The studies and policies of the U.S. Children's Bureau in the era of Progressive education benefited many children, but its emphasis on the middle-class family ideals and relative disinterest in poverty issues left a legacy with policy implications in today's climate of welfare reform. (SLD)

Single mothers' participation rates in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in rural Mississippi were influenced by community-level characteristics: educational attainment, racial composition, employment structure, civic engagement, and spatial concentration of poverty. Particularly, TANF participation rates were higher in the Delta and…

Opportunities abound for educational service agencies (ESAs) to assist rural schools districts with implementing the No Child Left Behind Act. Strategies that ESAs could pursue are presented for critical issues in the areas of school-community relationships, school roles in rural development, funding, standard setting, school size, facility…

The importance and urgency of rural education to each state was assessed using seven and nine indicators, respectively. The Mid-South Delta, central Appalachia, coastal Southeast, the north Plains, and northern New England emerged as priority rural education regions. The most important urgency indicators were teacher salaries, computer use, school…

A secondary analysis of data from a California-wide sample of 162 American Indian, entering MSW students indicated that American Indian students demonstrated a noticeably stronger adherence toward social work's traditional mission of helping poor and disadvantaged populations when compared to all MSW students. Implications for practice with…

Data on 3,449 children (ages 0-3) indicate children at risk because of low income, minority status, or lack of insurance were 3 to 12 times more likely to be without a usual source of care and 2 to 30 times more likely to have unmet needs for health care. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This could be the year the schools begin to make significant progress in addressing minority education issues. Television programs produced by the Public Broadcasting System and closed-circuit teleconferences can be utilized by principals to forge partnerships between their schools and communities. (MLF)

Research shows that failure in adequate school performance is the rule for the poor. Courts should recognize the inequalities in educational opportunity caused by family income inequality and declare that the failure of public schools to respond to this inequality constitutes a violation of the equal protection clause. (MLF)

Uses data from 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey to compare Bureau of Indian Affairs/tribal schools to public schools with high and low Indian enrollment. Examines ethnicity and qualifications of principals and teachers, educator salaries, school problems, and teacher shortages. Indicates the continuing shortage of educators from local native…

Assesses a range of recent atrocities and apparently resultant problems experienced by children in areas of Namibia, Mozambique, and South Africa. Includes data from the literature and personal impressions from visits and extended periods of stay. Recommends expansion of birth control programs and awareness. (RAH)

Improving economic opportunities for the increasing number of women farmers in rural Central America involves addressing low educational levels and challenging traditional social values. Government policies need to strengthen women's agricultural and natural-resource management skills by improving land access; encouraging membership in…

Examines the income and time deficits facing Canadian families. Describes current government policy responses to these problems, and puts forward several proposals to help reduce these deficits and move toward increased investment in the welfare of Canadian children. (MDM)

Summarizes the academic and nonacademic literature on the provision of child welfare services to Canadian Native people, focusing on the impact of the contemporary political climate on such policy from the 1960s to the present. Recent literature on the subject stresses the need to examine the root socioeconomic causes for the problems facing…

Uses government data to analyze the distributive effects of non-means-tested cash and non-cash public transfer programs in reducing poverty among children. Data were analyzed for white, black, and Hispanic children, and for the elderly. Suggests these transfers are important sources of income for disadvantaged children, among whom black and…

Three data sets from previous studies demonstrated that children who began kindergarten with less implicit knowledge of books, as compared with well-read-to students, acquired this knowledge in kindergarten and first grade. Results suggest that those in whole-language classes progressed more rapidly. (SLD)