This article presents a reflexive look at a year-long mentoring experience between a university researcher and two third-grade teachers in a lower socioeconomic school. The challenges and rewards of mentoring the teachers in areas of their choice--writing workshop, constructivism, interactive learning methods, and management of cooperative…

Early deprivation causes serious disruption in the development of brain architecture and in the behaviors related to the affected brain functions. Some brain structures, and the broad categories of development that depend on them, show more "plasticity," or sensitivity to disruption and intervention for longer periods of time, than…

This study discusses my attempt to improve educational experiences of fifth-grade students living in public housing. Through reconstruction of my thought processes while teaching and learning with students, the context of social justice-oriented teaching and classroom complexity is revealed. A narrative portrayal emerges demonstrating the impact…

This article presents the experiences of 89 members of the academic staff at a new university that emerged from a merger of two historically disadvantaged tertiary institutions located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The authors examine the responses of these participants to new pedagogical strategies that emphasize learner-centered…

A quality school education is essential if young people are to have access to the greatest possible opportunities in life, but it is not a universal experience in Australia. Instead, too many young people are disengaged from school, especially those in the middle years of schooling and those living in disadvantaged areas. This study examined the…

The transition from high school to adult life is an exciting time for many young people. Youth from high poverty backgrounds, however, are considered at-risk for a host of unfavorable outcomes including academic failure, school dropout, drug abuse, unemployment and incarceration. These adolescents are more likely than their more affluent peers to…

Head Start, the nation's largest early childhood intervention, has enjoyed public and political support. The program has also been haunted by persistent questions about its role in communities, its sustainable impacts, and its quality. This book discusses the past, present, and future of Head Start in the hope of creating better partnerships…

In recent years, demand has increased for the development and implementation of a better overall human service delivery system for the United State's at-risk children and their families. Critics condemn the current system as being fragmented, too narrowly focused, beset with bureaucratic red tape and harmful restrictive regulations, difficult to…

This book provides descriptive reports about people living in poverty in New York City (New York) in the period from 1964 to 1979 as a beginning to solving the problems of persistent poverty. Analyses of the problems of poverty have rarely been undertaken from the point of view of the poor themselves. It is argued that society will never be able…

Family socialization is a social mechanism of the reproduction of social inequality from one generation to the next. The argument about the "class-specific socialization," which stopped in the 1970s, is being taken up again with this discussion and developed further towards a theory of socio-structural and situation-specific…

While numerous studies have identified economic, social, and environmental conditions related to stress, greater stress has been found to be related to poverty, unemployment, assembly line work, crowding, and chronic exposure to noise. These stressful situations most frequently confront people with little personal, economic, or political resources…

The aim of the investigation reported in this volume was to examine the social needs of ethnic minority residents of urban areas, determine the extent to which they are similar to or are different from those of their indigenous counterparts in these areas, and explore the implications of these similarities and differences for the regeneration of…

THE EARLY TRAINING PROJECT IS A FIELD RESEARCH STUDY WHICH IS CONCERNED WITH THE PROBLEM OF THE PROGRESSIVE RETARDATION OF THE CULTURALLY DEPRIVED IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. THE CHILDREN INVOLVED IN THE STUDY WERE ALL NEGRO. FROM A GROUP OF 61 CULTURALLY DEPRIVED NEGRO PRESCHOOL CHILDREN, 3 GROUPS WERE CONSTITUTED BY RANDOMIZATION. THE FIRST OF THESE…

THE EFFECTS OF A NUMBER OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLES ON COLLEGE ATTENDANCE RATE WERE STUDIED, USING A SAMPLE (590) OF MALE AND FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES FROM A RELATIVELY UNDERDEVELOPED REGION. THE VARIABLES INVESTIGATED WERE SOCIAL CLASS, SIZE OF HIGH SCHOOL, EDUCATION OF FATHER, EDUCATION OF MOTHER, NUMBER OF SIBLINGS, SEX, MARITAL STATUS,…

Part of a series of studies designed to lead to policy recommendations to improve mental health services to Mexican Americans in Texas, this monograph explores the availability and accessibility of community mental health centers (CMHCs) throughout the state. In hopes of explaining the underutilization of the centers statewide, the locations of…