 20 classrooms within four Detroit public schools. Each computer was connected to the school…

Standard benefit-incidence analysis assumes that the subsidy and the quality of educational services are the same for all income deciles. This paper takes a new approach, a "marginal willingness to pay" analysis that measures the impact of the government's provision of public schools on the educational spending behavior of an average…

This report offers state profile information about teachers, students and their achievement, and standards for student learning. It includes special data about the education of children in poverty and the assistance they receive toward achieving state standards through Title I, the largest single federal education program. A particular feature of…

This paper describes one vision of how to improve urban education, highlighting the Newark, New Jersey, public schools. It discusses the importance of encouraging all students to "reach for the stars" in education and describes the government's role in perpetuating inequitable circumstances. It highlights the importance of emphasizing…

This study analyzed common factors among Virginia Migrant Education Program students who had earned a high school diploma as compared with those who had not. Data on 50 Hispanic migrant students were gathered from a collection of diverse documents from various school divisions and states. All subjects had been enrolled in the Virginia Migrant…

A Cuyahoga County, Ohio, study focused on two cohorts: pre-Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) leavers who left in the third quarter of 1996 and post-TANF leavers who left in the third quarter of 1998. Outcomes were examined for about 6,151 adult welfare leavers. Findings indicated the rate of leaving welfare increased between 1996-98;…

Food insecurity is more prevalent in the rural South than in metropolitan areas of the South and rural areas in other regions. This reflects the lower incomes and higher poverty rates in the rural South. On the other hand, the prevalence of poverty-linked hunger--the most severe range of food insecurity--is about the same in the rural South as in…

Labor force issues do not take place in a vacuum. Most individuals base labor force decisions on a multitude of cultural and social factors, such as the environment in which they were reared, family obligations and responsibilities, divorce or the death of a spouse, or because of governmental policies. Sections in this document on demographics,…

Very little research has examined drug and alcohol use among rural Mexican-Americans, and the few existing studies have yielded mixed results. Some authors have suggested that substance use by Mexican-American youth is similar to that of Anglo youth, but at least one study has shown that Mexican-American females use drugs at a higher rate than do…

This report measures the amount of black migration from and to the nonmetropolitan parts of the United States south from 1965-70 and 1990-95. It considers trends both within the south and with the rest of the nation. For perspective, comparisons are made with the movement of the non-black population, more than 90 percent of which is white. In the…

This document contains the four English-language issues of Indigenous Affairs published in 2000 and four corresponding issues in Spanish. The Spanish issues contain all or some of the articles contained in the English issues plus additional articles on Latin America. These periodicals provide a resource on the history, current conditions, and…

Although it is likely that there will be a substantial number of children who remain poor in spite of considerable work effort by their parents as families leave welfare roles, there has been relatively little research on children in working poor families. The primary purpose of this project is to develop a definition of working poor families and…

Based on over 250 interviews across North America, this book portrays the farm labor system through the stories of migrant workers, the growers and contractors that hire them, and those on the front lines of immigration policy. The first two chapters describe the life of migrant workers and tell the history of the structural inequities that define…

Lower birth weight babies have worse outcomes, both short-run in terms of one year mortality rates and longer run in terms of educational attainment and earnings. However, recent research has called into question whether birth weight itself is important or whether it simply reflects other hard-to-measure characteristics. By applying within twin…