The number of U.S. children living in poverty increased in 2007--continuing an upward trend dating back to 2000: in 2007, 13.3 million children were living in poverty, up from 11.6 million children in 2000. The percentage of children living in families with incomes below the poverty line has increased from 16.2 percent in 2000 to 18.0 percent in…

THREE MAJOR QUESTIONS ARE RAISED--(1) WHAT IS MEANT BY POVERTY AND TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE OVERALL AMOUNT OF POVERTY DEPEND ON THE SORT OF MEASURING ROD USED. (2) HOW MANY AND WHAT PROPORTION OF THE NATION'S CHILDREN ARE GROWING UP IN POVERTY. AND (3) WHERE, GEOGRAPHICALLY AND SOCIALLY, ARE THESE CHILDREN OF THE POOR TO BE FOUND. POVERTY IS…

Statistics are presented which show that women are accounting for an increasingly large proportion of the economically disadvantaged. Different sources of income (earned, public, and private transfer income) and the welfare system are discussed in terms of their roles in the perpetuation of female poverty. (Author/GC)

This paper discusses the background and character of changes introduced by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), examining post enactment responses by Congress, the states, and the courts. It explores the impact of the law on benefit use among immigrants, highlighting changes in usage among different…

Phenomenological analysis was used to understand how rural low-income families accessed and used child-care resources to meet the needs of their families using data from Wave 1 of the Rural Families Speak Project. In the aftermath of welfare reform, results highlight the continuing need for policy aimed at building stronger supports for families…

As the incomes of affluent and poor families have diverged over the past three decades, so too has the educational performance of their children. But how exactly do the forces of rising inequality affect the educational attainment and life chances of low-income children? In "Whither Opportunity?" a distinguished team of economists,…

Analyzed multigeneration household structures among two national samples of welfare families. Results showed household structure differs among welfare families of different races and mother's life-cycle stages, although mother-with-children families predominate. Multigeneration households do not affect welfare mothers' probabiity of employment or…

This study examined characteristics of families who remained on welfare, comparing the economic, social, and demographic characteristics of women remaining on welfare to welfare leavers and low-income women who had never been on welfare; how the characteristics and income of employed women on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) compared…

This paper describes the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, an employment and savings incentive program for low-income families that have Section 8 vouchers or live in public housing. It consists of both case management services to help participants pursue employment and other goals and escrow accounts into which the public housing agency…

This study built on a 2001-02 classroom observation study of Washington K-12 and technical schools that identified the extent of constructivist teaching activity. Results from classroom observations found that strong constructivist teaching was observable in 17 percent of the classroom lessons. The other 83 percent of the lessons observed may have…

Analysis of the Current Population Survey data for New York City reveals that the economic growth of the 1990s increased the income of families across the earnings spectrum nationally; however, earnings among families in the top quintile outpaced other quintiles, leading to an increase in income inequality. This inequality was substantially…

Low pay, high unemployment, few marketable skills, language barrier depress incomes of Spanish Americans. (Editor)

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)

During the 1990s, the federal government promised low-income families that work would pay. Parents moved into jobs in response to new welfare rules requiring work, tax credits and other work supports that boosted take-home pay. Unfortunately, the record shows that low-income families have not progressed much. Many do not bring home enough to cover…

Using Pell grant awards as a proxy for the enrollment of low-income students is common. The most recent National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) data shows that only 16.9% of community college students enrolled in credit courses receive these grants. This paper examines 7 different hypotheses that might explain this low rate. It finds…