The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

Because digital devices and the Internet have become so essential, digital inequality can exacerbate educational and economic inequality as well. Therefore, it is critical to understand how low- and moderate-income families in the U.S. are engaging digital technologies and how they perceive the opportunities--and potential risks-- that these…

The data in this survey offer a unique perspective from low- and moderate-income families with school-age children in the United States. They reveal many of the nuances and complexities of digital life among lower income families today. Because lower-income parents are not usually the focus of studies on technology and learning, this report offers…

Community colleges have maintained a mission and commitment to open access. Likewise, Federal Pell Grants have historically served as a primary means for low income populations to afford higher education. Thus, community college students and Federal Pell Grants are important parts of the American higher education landscape and a mode of social and…

This research used prospective longitudinal data to examine the associations between first-grade teachers' over- and underestimation of their students' math abilities, basic reading abilities, and language skills and the students' high school academic performance, with special attention to the subject area and moderating effects of student…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether age differences affect students' academic achievement, and whether age differences affect students in low-income areas differently than those in mixed or higher-income areas. Student achievement data for grades 3, 7, and 11 in language arts and math were obtained from a variety of schools located…

The Head Start program, overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services and administered by the Office of Head Start, provides child development services primarily to low-income families and their children. Federal law allows up to 10 percent of enrolled families to have incomes above 130 percent of the poverty line--GAO (Government…

Stateline.org recently called this recession the worst in 50 years for state budgets. As has been the case in past economic downturns, higher education looks to be particularly hard hit. Funds from the American Recovery and Relief Act may have postponed some of the difficulty for many colleges and universities, but the outlook for public higher…

Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) is working to make high-quality voluntary preschool universally accessible to every 4-year-old in Los Angeles County by building upon the existing early care and education system. This brief provides a snapshot of children and families participating in LAUP center-based programs in the fall of 2007, at the…

This report examines why the child support system breaks down for so many low-income families, presenting information from interviews with unmarried mothers and fathers nationwide. Four chapters focus on: (1) "Introduction" (child support policy in California and nationwide); (2) "The National and California Child Support…

Two arguments against the Hansen-Weisbrod study (which stated that subsidies in California public higher education discriminate against students from lower income families) are presented: (1) comparison should be based on the age of the family head (35-60 years), and (2) student financial aid should be added to tuition subsidies. (Author/EC)

Despite the national decline in child poverty and low-income rates in the United States since the early 1990s, the rates in California have surpassed those of the nation. This report, the first in a new series on child poverty in individual states, provides a demographic profile of California's low-income families, highlighting the high number and…

In response to Lee Hansen and Burton Weisbrod's study conducted over a decade ago, California policy has attempted to shift a greater portion of the burden of support for higher education from lower income families. A recent reexamination of the study by Joseph McGuire that disputes the original study is challenged. (JMD)

In the 1980s California poverty rates increased dramatically. Poverty rates were substantially higher in rural areas and for Hispanics, Asians, single-parent families, and children. The percentage of the labor force in poverty increased, and poverty rates were exceptionally high for the unemployed and for "discouraged workers." The…

Characteristics of students and their family/personal income was studied for each of the four segments of California higher education to determine how college costs were met. Data sources were the 1982-1983 Student Expenses and Resources Survey (SEARS) and student data files. Major findings include the following: In 1982, more than 300,000…