Act 49 of 1987 requires the Secretary of Education to provide the General Assembly with an annual report on public school dropouts in Pennsylvania. The purpose of this report is to document the actual number of students who drop out each year and to provide various characteristics about these students. The type of data collected about each dropout…

In September 2005 the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) in association with the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Sutton Trust and the College Board, began a five-year research study to examine the validity of an aptitude test in higher education admissions. This report describes and explores the relationships…

Due to the increasing complexity in the financial aid process and the movement of available financial aid up the economic scale, poor people and minorities have less access to college, including engineering programs. Some impediments are lack of access to knowledge about college, increasing complexity and up-front costs in the application process…

Students designated as English language learners (ELL) tend to go to public schools that have low standardized test scores. However, these low levels of assessed proficiency are not solely attributable to poor achievement by ELL students. These same schools report poor achievement by other major student groups as well, and have a set of…

Attendance in preschool centers can yield short-term benefits for children from poor or middle-class families. Yet debate persists in Europe and the United States over whether centers yield gains of sufficient magnitude to sustain children's cognitive or social advantages as they move through primary school. We report on child care and home…

Under the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, the eligibility requirement to become a Title I schoolwide program is relaxed. As a result, there will be a dramatic increase in the number of schoolwide programs. The Kentucky Department of Education saw a critical need to develop a planning guide to be used for technical assistance to eligible…

The Allen J. Ellender Fellowship Program provides fellowships to economically disadvantaged secondary school students, secondary school teachers and administrators, and economically disadvantaged older citizens, and recent immigrants for participation in the Close Up Foundation's week-long civics education programs in Washington, D.C. The Close Up…

This paper outlines the implementation of a Science Rally held at Palm Beach State Primary School (Australia) which has a high proportion of disadvantaged families. Fostering the principles of multi-age grouping in primary schools, the rally aimed at engaging children in meaningful and exciting activities in a non threatening and success oriented…

The Chapter 1 program represents the nation's largest federal investment in elementary and secondary schools. This report describes the operation of Chapter 1 services, with a focus on instructional practices and classroom organization. Specifically, the report describes how services differed by the poverty level of a school and by the type of…

This study compared teachers' assumptions about students and effective teaching practices in low and high poverty schools. Attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and classroom practices of 476 teachers in 24 urban and suburban elementary schools throughout the United States were assessed with teacher questionnaires and classroom observations during a…

This fact sheet begins with an overview of family support programs, which includes a discussion of the premises of family support programs and a list of typical program components. The remainder of the fact sheet focuses on one approach to family support, comprehensive and collaborative (C&C) services. The fact sheet underscores the need for…

This report describes the activities of the Higher Education Opportunity Programs (HEOP) at the independent colleges and universities in New York State for the 1990-91 academic year. HEOP is a program that helps academically and economically disadvantaged students earn college degrees. Highlights of the report include the following: (1) in 1990-91…

This analysis, part of a series on child poverty in America, contains an overview of child poverty trends over the period from 1959 to 1992 and projections of child poverty rates and levels by area of residence to the year 2010. Analyses, based on data from the Census Bureau, show a marked increase in the overall rate of child poverty since the…

In his well-known article "The Coming White Underclass" and other writings Charles Murray has suggested that welfare is the primary cause of out-of-wedlock childbearing. He contends that welfare, including Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, and subsidized housing, should be eliminated. While Murray's views have…

Rural homelessness in America is difficult to define, to count, and to see. This article reports the findings of a 1993 county-wide study of rural homelessness. During a one year survey, 118 homeless households were interviewed. Of those surveyed, 25.8 percent were male adults, 30.9 percent were female adults, and 43.2 percent were children.…