The purpose of this article is fourfold. First, it identifies a growing international interest on the part of educators and school officials in finding effective ways to mentor especially poor and minority students toward academic success. Second, it reviews the literature on mentoring as it pertains to this population. Third, it details a case…

The "Fiscal Year 2008 Illinois Community College System's Performance Report" contains summary information about state and common institutional outcome indicators. External comparative benchmarks are cited whenever possible using the latest available data--national reporting typically trails what is available at the state level.…

The 2008-2009 Annual Reading First Progress Report reflects on the final year of implementation for Round I schools and the third full year of implementation for Round II schools. This report focuses on the effect that Reading First implementation has had on selected schools across Nebraska with a special focus on vulnerable populations: English…

In the fall of 2005 the principal and teachers at Knickerbacker Middle School (KMS) were worried. KMS was a "School in Good Standing" but had not hit federal or state benchmarks because of low subgroup scores on the English Language Arts (ELA) test--especially scores received by economically disadvantaged students, about half of this…

Homelessness affects people of all backgrounds, races, and religions. Whether the number of homeless people is 300,000 or 3 million, as some estimates claim, there are too many people in America who struggle to find shelter daily, making homelessness one of the most serious problems facing the nation today. This discussion, designed for the…

This report details findings of one year of a seven-year study of the relationship between pre-college enrichment experiences and the development of academic ethos, or scholar identity, in disadvantaged adolescents, both African American and European American. Under the auspices of the University of Tennessee, Project EXCEL examines the…

Catholic schools in the United States are engaged in a struggle to balance mission and market concerns. This paper presents a survey that explores the reasons why predominantly non-Catholic parents chose to send their children to a Catholic elementary school. The paper also examines the Catholic school's responsiveness to market forces as it…

An examination of service delivery in early childhood education in Ireland reveals that the lack of a national policy has led to a great variation in services, little possibility for assessing and regulating quality, and a very limited choice for many children and their families. This article describes Ireland's system for early education…

In 1994, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in Washington state subsidized child care for about 35,000 children each month, with financial support provided in part by federal funds. The primary objective of this survey, the fourth in a series, was to set local maximum rates for subsidy programs based on the private-paying child…

An exploration of the economic and historical causes of homelessness is combined with accounts of individuals and families who are on the streets or in shelters and how they came to that point. Following an overview of the problem of homelessness and its causes, nine chapters present stories of homeless individuals, friends, and families. These…

School choice for poor children is likely to be an issue in many state and congressional races. Lawmakers and parents need to pay close attention to the quality of academic evaluations of school choice programs. Evaluations of the program in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) provide a case in point. In 1990, Milwaukee instituted the nation's first publicly…

This book is about teenage pregnancy among Latina teenagers in East Los Angeles (California). It focuses on teenage pregnancy and motherhood among economically disadvantaged Latinas aged 17 and under. The young mothers in this study were participants in a series of intervention efforts to prevent repeat pregnancy at a family planning clinic. This…

In response to a Senate request, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gathered existing data on educational attainment and achievement of residents in public and Indian housing projects. Data sources included the 1989 American Housing Survey, the 1988 Survey of Income and Program Participation, the 1988 National Longitudinal…

Findings of a study that explored ways of designing elementary-level instruction for disadvantaged students are presented in this paper, with a focus on the impact of the educational environment on instructional practices. The study sought to identify the current range of instructional practices and demonstrate their potential applications to…

This project sought to identify and assist third-grade underachieving gifted students in four elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio. The four schools chosen for the project demonstrated a significant discrepancy between ability and achievement test scores among higher ability students within their culturally/economically disadvantaged student…