Objective: A community-based randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in urban areas characterized by high levels of disadvantage to test the effectiveness of the Incredible Years BASIC parent training program (IYBP) for children with behavioral problems. Potential moderators of intervention effects on child behavioral outcomes were also…

This article draws attention to the growing evidence of a mismatch between sociological categorization and actors' worlds of meaning as expressed in the classroom. The mismatch is especially blatant in cases where students from disadvantaged groups are introduced to what educators and theorists presume to be the liberating discourse of…

Over the past decade states have surpassed the federal Head Start program as the primary public funder of preschool slots. This paper investigates trends in Head Start enrollment in the context of increased state investment in early childhood. Using national, longitudinal data I find no evidence Head Start programs in states with expanding state…

In this cross-sectional study, we explore the relationship between prosodic sensitivity (suprasegmental phonology) and phonological awareness (segmental phonology) and investigate whether a group of poor readers display significant suprasegmental phonological deficits in comparison to chronological age-matched controls and younger, reading…

This article features Pierce County High School in rural southeast Georgia whose 965 students, almost half of whom are from economically disadvantaged families, have demonstrated what a focus on student learning can accomplish. In 2004, the school ranked at the bottom of the state in students passing the high school graduation tests, and only 55%…

Early exposure to the multiple risk factors associated with poverty is related to an elevated risk for academic difficulty. Therefore, it is important to promote academic resilience as early as possible and to identify factors that support resilience. Given the positive relation between early language skills and later academic outcomes, examining…

This article analyzes Henry Giroux's recent book Youth in a Suspect Society: democracy or disposability? (Palgrave, 2009) and situates it within his post-9/11 critical interventions. Giroux has focused his recent work on theorizing, critiquing and challenging the confluence of militarization, corporatization and right-wing ideology that has…

In this 15-year longitudinal study the authors investigated individual and contextual factors that predispose adolescents from a disadvantaged urban area to drug dependence in adulthood. Adolescents were recruited from schools serving East Harlem in New York City. Of the 838 participants followed to adulthood, 59% were women, 55% were African…

Journalist Elizabeth Redden brings to the surface several salient issues in her article entitled, "Reaching Black Men." First, she illuminates that fact that access is not enough when it comes to educating African American men. Second, she points to the importance of having campus-wide initiatives to support the success of Black men. And…

Catholic schools are called to model themselves on gospel values including the exercise of a preferential option for the poor. This article seeks to recover the true sense of preferential option for the poor from the gospel of Luke and apply it to the state-funded Catholic schools in Scotland, which were historically established to serve the poor…

This study examined parental reports of children attending Head Start programs in high- (N = 200) and low- (N = 188) violence communities to determine whether differences existed in the level of risk and protective factors as measured by the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (P. A. LeBuffe & J. A. Naglieri, 1999). Previous research has indicated…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to consider the role played by vocational education and training (VET) for young people in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on an analysis and synthesis of the existing research and literature, including the author's own body of research in the field, regarding VET delivered in schools…

This paper discusses how some of the music projects supported and developed by Community Music Wales have attracted the interest of disaffected young people. In addition, the paper describes how project participants are able to have their learning formally recognized under a national accreditation system, thus gaining access to employment or…

School libraries face a challenging future. Substantive claims are being made that they are no longer viable because of the access to vast quantities of information on the Internet and because they are costly infrastructures to maintain because of the increasing cost of print materials as well as the cost of personnel. Research show that students…

A settlement crafted last week seeking to curb the use of seniority as a factor in teacher layoffs in the Los Angeles school system could become one of the nation's most far-reaching overhauls of the "last hired, first fired" policies common in school districts. If approved by a judge, the settlement would shield up to 45 low-performing…