This monograph offers a realistic look at current trends in student achievement in science education, the participation of underrepresented populations, and the many factors that serve to sustain them. In addition, it offers new insights and concrete suggestions for change based on the analysis of recent reports and promising field-based studies.…

The Fifth National Forum of the Coalition for Community Schools (Baltimore, Maryland, June 16, 2006) provided a historic opportunity for participants to hear two of America's most distinguished educators, Drs. James Comer and Edmund Gordon. These giants in their fields engaged in an animated and thought-provoking exchange on the educational…

The number of children in working poor families is expected to increase as a result of welfare reform. This report summarizes the discussion of scholars, policy experts, and leaders of the Foundation for Child Development regarding research and policy on children in families headed by adults working in low-wage jobs. Key findings regarding…

This report is a formative evaluation of the YouthBuild Demonstration Project that began in 1991 and ended in 1994. The YouthBuild Model, developed in earlier programs, was directed at young people who were largely disconnected from schools and jobs. Major components of the project were counseling, academic remediation with preparation for the…

In education, it is necessary to look at students who are marginalized, and excluded, who is centered or privileged, and how, through academic discourse, silences are created, sustained, and legitimized. The three papers in this collection explore the politics of silencing and voice in education. "It's More Covert Today': The Importance of…

The number of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) cases has fallen in the past 4 years, and there is disagreement over the cause. Credit has been given to "waiver" programs that resembled Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and to the growing economy. This sort of confusion over program effects is partly a…

The Literacy Learning Center Project, a project of the Meriden Public Library (Connecticut), targeted the educationally underserved and functionally illiterate, and involved recruitment, retention, space renovation, coalition building, public awareness, training, basic literacy, collection development, tutoring, computer assisted services, and…

A charter school is a public educational entity that operates under a charter or contract negotiated between the organizers, who design and run the school, and an organization that holds the school accountable based on charter provisions. Most charter schools are elementary schools with smaller than average populations; many serve disadvantaged…

State and federal governments provided $146 billion for public elementary and secondary schools in the 1994-95 school year. In response to a Congressional directive to: (1) determine the extent to which state and federal funding is targeted to districts on the basis of the number of poor students; and (2) the effect of state and federal funding on…

This paper provides an overview of the research base on the influence of schools, families, and communities on the learning and educational resilience of children in at-risk circumstances, as well as illustrations of current policies and programmatic approaches that place health development and educational success as integral components of…

Four variables have been identified by research as having a powerful influence on teachers' teaching practices and student learning. These are: (1) content coverage; (2) content exposure; (3) content emphasis; and (4) quality of instructional delivery. These four variables are important to the investigation of students' opportunity to learn…

This guide is designed to help funders and government and nongovernment agencies understand the types of programs with the greatest potential to improve the lives of some of American society's most disadvantaged members. Much of the material is drawn from "Nurturing Young Black Males: Challenges to Agencies, Programs, and Social Policy,"…

The ways in which educators and schools in the United States have responded to the children of immigrants are explored, and the patterns, causes, and consequences of educational outcomes on immigrants are reviewed. The literature on which this paper draws is diverse, encompassing the work of historians and social scientists. Results of scholarship…

The Rosen Scholars Program was a privately funded program for the support and mentorship of talented disadvantaged urban youth. After 6 years of planning and operation, the program was evaluated to assess effectiveness in terms of program objectives and outcomes. The evaluation was conducted by doctoral candidates from Teachers College, Columbia…

Thrasher School is a K-12 unit school in Prentiss County, Mississippi, that has survived and flourished in an economically disadvantaged area because of its close community connections. The K-12 school enrolls 482 students, of which 144 attend grades 9-12. The community has vigorously resisted high school consolidation, financing reconstruction of…