Ongoing changes in the Polish political and economic sectors have led to tremendous changes in its education and health care systems that will likely bring reforms in the care of orphaned children. After the Second World War, many children in Poland were orphaned and an institutional system for their care and education became entrenched. Many…

This study examines trajectories and correlates of emotional distress symptoms in pregnant adolescents (n = 203) and nulliparous adolescents (n = 188) from economically disadvantaged communities over an 18-month period. For both groups, the prevalence of significant emotional distress exceeded expectation based on adolescent norms; however, the…

While math has long been regarded as a universal language because of its foundation in numbers, the subject poses nearly as many hurdles for students with limited English as lessons that rely more heavily on reading, many educators say. Malinda Evans spends about an hour and a half each day teaching mathematics to her 5th graders at Navajo…

It is an adage that holds true in almost any context--practice makes perfect. In golf, like in many other sports, experience is a central factor in success as well. Children who take up golf early have a distinct advantage when they hit high school and begin competing for the attention of college coaches, and the national junior tournaments are…

In this article, we offer a research-based theoretical framework for sustainability, describing the proven qualities of a project and the innovations that support its sustained existence over time. We then describe how a US Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge grantee, working to promote technology integration in a…

The issue of whether the federal government should outline and enforce an accountability system for states, school districts, and schools was essentially settled the day that George W. Bush took office as president. Bush had made "accountability" a cornerstone of his education platform, using his stated goal of ensuring equity for poor…

The experience of rural poverty is in many ways unique from that of urban poverty. In the rural setting, social cohesion creates pressure on the poor to behave in ways that are consistent with local values. This paper, based on qualitative research done in an isolated, rural Northern California community, argues that in this setting the survival…

Texas has had its Robin Hood school financing system in place since 1993, when the legislature adopted the system in response to a state supreme court order to equalize state spending on public schools. Under the arrangement, any district that has taxable property values exceeding $305,000 per student is not allowed to keep all of its property-tax…

Although economically disadvantaged and minority students made some gains in their academic achievement performance, education reforms still fail to close the academic achievement gap between them. A discussion of the factors that influence the achievement gap is presented and provides some professional development implications. According to the…

This report describes the relationships among English proficiency, economic status, and student performance on the 2007 Science Texas Assessment of Academic Knowledge and Skills for students in Austin Independent School District.

John McDonogh Senior High School's challenges, and similar hardship at other public schools that have reopened in New Orleans, were not part of the vision advanced by politicians and educators who saw Hurricane Katrina's destruction as an unprecedented opportunity for schools. To them, Katrina, terrible though it was, had delivered a chance to…

The self-worth theory of achievement motivation holds that in situations in which poor performance is likely to reveal low ability, certain students (known as self-worth protective students) intentionally withdraw effort in order to avoid the negative implications of poor performance in terms of damage to self-worth. In this study, evidence of…

This paper presents a curriculum, textbook and test result analysis for the new (to California) elementary school "Key Standard" mathematics curriculum, transplanted in 1998 from it's foreign roots in Asia and Europe, locations with far different cultural and economic backgrounds. Based on topic analysis methods developed by Michigan…

Within a difficult social setting the starting point for change is the personal learning experiences of those struggling for the change. The learning experiences of people belonging to a community of underprivileged in Brazil are presented in this article in order to recognise how sustainable change is rooted in personal learning experiences. The…

This article argues that, although No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is not presented as a jobs policy, the Act does function as a substitute for the creation of decently paying jobs for those who need them. Aimed particularly at the minority poor like its 1965 predecessor, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, NCLB acts as an anti-poverty program…