The basics of No Child Left Behind (NCLB)--adequate yearly progress benchmarks, provision of supplemental services, and a "highly qualified" teacher in every classroom--are known. The intense scrutiny of the "how to" of those basics has resulted in a mix of impassioned criticism and effusive praise. What has been left largely…

Children will face many critical issues in the 21st century. Unfortunately, most of these issues are not new and have remained the same from previous years. Millions of children lack safe, affordable, quality child care and early childhood education while their parents work. Seven and one-half million children are at home alone without…

This report contrasts the characteristics of border and nonborder districts in Texas from both a demographic and student achievement standpoint. The information in this report should also inform and strengthen border initiatives, such as those emphasized at the 2006 U.S.-Mexico Border Governors Conference. The study sought to answer three…

Part of a series from the Child Care Law Center, this issue of "Working for Change" discusses the need for quality, affordable child care as a support for working parents trying to break out of welfare dependency. This report details the current realities of poor parents who struggle to find and pay for child care while they work and…

This handbook provides information on effective approaches, methods, processes, and techniques that state and local agencies have used at various stages in implementing their Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) programs. It is intended for all state and local agencies involved in planning and providing services to JOBS participants,…

Educators face no greater challenge than improving the academic odds for economically disadvantaged, minority children, because they are at the greatest risk for failure. A recent study from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill uncovered ways in which, despite good intentions,…

The 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) made changes in the need analysis formulas that determine the expected family contribution (EFC) used in awarding Title IV Federal student aid, altered the definition of an independent student, lowered the family size offset for independent students without dependents, eliminated home…

This monograph draws on case studies of school-community partnership projects in four rural southeastern school districts in order to elaborate a thorough description of school contextual factors in the rural Southeast. In 1986, Appalachia Educational Labaoratory (AEL), one of nine federally funded research and development laboratories, received…

In view of financial constraints, large numbers of students to be educated, and rapid changes in information and communication and information technology, open learning (OL) and distance education (DE) systems are being established at an unprecedented rate in almost all developing countries of the Asian and Pacific region. Modern communications,…

In Latin America and the Caribbean, poverty is not merely a problem of marginalized communities. It is the situation in which 240 million people--50 percent of the population--are living. This report describes research undertaken by the Quality of Life Project, which aims to improve the situation of children in these disadvantaged communities. The…

This study examines the education and employment outcomes of black youth whose families moved from mostly-black housing projects in the city to either mostly-white suburbs or other mostly-black urban areas through the Gautreaux Housing Assistance Program in the Chicago (Illinois) area. In interviews with families who had moved 8 to 13 years…

This ERIC Digest reviews research data on young urban, low income, and often minority parents and their involvement in schooling for themselves and their children. A look at the demographics of this subgroup shows that families headed by single teenage mothers comprise the fastest growing category of family groups, particularly among African…

The purpose of this oversight hearing on the District of Columbia public school system was to welcome the new superintendent, Franklin L. Smith, and to assess the general condition of the school system. Among the problems and issues assessed were the impact of boarder babies entering the school system, the impact on the system of children who were…

Established in 1989, the Birmingham (Alabama) Public Schools' Infant Care Training Project is an essential component of the Ensley Young Mothers' program, an alternative program for pregnant teenagers. Approximately 250 pregnant students aged 12 to 18 enroll voluntarily in the program each school year. Approximately 90 percent are economically…

Major policy, management, and program issues face the Congress and new administration in the area of labor. Many of the nation's youth are leaving school poorly prepared for the new work world. The nation already has a large group of economically disadvantaged people who lack necessary skills. Annually, 900,000 or more workers are at least…