Solution Shop is a data-driven counseling and study skills program that specifically addresses the under-achievement of students of color and economically disadvantaged students. Solution Shop provides an example of the key role professional school counselors can play in the school reform movement. This program is based on solution-focused…

On January 23, 2004, President Bush signed the DC School Choice Incentive Act into law. This landmark piece of legislation included $14 million in funding for what would come to be called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The OSP is the first federally funded K-12 scholarship program in the country and is designed to provide…

The transition from high school to adult life is an exciting time for many young people. Youth from high poverty backgrounds, however, are considered at-risk for a host of unfavorable outcomes including academic failure, school dropout, drug abuse, unemployment and incarceration. These adolescents are more likely than their more affluent peers to…

Guided by the conceptual frameworks of social support appraisal mechanisms and cultural variant perspectives, the reported experiences of 23 Black grandmothers parenting grandchildren who receive cash assistance under the current welfare program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), were used to integrate macro- and micro-level…

This volume examines two-generation interventions as models that represent a new approach to assisting families in poverty. Five of the chapters examine current programs--their design, characteristics of participants, implementation issues, and in one case, evaluation outcomes. Other chapters offer a research and policy context for this…

Differences in the revenue that public school districts receive have led to legal challenges of the equity of school finance in many states. Achieving equity in the allocation of resources for education requires consideration of factors such as the cost of living and the educational needs of children in addition to the wealth of the school…

This collection documents how far we still are in the United States from putting our knowledge about child well being and policy into practice. It provides an overview of the changing nature of child poverty in the United States through the contributions of authors who use a number of qualitative and quantitative approaches to look at children in…

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…

When legislation extended vocational assessment services to limited English proficient and economically/educationally disadvantaged students, which comprise 72 percent of grade 8-12 students in Norfolk (Virginia) Public Schools, innovations were needed to offer expanded services without additional personnel. A multiphase model of vocational…

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…

The Head Start Health Coordinator's Task Force (HCTF) was charged to study and make recommendations to strengthen Head Start's health component, which is a vital part of the child development program. Since its inception in 1965, Head Start has served over 12 million economically disadvantaged children. Through the health component, children have…

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appointed a Joint Board to recommend changes in existing FCC rules to fulfill the regulatory mandates of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Joint Board, which consists of three FCC commissioners, four State commissioners, and one consumer advocate, issued its recommendations to the FCC in a 500-page…

The Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a free 2-year family oriented early childhood education and parent involvement program for parents with limited formal education to help them provide educational enrichment for their 4-year-old and 5-year-old children. As of 1996, HIPPY programs serve over 15,000 economically…

A project explored female poverty in Saskatchewan, Canada, and its implications within the framework of Health Canada's Population Health Promotion Model. Data were collected through consultations with 59 women who had experienced poverty, interviews with administrators of agencies and projects that serve poor women, and a literature review.…

This report presents results from a 10-item survey of 750 educators from 14 school sites, designed to gain insights into the perceptions educators hold regarding the problems of identifying gifted children from economically disadvantaged and limited English proficient backgrounds. Results indicated that major barriers to identification were test…