American democracy is at an inflection point. Will we stride toward the 22nd century with evidence and will? Or will we lurch fearfully backwards, reinscribing the white supremist domination of the 19th century? After hundreds of urban protests in the 1960s, the presidential Kerner Commission, composed mainly of privileged white men, concluded,…

"New Directions of STEM Research and Learning in the World Ranking Movement: A Comparative Perspective" illustrates new directions of STEM higher education from the perspective of twenty-first century types of learning outcomes and focuses on need for developing an interdisciplinary approach to STEM higher education reform. It provides…

For this edition of the "Bank Street Occasional Paper Series," educators were invited to share stories from their practice: times when they utilized children's literature and conversations to address real life; the difficult topics that children experience through the mirror of their own experiences or the windows of their peers,…

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…

"Mental Health and Social Problems" is a textbook for social work students and practitioners. It explores the complicated relationship between mental conditions and societal issues as well as examining risk and protective factors for the prevalence, course, adaptation to and recovery from mental illness. The introductory chapter presents…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints Series present debates about current issues that can be used to teach critical reading and thinking skills. The varied opinions in each collection explore aspects of a social, cultural, or political issue. A great deal of money has been spent in this country to eradicate poverty, but the problem remains. Some…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints series challenge readers to question their own opinions and assumptions. By reading carefully balanced views, readers confront new ideas on the topic of interest. Although some experts believe that the problem of teenage pregnancy has been overstated, other recent studies have led many people to believe that…

This volume documents the rise in violence in our communities and explores its impact on children's physical, psychological, and social development. Focal themes are: the necessity for better information about the kinds of violence to which children are exposed, the necessity of beginning to build intervention strategies aimed at violence, and the…

Many commentators have expressed alarm over the increase in the number of single-parent families in the United States over the past four decades. The growth in single-parent families has been fueled by a rise in the number of out-of-wedlock births. Whether children are more likely to suffer social and economic problems when raised by one parent…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints Series present debates about current issues that can be used to teach critical reading and thinking skills. The opinions expressed in the selections in each series title examine many different aspects of a single issue. Detractors of the welfare system have long argued that the system promotes dependency. They…

This collection documents how far we still are in the United States from putting our knowledge about child well being and policy into practice. It provides an overview of the changing nature of child poverty in the United States through the contributions of authors who use a number of qualitative and quantitative approaches to look at children in…

The 12 chapters of this volume offer a comprehensive portrait of today's children and their challenging urban environments. The opportunities and obstacles that confront children are examined in detail, and key social problems are discussed in the following contributions: (1) "Growing Up in the Urban Environment: Opportunities and Obstacles for…

Thirteen papers explore the African American experience of poverty and ghetto formation; forces shaping contemporary urban poverty; and mobility and family strategies among groups differentiated by ethnicity, race, and labor market position. The introduction, "The Urban 'Underclass' as a Metaphor of Social Transformation" (M. B. Katz),…

Papers in this collection result from an 18-month exploration of ways to reform services for children and families in big cities, a so-called "rolling seminar" searching for ways to provide supportive and nourishing communities for city children. Contributions to this collection include: (1) "Themes and Viewpoints" (Editors);…

This book includes nine articles that broaden current debates on the American urban "underclass" by assessing the circumstances of inner-city Latino communities. An introduction provides background information on the U.S. Latino population and addresses factors related to urban poverty and to the "underclass" debate, including…