Paul Jablon's "The Synergy of Inquiry" (2014) is well-timed. The 2014 deadline set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) for universal student proficiency has come and gone, and according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, "proficiency rates last year were below 50 percent for nearly every racial and ethnic group, in…

Charles Murray's book, "Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980," proposes the abolition of benefit programs for all working-aged persons for the following reasons: (1) it is logically impossible for the government to aid the poor by creating incentives for people to become poor; (2) since the mid-1960s the United States has so…

Reviews "History and Educational Policy Making," which includes several essays written over time by one author. The general theme is history informing policy decisions. The essays provide capsule histories of particular federal programs, demonstrating how politics have intervened to dictate policies inconsistent with history or research results.…

Reviews five books on child poverty and welfare reform: (1) "Living on the Edge: The Realities of Welfare in America"; (2) "Welfare System Reform: Coordinating Federal, State and Local Public Assistance Programs"; (3) "Single Mothers and Their Children in the Other America"; (4) "Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty and the Underclass"; and (5)…

Compares and contrasts the issues presented in two books pertaining to child poverty, policy, and welfare reform: "The Welfare of Children" (Duncan Lindsey) and "Rethinking Child Welfare in Canada" (Brian Wharf, Editor). Both provide excellent analysis and recommendations but lack attention to tracking systems that place children in different…