Educational scholars have argued that poverty can hamper student achievement. In this critical discussion paper, we provide a historiography of how urban poverty increased in America over the last 30 years of the 20th century. We contend that educators and educational researchers working in P-12 urban schools should understand how federal urban…

School choice for poor children is likely to be an issue in many state and congressional races. Lawmakers and parents need to pay close attention to the quality of academic evaluations of school choice programs. Evaluations of the program in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) provide a case in point. In 1990, Milwaukee instituted the nation's first publicly…

This study explored the academic and physical barriers that homeless children in Utah encountered on a daily basis in a structured educational setting. The project was conducted in a shelter and resource center in Salt Lake City. Data were collected from 1 male and 14 female adults and 15 children, representing 15 families. A perceived barriers…

This executive summary, part of a larger study that will include an examination of Title I implementation in selected districts and schools, assesses the extent to which the policies and enforcement practices of the U.S. Department of Education have fulfilled the promise of the recent reauthorization of the Title I program. The summary is…

This report assesses the extent to which the policies and enforcement practices of the U.S. Department of Education have fulfilled the promise of the recent reauthorization of the Title I program. The study is organized around five broad sets of questions about the impact of Title I on the academic achievement of poor children, centering on: (1)…

Discusses the effects of poverty on children and current public policy toward child poverty, including areas of unmet need and recommendations for policies to meet the needs of poor children. The overall focus is on the potential to develop effective policies for children in poverty. (SLD)

Proposes a cross over between moral education and human rights work, suggesting that human rights documents allow moral educators to learn from human rights activists and educators. Argues that Latin Americans and other marginalized groups can inform moral education work. Includes five suggestions for incorporating human rights into moral…

The Florida State Legislature and the Department of Education have generally addressed the 1997 recommendations of the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) for improving student performance in high-poverty schools. Recent legislation and department actions have established a stronger foundation for ensuring that…

A survey of 102 urban school districts in large cities indicates that school districts have responded to the requirements of the Stewart B. McKinney Act for the education of homeless children to varying degrees. However, 69 percent of districts described the problem of homeless students as nonexistent or small. (SLD)

Describes the Family Focus for School Success Project, a model program that provides education and support to language minority families in poverty and their children through comprehensive early intervention for children at risk of academic failure because of their home environments. An evaluation of the first year's efforts with 69 families…

Reports on research conducted in poor Puerto Rican households in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) that shows the complex relationships between household members' survival strategies, residential mobility, home-school connections, and students' learning. Results from five families show that household stability is the strongest factor affecting students'…

Research on homeless children and families carried out by the Institute for Children and Poverty over the last 6 years is compiled in this document. The contents range from programmatic solutions and policy recommendations to simple "snapshots" of homeless families. Much of the research is based on the experiences of Homes for the…

The consequences and correlates of growing up poor as well as the mechanisms through which poverty influences children are explored. This book is organized with a primary focus on research findings and a secondary concern with policy implications. The chapters are: (1) "Poor Families, Poor Outcomes: The Well-Being of Children and Youth" (Jeanne…

After a century of fairly steady decline, the official poverty rate among American children increased from 14.0% in 1969 to 19.6% in 1989, suggesting that the United States is losing the war on poverty. However, once various defects in the official poverty measure are corrected, it appears that the proportion of children in households with income…

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…