The United States is experiencing a wave of immigration unprecedented since the early 1900s. This report examines the schooling needs of immigrant students, assesses how well those needs are being met, and suggests strategies for improving schooling outcomes for immigrants. Immigrant education is examined as a political issue and as a challenge…

This resource guide is designed to provide the reader with information about work experience programs in Rhode Island and other states. The first section consists of a prototypic model (which was developed in cooperation with educators and other personnel concerned with work experience programs) for making work experience-based vocational…

Challenges identified by T. Bailey (1993) as obstacles to youth apprenticeship programs are accurate but do not justify the turn to alternative approaches he recommends. U.S.-style program can be built to overcome these difficulties if employer-worker collaboration can be fostered and institutional bases can be constructed. (SLD)

S. F. Hamilton and the author agree on the potential of youth apprenticeship programs for education but disagree on the strength of the problems facing implementation of apprenticeship models. A two-level reform strategy is recommended to develop an institutional and legal structure and to encourage employer participation. (SLD)

Liberals and conservatives agree that it is best if teenagers delay reproduction, but they disagree over how. Comparisons with Sweden and Great Britain suggest that America's difficulties with teen childbearing and abortion can be traced partly to combined cultural ambivalence about chastity, childbearing, and working. (SLD)

In May 2000, the United States Department of Labor awarded sizable Youth Opportunity (YO) Grants to 36 high-poverty urban, rural, and Native American communities. These communities were among the most economically distressed communities in the nation, all characterized by high drop out rates, high youth unemployment rates, greater incidence of…

When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast of the United States in August and September 2005, it was arguably the worst calamity to strike the region in history. Less well known than the loss in life or property from these storms are the effects on early care and education. Those who work with or on behalf of young children found in…

An analysis of teenage unemployment indicates that it is very high and endangers the future of some of the young. In 1975 the unemployment rate for teenagers, ages 16-19, was 19.9%. For nonwhite teenagers, it was even higher (36.9%). Teenagers accounted for more than 20% of the total number of unemployed, but less than 19% of the total labor…

Two cases of planned curriculum change are examined to illustrate the limits and possibilities of curriculum reform. One case used upgraded mathematics curriculum for low achieving, urban, U.S. secondary students. The other examined a national curricular reform in Scotland where secondary curricula and national examinations were closely aligned.…

Aimed at eliminating the barriers to learning wrought about by poverty, Minneapolis and other urban school districts educate a substantial portion of poor and disadvantaged children and go nearly anywhere to hold parenting classes, homeless shelters, neonatal care units, high schools, and even jails. This article details the early childhood…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Chance Favors the Prepared Mind": Report Finds that Students in the Highest-Achieving States Score As Well…

This second volume, the follow-on to "Teaching Music in the Urban Classroom, Volume 1: A Guide to Survival, Success, and Reform," extends the conversation to include educational leadership, teacher education, partnerships, and school reform. As with Volume 1, classroom music teachers, inner city arts administrators, well-known academics,…

This book offers a comparative and historical account of the rise of special education over the twentieth century in the United States and Germany. This institutional analysis demonstrates how categorical boundaries, professional groups, social movements, education and social policies shaped the schooling of children and youth with disabilities.…

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of the American response to an IBE questionnaire. The main problems in the relationship between social background and school achievement are how to ensure equality of educational opportunity in all 50 states, raising educational standards and improving the quality of schools…

Although youth apprenticeship models appear to have great potential, the following problems must be addressed before the strategy can succeed: (1) securing employer involvement; (2) assuring and improving the quality of on-the-job learning; and (3) confronting equity issues in public policy in incorporating work into the core educational system.…