This report proposes that state economic development policy and resources, and state personnel, with their knowledge of and access to the business community, can contribute to the intertwined issues of competitiveness and poverty. Following an introduction, chapter 2 examines four related issues: poverty, income equity, welfare dependency, and the…

This paper presents excerpts from the author's diary describing the experiences encountered while conducting the Theater Workshop Project, a project designed for enhancing the literacy of homeless mothers and children. The project's objectives and techniques are to: (1) use storytelling in the shelters as an entertaining vehicle to begin to build…

The very high incidence of school dropouts throughout the nation is viewed as one of the major factors contributing to the failure of the American educational system, affecting not only the schools but the society as a whole. The social, political, and economic implications of the dropout problem are explored. The ability of the United States to…

The United States House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education met in one of a series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965. This session heard testimony on: (1) Title III of the Act, addressing a program that provides aid to institutions of higher education which serve large numbers of…

A survey was done to identify model programs and approaches in vocational education at the middle school and secondary school levels that target at-risk Hispanic American females. That survey polled state education vocational education directors and vocational sex equity coordinators in 27 states and the District of Columbia. The study sought to…

Millions of children are hungry in America, and it is clearly time to make childhood hunger a national priority. To document the need, a comprehensive study of hunger among low-income families was developed by the Connecticut Association for Human Services. National replication of the study, the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project…

This biennial report provides an evaluation of the South Carolina vocational education program delivery system assisted under the Carl D. Perkins Act and the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). It focuses on the adequacy and effectiveness of the delivery system in achieving the purposes of the two acts. These findings of the State Council on…

An evaluative study was done of the Teen Outreach Program, a national, multi-site effort to reduce teenage pregnancy, school failure, and dropout. The study sought to identify the critical "active ingredients" of the program responsible for its success. The study was based on analyses of data collected at 114 different sites nationally,…

This paper describes the context of education at two Appalachian middle schools and examines family, community, and school factors related to the academic success of economically disadvantaged and middle-class students. The 429 students at two rural middle schools in Appalachian Kentucky and Tennessee were assigned to low socioeconomic status…

How ethnic identity and gender figure in building the embedded identities of youth in different contexts is examined, focusing on the self-concepts of inner-city youth. The voices of urban youth argue that their embedded identities, or multilayered self-conceptions, represent far more than simple labels of ethnic or racial membership. After an…

Presentations of panelists at one in a series of monthly seminars on Family Centered Social Policy are summarized. The first panelist, Maria E. Enchautegui, began with a statistical overview of Latino poverty and then highlighted data for subgroups. Mirien Uriarte presented findings from her study on the experiences of Latinas in the Massachusetts…

This document contains vocational education program courses standards for exploratory courses, practical arts courses, and job preparatory programs offered at the secondary or postsecondary level as a part of Florida's comprehensive vocational education program. Instructional Support Services provide an opportunity for handicapped or disadvantaged…

This report gathers papers prepared for a design conference for the evaluation of the Federal Talent Search Program, an early intervention program to identify gifted and talented financially needy students and connect them with discretionary grants for higher education. An introductory paper synthesizes major conference themes. These include: (1)…

This consumer guide describes what the James Comer School Development Program is, how it got started, and its goals and principles; and presents an evaluation of its success. The program, which was started 25 years ago by a child psychiatrist (James Comer), is designed to improve the educational experience of poor minority youth. It works on the…

In Talent Development Middle Schools, students needing extra help in mathematics participate in the Computer- and Team-Assisted Mathematics Acceleration (CATAMA) course. CATAMA is an innovative combination of computer-assisted instruction and structured cooperative learning that students receive in addition to their regular math course for about…