Across the United States, policy makers and early childhood experts are focusing on implementing and evaluating a range of interventions designed to improve school readiness for young children living in poverty. This article provides an overview of the various factors that threaten optimal development of young children living in poverty and that…

The number of elderly blacks is increasing at a substantially faster rate than either the general population or the elderly white population. Older blacks tend to have lower incomes, greater health problems, and higher incidence of widowhood than comparable whites or younger blacks. The median income of older blacks remained at only two-thirds of…

Nutrition and health are underlying influences to education performance. This report is a collection and analysis of data on nutrition and the rural poor in the United States. It presents an empirical assessment of critical nutritional and social-service problems experienced by the rural poor population. The first section of the report uses data…

This study is the result of a 1987-88 nutrition survey of Florida farmworkers, and it develops a composite picture of this group's overall health. The survey included a nutritional profile questionnaire identifying factors limiting migrants' access to an adequate diet and a survey examining their nutrient-specific dietary adequacy. The data show…

The second of two meetings dealing with deprivation and disadvantage in education concentrated attention on the problems in developing countries. In many countries the problems are so complex that rational analysis is not undertaken; decisions are made on the basis of political expediency or on economically based criteria. In most cases, whole…

This report examines the prevalence and severity of health problems that hinder welfare recipients' ability to get and hold jobs, using data from interviews with women who in May 1995 received welfare and lived in four poor, urban areas. The study compared the health of women who had left welfare and were working, who combined welfare and work,…

Although the last 100 years have seen dramatic improvements in the health of U.S. children, there remain racial and ethnic disparities. This research brief presents data illustrating improvements in children's health and the need for further progress. The brief also examines new morbidities among American youth, such as obesity, early sexual…

THE EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT OF 3,635 STUDENTS FROM EDUCATIONALLY DEPRIVED SCHOOLS WAS COMPARED WITH STUDENTS ATTENDING SCHOOLS WHERE HIGHER SOCIO-ECONOMIC LEVELS PREVAILED. RESULTS REVEALED SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WITH REGARD TO (1) LANGUAGE ARTS, (2) READING ACHIEVEMENT, (3) AREAS OTHER THAN LANGUAGE ARTS AND READING (ARITHMETIC AND PROBLEM…

Discusses the health-related implications of environmental hazards for children. Argues that low-income, minority communities are disproportionately affected, thus spurring the environmental justice movement which calls for equitable dealing with hazards. Suggests that children are at the greatest physical health risk, and that educators are in a…