This book focuses on a range of instructional practices that promote children's understanding and build meaning into their academic learning experience. Actual practices uncovered in a 2-year investigation of 140 classrooms in a variety of high-poverty school settings are described and analyzed in a comprehensive demonstration of what…

The stories of gang members and former gang members show that positive solutions can be found to the crisis of American urban youth. Personal experiences and challenges similar to those faced by young black students are used to indicate that there is hope. It is evident that poor black youth cannot survive or become part of the mainstream in…

Minority gangs of the 1980s are examined as groups of juveniles and young adults and as a fraction of the forming underclass. Gangs today no longer disappear as their ethnic groups rises socially. Instead, gangs are becoming institutionalized in the central cities. This discussion of prior research in Los Angeles (California) and more recent…

This book is concerned with the impact of poverty on health, focusing on families with young children in the United Kingdom. It draws together information from a wide range of disciplines to provide workers in the health and welfare fields with a better understanding of the complex interconnections between living conditions, lifestyles, and health…

As part of a series of studies on the concerns and aspirations of American teachers, this report illustrates the concerns of teachers, students, and law enforcement officers about the increasing violence and fears of violence in U.S. schools. The survey is based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 teachers from grades 3…

Educational research shows that technology can enhance student acquisition of discrete skills through drill and practice. This document presents findings of a study that examined whether technology could provide significant support for constructivist, project-based teaching and learning approaches. It also identified the elements necessary for…

This autobiographical narrative describes the early life of Luis J. Rodriguez, a journalist and poet who was immersed in the youth gang culture of Los Angeles (California). Framed by the story of the pull of the gang life for the poet's son, it recounts his experiences from his childhood on the United States-Mexico border through his family's…

There has been a significant increase in the numbers of underprepared students entering colleges and universities. At Schoolcraft College, in Michigan, data consistently indicate that large percentages of students score below college level in reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Classroom techniques that can help faculty better meet the needs…

In the midst of the current concern for system reform and effective services there is renewed attention to the effects of categorical funding as the predominant method of allocating resources for children and their families. This paper presents a historical view of categorical funding for services to children and families. It explores the policy…

This report summarizes the results and impact of Title I and Chapter I reforms. In 1992-93, elementary and secondary students (n=6,403,054) participated in Chapter I in the United States; 17 percent of this population was limited English proficient (LEP). Although the program has helped many, educators and researchers have questioned the…

The concept of the learning community and the transition of both students and teachers to the teaching/learning relationship has become a focus of graduate programs at Heritage College (Toppenish, Washington). The mission of Heritage is to provide quality, accessible higher education to a multicultural population which has been educationally…

Between 1986 and 1991 the teen birth rate rose by nearly one-fourth, although very small declines were evident in 1992 and 1993. This decline was concentrated among older teens; the number of births to adolescents aged 17 and younger continued to rise. The percentage of teen births that occurred outside of marriage rose to 72%. In 1991, the most…

This handbook provides assistance for tutors in Operation Success, a program to provide limited-income and first-generation college students with academic support services to enable them to persist and graduate from Wichita State University (Kansas). The program provides an interconnected series of academic support services; peer tutoring is…

This guide was designed to help policy makers, administrators, program planners, and managers find answers to their questions about improving the quality of their services and addressing the changing needs of young people in their communities. Information is provided on more than 100 nonprofit organizations, government agencies, research centers,…

This brief presents national statistics to determine reasons for school personnel contacting parents of 12th-grade students. Data are from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) of 1988, conducted by the United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Parents of 12th-grade students reported they were more…