Rural job growth remains behind that of metro areas, hindering efforts to move welfare recipients into successful employment. Those most in need of public assistance have less education, lower earnings, and higher unemployment than average. Welfare recipients are concentrated in rural areas marked by chronic economic distress and low-skilled,…

The School Improvement Grants Program is a British Columbia-based action research project to support efforts to raise literacy and math skills in public schools serving low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods. The program--which provides $25,000 in planning and implementation grants for each participating school over 2.5 years--began in 2001 and…

This study critically examined the factors influencing public attitudes toward teacher education in Nigeria. It analysed a series of nationwide surveys of negative public attitude toward the teaching profession using parents and prospective university students as respondents. A questionnaire made up of 12 items was used to gather data on public…

We examined the effectiveness of the PATHS curriculum in a magnet elementary school serving a distressed urban area. Aspects of social-emotional competence were examined for second graders who had, and had not, received the PATHS intervention. The intervention groups differed, with the control group having lower social-emotional competence than…

It is imperative that school counselors become actively engaged in promoting school success for all students. For youth from low-income and diverse backgrounds, future career opportunities are predicated on achieving educational success. Therefore, school counselors become agents for social justice when creating, implementing, and supporting…

Project Aspire was created to identify poor rural students with academic potential and to provide them with academic and counseling support in advanced placement courses and prerequisites. This article describes Project Aspire and its foundations; the relevant lessons learned from the literature on poverty, small schools, rural schools, and gifted…

Single-sex public schools are seen as a vehicle for improving the educational experiences of low-income and minority students. Our two-year ethnographic study of low-income and minority students who attended experimental single-sex academies in California indicates that improving achievement involves more than separating students by gender. Using…

This paper is drawn from an empirical, ethnographic study of information and communications technologies (ICT) use among thirteen, low-income twelfth-graders attending a large urban high school and focuses on participants' ICT access in the school library. It examines how library staff members' cultural and gendered perceptions shaped ICT…

A high prevalence of dental caries in the pediatric population is a major health problem. At highest risk are low-income minority groups, including refugee and immigrant populations. Consequences of oral disease include pain, difficulty eating and speaking, poor school performance, and poor self-esteem. Parent involvement in oral health education…

In the USA, many of the recent education reforms have been implemented in response to calls from neo-liberal and conservative policy makers to improve education efficiency and reduce public expenditures within an increasingly globalized economy. Consequently, local, state, and federal education policies increasingly employ curricular standards and…

It is well documented that perinatally HIV-infected children experience difficulty in learning as well as behavioral and social problems in the school setting. While the research is mixed on the effect of the HIV virus on behavioral and social problems, it is much clearer on the effect of this virus on learning. This exploratory study identifies…

This article describes the association of external and psychosocial factors on the stages of change for fruit and vegetable consumption, among 2,781 inhabitants, aged 18 to 65 years, in deprived neighborhoods (response rate 60%). To identify correlates of forward stage transition, an ordinal logistic regression model, the Threshold of Change Model…

Efforts to increase senior secondary retention rates and improve schooling for marginalized students have been influenced by the school effectiveness perspective. This paper outlines several problematic aspects of this perspective and proposes an alternative orientation centred around "care". Drawing on research with students and…

Jon Gilgoff is the Boys Services Manager of the Youth Justice Institute in Oakland, California, and a former Robert Bowne Foundation Fellow who researched Boyz 2 Men through his work with the Educational Alliance in New York City. Boyz 2 Men aimed to provide a positive alternative to drugs as a means of coping with the multiple challenges young…

Schoolwide literacy--the teaching of reading, writing, speaking, and thinking practices in all content areas--is generally considered an effective, even necessary, approach to addressing the learning needs of adolescents. In early college high schools, which blend high school and college for students who are underserved in higher education, the…