This paper reports the development and implementation of a multi-year program targeting a cohort of at-risk pre-freshmen. The program, called BOSS Camp (Business Opportunities for Success School), was designed to motivate, acculturate and encourage economically disadvantaged pre-freshman to attend college and become business majors. The process of…

Globalization has not only created the conditions that have made such educational reforms necessary, but it has also provided market-based ideology to undergird reform efforts from Santiago to New York City. Although a neoliberal approach to education is clearly en vogue, many educators and critics nonetheless have questioned the premises behind…

This report presents findings stemming from the first-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program, one of several statewide performance incentive programs in Texas. In June 2006, Governor Perry and the 79th Texas Legislature created the Governor's Educator Excellence Award Program, one component of which is the TEEG…

In 2007, the state of Mississippi conducted a web-based survey of all school-based licensed educators in which they were asked to share their perceptions of the state of teacher working conditions in Mississippi. This report of the Mississippi Teacher Working Conditions Survey, Project CLEAR Voice (Cultivate Learning Environments to Accelerate…

Background/Context: With the growth of the small-school movement, many urban districts have restructured large underperforming high schools into new, small high schools or schools-within-a-school designed to engage adolescents in rigorous and meaningful learning along with strong teacher-student relationships. In the case of this study, the…

Futurists, policy makers, and other stakeholders propose sweeping reforms of the American education system. However, there is little evidence that the current add-on, underfunded system will reverse the failure pattern among children of color and those living in poverty. This article presents a dramatic and feasible proposal to establish a…

The Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Committee on Ways and Means asked the General Accounting Office for information on who is currently receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and whether the characteristics of this population have changed in recent years. This report presents information on changes in the…

The recent United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women concluded that if women are to advance in status socially, economically, and politically, they must have access to high quality education. Although women in the United States have steadily increased their educational status, the fact that 23 percent of women aged 25 and over have not gone…

This report examines child poverty in the United States, discusses its cause and persistence, and makes recommendations for solutions. Areas examined involve the historical roots of social-welfare policy in the United States; the facts behind the mythologies and misperceptions concerning child and family poverty; the children and families to be…

Research on the results of welfare-to-work programs is both encouraging and sobering. On the one hand, it provides evidence that states can effectively implement various work-oriented programs to encourage large percentages of the welfare caseload to prepare for and enter the labor market. These programs range from rather low-intensity programs…

The economic condition of black Americans is discussed, proceeding from the assumption that black economic progress does not depend on a renewed struggle for unobtained civil rights, but rather on the creative response of black Americans to economic opportunity and problems. In the long run, black economic development must rely on the…

This report examines time-limited welfare beginning at the broadest level, tracing the rapid emergence of time-limited welfare as a policy approach in part I. Chapter 1 examines the history of time-limited welfare and the key challenges posed by this policy. Part II begins to focus on the three participating states--Florida, Vermont, and…

This publication for Pennsylvania educators outlines five homelessness curricula found in schools in Florida, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania, which aim to sensitize students to the realities of homelessness. The report points out that although the curricula differ in many ways, each covers the following key topics: (1) the causes and…

This paper reviews the literature on rural poverty in the Northeast relating to rural education and makes suggestions for educators who teach the rural poor. Against the theory of a "culture of poverty," which suggests that the rural poor avoid hard work by choice, the more recent view is that the poor often accept the Puritan work ethic…

This paper addresses educational reform as it affects dropouts, minorities, diverse cultures, training programs, and community-based education. Effective dropout-prevention models are presented that address the needs of at-risk populations. The author states that much dropout prevention and reclamation takes place off of school district campuses…