Public education requires all stakeholders to collaborate as a community and focus on the essential factors that create a path for student progress, growth, and maturity. The result nurtures students from kindergarten to graduation and beyond and affords them opportunities to become efficacious members of their communities. Schools are a business…

The increase in teacher attrition has been substantial in U.S. public schools over the past three decades. The impact this trend has on student learning is pronounced, especially in high-poverty schools. Minimal research has focused on the resilient teachers who stay in these settings and the personal, professional, and biographical influences…

Hart and Risley's (1995) concept of a "word gap" (aka "language gap") is widely used to describe inferior cognitive development and lower academic achievement as by-products of the language patterns of families from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In recent decades, this line of deficit research has proliferated and…

The world faces pervasive poverty and inequality. Hundreds of billions of dollars in international aid have been given or loaned to developing countries though bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, at least, ostensibly, in order to do something about these problems. Has such aid helped? Debates around this question have been ongoing for decades,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the college enrollment and persistence rates of rural high schools in Pennsylvania; the types of postsecondary institutions in which students from such schools enroll; and the student, school, and college characteristics associated with enrollment and persistence outcomes. The study used extant data from…

Through discourse analysis the research will unearth the tension between the Theories of Human Capital (HCT) and the Work First Policy (WFP), Policies Informing Education (PIE), and Human Capital Development (HCD) as they relate to the labor market. The application of discourse analysis demonstrates how the tenants of HCT are missing components…

This report--a joint effort of the Federal Reserve's Community Affairs function and the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program--examines the issue of concentrated poverty and profiles 16 high-poverty communities from across the country, including immigrant gateway, Native American, urban, and rural communities. Through these case…

During the 1990s, poverty rates in the United States remained relatively stable despite a robust economy. This paper reviews the research and theoretical and conceptual developments during the past decade, including how the poverty line was developed; the causes of the virtually unchanged poverty rate; and the consequences of poverty for children.…

Discusses trends in the descriptive literature about children and the poor. Presents anecdotal material of children's spontaneous street play and analyzes cognitive skills exhibited in these situations. (Author/GC)

Reviews current research on Black families headed by a single mother indicating that economic insecurity of Black males is an important causal factor in explaining both the numbers and the impoverishment of this family type. Contends social workers must advocate for policies to assist these groups economically. (Author/ABL)

In 1974, Ronald Reagan called the United States a "shining city on a hill." A decade later, Mario Cuomo responded by speaking to us about another city that was not on a shining hill. His "Tale of Two Cities" speech, delivered at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, was not only moving but also haunting. In this other city…

Student achievement tests consistently show that certain groups of children score far below children in other groups. The data document a strong association between poverty and students' academic success. The achievement gap begins early in children's lives as the result of physical, social, and emotional deprivations. California is attempting to…

This paper is an empirical analysis of the determinants of crime in Virginia. Over a dozen explanatory variables that current literature suggests as important determinants of crime are collected. The data is from 1970 to 2000. These include economic, fiscal, demographic, political, and social variables. The regression results indicate that crime…

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an improved measure of financial poverty, based on household consumption and wealth as well as income. Data come from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia (HILDA) Survey, which appears to be the first national socio-economic panel survey to provide longitudinal data on all three measures of…

Following an executive summary and introduction, the report is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 presents evidence of hunger in Texas, which is revealed to be a growing problem. Statistics on the number of persons living in poverty, unemployed persons not receiving unemployment insurance benefits, and persons seeking food assistance from both…