When parents and staff at Winter Park Elementary School in Wilmington, North Carolina, realized that some children could not afford school activities, such as purchasing ice cream on Fridays, they decided to level the economic playing field. The school began eliminating all practices that required students to spend money to participate. Students…

During a career spanning five decades, Edward Zigler has combined scholarly research with public service to promote national and state policies that are good for all children. Often called "the father of Head Start," he served on the planning committee for the program in 1965 and became the first director of the Office of Child…

Research in the neurobiological, behavioral, and social sciences has dramatically increased our capacity to provide effective intervention for economically disadvantaged children. According to Neuman, however, U.S. policymakers have made little use of this body of research to improve the prospects of children at risk. This article discusses seven…

The author, responding to an article in the November 1980 "Educational Leadership" criticizing his original article in the April 1980 issue of the journal, maintains his argument that, according to research, disadvantaged students do prefer accepting, flexible teachers, as shown in the television series "Welcome Back Kotter." (MLF)

Criteria that characterize competent teachers of the disadvantaged are concerned with the areas of academic preparation, preservice internships, personality, and continuous professional growth. (Author/IRT)

Data indicate that absolute summer achievement decline is not common. Relative decline, where low achievers do not keep pace over the summer with their peers, is common. Finally, attendance at summer school appears to have no strong ameliorative effect on achievement, either short-term or longer-term. (Author/MLF)

Schools and districts rarely have a fair distribution of teacher talent. Poor children and black children are less likely to be taught by the strongest teachers and more likely to be taught by the weakest. Several districts have implemented programs to reduce the teacher quality gap. Hamilton County, Tennessee, launched an initiative that included…

Four vanguard districts are committed to raising academic scores of students by increasing academic learning time; to turning average schools for disadvantaged students into exemplary schools; and, by carefully charting the process, to providing a scenario that can be useful to other schools. (Author/JM)

Researcher-reformer Ronald Edmonds believes he knows why some urban schools teach poor children successfully. In this interview Edmonds elaborates on his list of the five characteristics of effective schools. (Author/JM)

The Core-Plus Mathematics project is a National Science Foundation project to design, evaluate, and disseminate innovative high school curricula based on National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards. The CPMP program has five mathematical and structural design features: multiple connected strands, emphasis on mathematical modeling, access…

Many first-generation college students struggle during their first year in college. Cushman shares the reflections of 16 college students she worked with over two years who were the first in their families to attend college. Students describe how entering a climate where most fellow students come from backgrounds of greater wealth and…

Teachers, programs, and facilities suitable to the special needs and potentialities of inner city youngsters must be provided. (Author/MK)

James P. Comer, a distinguished Black child psychiatrist born of sharecropper parents, credits his family's values and continued support for his success in college. In 1968, Comer and his colleagues developed a school-based management team to help poor families and schools develop trust and mutual respect. The program is widely used in New Haven…

A general conclusion can be drawn that the values of teachers and their perception of the values of the principal are more positive or higher in inner city elementary schools characterized by a more open organizational climate than in schools with a closed organizational climate. (Authors)

Study of fourth and fifth grade children of varying intelligence, language achievement and creativity suggests that they can be taught to express themselves poetically. (Author/RK)