Every child deserves a fair chance. A chance to learn, grow, explore possibilities, persevere and achieve his or her potential. The Ounce of Prevention Fund believes that no child's potential should be limited by poor health. Good health in early childhood is an essential component of school readiness. The benefits of health and learning are…

Every child deserves a fair chance. A chance to learn, grow, explore possibilities, persevere and achieve his or her potential. Yet many children in America, particularly children who live in poverty or are racial or ethnic minorities, face inequitable conditions that reduce their chances of leading healthy lives. These conditions lead to…

The thesis that intelligence is based on heredity was dramatically revived in 1969 by an article in the "Harvard Educational Review" by Arthur Jensen, a psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley. The article, which received wide attention, was sharply criticized by those who hold that it is environment rather than genes which puts…

Substances in the environment that are potentially harmful to children's health and development, from conception onward, include metals such as lead and mercury, pesticides, indoor air pollution, residues of synthetic chemicals, radiation from the sun, nuclear sources, and air pollution. Children's exposures to these substances, as well as…

This book examines the relationships between poverty, disadvantage, and educational failure in a way considered to be more comprehensive and complex than is possible when such an examination is based solely on a concept of cultural disadvantage and defective experience. The mortality of infants and their mothers around birth, held to be both the…