Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. University health and physical education programs have a unique opportunity to assist in childhood obesity prevention through service-learning programs. However, prior to the implementation of service-learning curricula, it is imperative to gain insight in the unique needs of the selected community. The purpose of this study was to understand a service-learning community through exploring parent, teacher, and student perceptions...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Prevention, Physical Education, Health Education, Focus Groups, Family Involvement,...
A partnership project was developed in which parents volunteered to support teachers in training years 1-3 children in computer skills at a primary school in a small, low socio-economic community. This article identifies the ways teachers and the "tutors" (as the volunteers were called) understood the value of the project. "Being a teacher" and "being a volunteer" were structured by different forms of social engagement, which in turn influenced the ways individuals...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Volunteers, Partnerships in Education, Computer Literacy, Elementary School Students,...
This study explores how a project-based approach, based on gifted education pedagogy, was implemented in a public school program where the majority of students were from low-income families. The 2 first-grade teachers in this study were able to change their teaching practices to include more strategies commonly found in gifted programs such as brainstorming, creating surveys, and collecting data. The teachers also indicated a greater comfort level with a child-centered and project-based...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Group Activities, Educational Change, Low Income Groups,...
Adequate yearly progress (AYP) on No Child Left Behind criteria was examined for a randomly selected sample of districts that qualify for the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). The sample involved 10% of districts that were eligible for the Small Rural Schools Achievement (SRSA) program and 10% that were eligible for the Rural and Low-income Schools (RLIS) program. Based on district reports, nearly 80% of SRSA schools made AYP, 11% failed, and 11% did not have adequate data. For...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement, Rural Education,...
This article reports the results of a survey on K-8 teachers' inquiry beliefs and practices. The survey in this study was part of the National Science Foundation-supported, five-year, in-depth longitudinal case studies aimed at elucidating K-8 classroom teachers' motivations, goals, and purposes for carrying out inquiry in diverse, low SES schools. In the longitudinal case studies, diverse low SES schools were defined as culturally diverse schools, which had 50% or more of their students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Skills, Inquiry, Teacher Attitudes, Longitudinal Studies, Low Income Groups,...
Schools often consider themselves experts in a child's education. While school personnel are trained to work with children and families and certainly have much experience in the matter, the perspective and values of low-income parents are not always understood nor incorporated into the school culture. Since parent involvement has been shown to positively affect academic outcomes, it becomes important to understand the potential contributions that low-income parents can make to their children's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Culture, Income, Parent Participation, Parent School Relationship, School...
The purpose of this case study was to document the journey of three novice career change science inductees as they became middle-level science teachers in urban low socioeconomic status (SES) schools and included post-internship employment status data on all nine science teachers who completed the alternative certification program, up to the time of this writing. All teachers participated in a fast track master's alternative certification degree program and received in-depth education...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Urban Schools, Mentors, Middle Schools, Teacher Effectiveness,...
Mary Story, Karen Kaphingst, and Simone French argue that U.S. schools offer many opportunities for developing obesity-prevention strategies by providing more nutritious food, offering greater opportunities for physical activity, and providing obesity-related health services. Meals at school are available both through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's school breakfast and lunch programs and through "competitive foods" sold a la carte in cafeterias, vending machines, and snack bars....
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Health Services, Physical Education, Obesity, Physical Activities, Prevention,...
Noting that the failures of the U.S. health care system are compounding the problems faced by low-income Americans, Alan Weil argues that any strategy to reduce poverty must provide access to health care for all low-income families. Although nearly all children in families with incomes under 200 percent of poverty are eligible for either Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the parents of poor children often lack health insurance. Parents who leave welfare normally...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Low Income, Tax Credits, Dependents, Health Insurance, Access to Health...
Rebecca Blank explores a weakness of the welfare reforms of the mid-1990s--the failure of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program to address the plight of so-called "hard to employ" single mothers and their children. TANF has moved many women on the welfare caseload into work, but the services it provides are not intensive or flexible enough to meet the needs of women with multiple disadvantages who find it difficult to get and keep full-time employment. Blank notes that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Employment, Substance Abuse, Family Violence, Mothers, Learning Disabilities, Welfare...
Richard Murnane observes that the American ideal of equality of educational opportunity has for years been more the rhetoric than the reality of the nation's political life. Children living in poverty, he notes, tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped teachers. They are likely to leave school without the skills needed to earn a decent living in a rapidly changing economy. Murnane describes three initiatives that the federal government could take to improve the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Graduation Rate, Federal Legislation, School Choice, Program Effectiveness,...
In Mark Greenberg's view, a national child care strategy should pursue four goals. Every parent who needs child care to get or keep work should be able to afford care without having to leave children in unhealthy or dangerous environments; all families should be able to place their children in settings that foster education and healthy development; parental choice should be respected; and a set of good choices should be available. Attaining these goals, says Greenberg, requires revamping both...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Family Income, Tax Credits, Federal Government, Block Grants, Low Income...
Lawrence Mead addresses the problem of nonwork among low-income men, particularly low-income black men, and its implications for families and children. The poor work effort, he says, appears to be caused partly by falling wages and other opportunity constraints but principally by an oppositional culture and a breakdown of work discipline. Mead argues that if government policies are to increase work among poor men, they must not merely improve wages and skills but enforce work in available jobs....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Wages, Employment, Correctional Institutions, Economically Disadvantaged, Criminals,...
Evidence of public and private interest in programs designed to strengthen the institution of marriage and reduce the number of children growing up without both their parents is growing. Robin Dion addresses the question of whether such programs can be effective, especially among disadvantaged populations. She begins by describing a variety of marriage education programs. Although new to the social welfare umbrella, such programs have existed for several decades. Social scientists have...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Low Income, Disadvantaged, Marriage, Social Scientists, Low Income Groups, Program...
The authors examine black, white, and Hispanic children's differing experiences in early childhood care and education and explore links between these experiences and racial and ethnic gaps in school readiness. Children who attend center care or preschool programs enter school more ready to learn, but both the share of children enrolled in these programs and the quality of care they receive differ by race and ethnicity. Black children are more likely to attend preschool than white children, but...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Children, School Readiness, Learning Readiness, Poverty, Low Income,...
A number of economic and labor market trends in the United States over the past 30 years affect the well-being of workers and their families. This article describes key changes taking place and the implications for social and economic policies designed to help low-income working families and their children, particularly those families that include immigrants. Important conclusions that emerge include the following: (1) Diversity--The workforce, like the population, is more diverse than in past...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Wages, Poverty, Economically Disadvantaged, Labor Market, Labor, Employed Parents,...
Some colleges of education and urban school districts have established collaborative Professional Development Schools (PDSs) to prepare teachers across the learning-to-teach continuum (pre-service to in-service to instructional leaders) to address the particular needs of low-income, culturally and linguistically diverse (LI/CLD) students. Outcomes, either in regard to K-12 pupils or to pre-service and in-service teachers, have been infrequently examined despite the proliferation of these...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, Schools of Education, Professional Development Schools, Elementary...
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 because it is based on an implicit assumption that increased educational achievement is the route out of poverty for low-income families and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Minimum Wage, Low Income Groups, Federal Legislation, Poverty, Economically...
Studies suggest that three and four-year old children who are exposed to preschool have a greater chance of academic success throughout their schooling. This article highlights a five-year case study of children of poverty who attended a structured preschool in Salinas, California. The longitudinal study exposed various components of a successful preschool program. The study results indicate that children of poverty who attended preschool out performed in second and third grade a similar...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Preschool Education, Academic Achievement, Grade 3, Young Children, Success,...
Both socioeconomic and school factors contribute to the underachievement of poor children and children of color. This article explores factors that contribute to the underachievement of students of color and offers practices that culturally proficient school leaders can use to build a school culture that may positively impact the academic achievement of students of color. (Contains 2 tables.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Socioeconomic Influences, Low Income Groups, Educational Environment,...
The idea of learning through projects has a long history in the field of education in general, and in early childhood education in particular. Many educators provide guidelines on how to approach project work with children and assert its benefits in various areas of children's learning and development. Yet few empirical studies investigate what parents think about their children's learning through projects. In this case study, we intend to fill this gap by exploring parents' perspectives of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Low Income, Early Childhood Education, Parent Participation, Children, Parent School...
In order to explore parental involvement among low-income families, a case study was conducted at a public elementary school in the Pacific Northwest. In 2002, a new school replaced an outdated structure. During the planning stage for the new school, community members and agency professionals, along with educators, developed and implemented programs to both support families and engage them in their children's education. Utilizing qualitative research methods, interviews, observations, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Qualitative Research, Parent Participation, Parent School Relationship, Low Income...
These authors state that, while New England schools serve the children of the affluent very well, many children from low-income backgrounds are left behind at key points in the "non-system" that is perpetuated from preschool through college and beyond. They suggest that all segments of New England education should work more closely together so that more children, especially urban and rural students, could complete college degrees. Nationally, the State Higher Education Executive...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Elementary Secondary Education, Low Income Groups, Philanthropic...
The face of New England is changing. Immigrant populations, people from low-income families, and young people of color are now among the fastest-growing populations in New England. In addition, the foundation of the region's economic prosperity is expected to be intellectual. In this article, the authors discuss how New England's six land-grant universities--the Universities of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont--are best positioned to assume leadership...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Land Grant Universities, Leadership, Low Income Groups, Immigrants, Educational...
In the conversation about underserved populations in New England, higher education often revolves around "school-aged" students of color and students from low-income families. This is understandable; after all, these are the fastest growing populations in the region. In this article, the author says it is time to reinvent education. One place to start is with adult learners who have been left out of that conversation, underserved and overlooked by higher education. He suggests that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Low Income, Adult Basic Education, Lifelong Learning, Adult...
Students of color are consistently underrepresented in honors and gifted programs nationwide, and even high-achieving students share many of the risk factors with their low-achieving peers. The study presented in this paper employed mixed methods to investigate the relationship between the design of a rigorous college preparatory program, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB), and the socioeconomic status of the students the program serves. The paper begins with a brief overview...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Students, Intervention, Economically Disadvantaged, Academic...
This study focus tested the acceptability of a set of six 1400 kcal and six 1800 kcal culturally appropriate cholesterol-lowering menus developed for low-income Mexican-Americans with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The focus group, made up of 11 low-income Mexican-American women without SLE, found the menus to be generally culturally valid, palatable, easy to prepare, affordable, and the ingredients easily available. Most 1800 kcal menus were found to be filling whereas most 1400 kcal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Influences, Mexican Americans, Focus Groups, Mexicans, Evaluation Methods,...
The Providence-based Big Picture Company has transformed the American high school experience for low-income, urban students. Now it is ready to take on a new challenge: redesigning the American college. In this article, the authors discuss how the Big Picture College will build a curriculum that emphasizes students' interests, integrates coursework with internships and groups students in teams that work together on real-life, collaborative projects.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, High Schools, Graduates, African American Students, Low Income Groups,...
One of the most serious problems plaguing in the field of gifted education is the need for the development of appropriate programs and identification procedures for gifted and talented students from different culturally and diverse backgrounds. Therefore, there has been increased attention and efforts devoted to the academic needs of gifted and talented children from different culturally and diverse backgrounds. One impediment to good teacher judgment about gifted and talented but culturally...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Class, Stereotypes, Academically Gifted, Teacher Attitudes, Referral, Special...
There has been a surge of attention to issues of access and success in higher education. The U.S. Education Secretary's Commission on the Future of Higher Education has discussed it. State policymakers are proposing new goals and accountability systems to address these issues. Even the mainstream press has been increasingly critical of higher education's perceived turning away from its longstanding promise to serve as a means for hardworking low-income students to learn their way into the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Low Income Groups, Graduation Rate, Accountability, Student...
The Spellings Commission report calls for greater access to higher education for low- and moderate-income students, greater transparency in the way higher education works and greater accountability for producing results. These recommendations are all significant in their own right, but the three concepts also converge to provide powerful support for an important new idea: requiring greater transparency and accountability of colleges for whether or not they are honoring a commitment to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Democratic Values, Accountability, Access to Education, Low Income...
While many efforts to reform high schools target large cities, a similar minority located at the fringes of American culture has been relatively overlooked. Low-income, rural students suffer many of the same social maladies--such as severe poverty and widespread drug abuse--as urban minority children, and they are comparably disadvantaged when it comes to college access. These students endure geographic and cultural isolation as well as the fallout from stagnant local economies. Most of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, High Schools, School Restructuring, Income, Cultural Isolation,...
Recent headlines about spiraling college prices combined with congressional proposals to penalize colleges and universities that increase their tuitions much faster than the rate of inflation could lead one to conclude that America faces an unprecedented crisis in college affordability. Closer examination of what students actually pay for college, however, reveals a different story. In this article, the author warns that proposed restrictions on tuition growth would hurt lower-income students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Low Income Groups, Scholarships, Paying for College, Tuition, Economic Climate,...
Congress has begun to rewrite the Higher Education Act, the federal law that authorizes student aid programs like Pell Grants, student loans, Federal Work-Study, TRIO and GEAR UP. This will mark the eighth time that the law has been formally revisited since it was enacted in 1965. It is still early in the process and it is uncertain what the Congress will do. However, three issues should be on the radar screen of every senior campus administrator and trustee in the country: access to college...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Aid, Federal Legislation, Accountability, Student Financial Aid, Grants,...
This article is part of a yearlong series that will more closely examine the recommendations made in ACTE's postsecondary reform position statement and highlight best practices for implementing each of the recommendations. The sixth recommendation in ACTE's postsecondary reform position statement is to increase financial support for low-income students. Cost barriers and the absence of strategies to increase financial aid often result in fewer opportunities for all students to access...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Postsecondary Education, Student Financial Aid, Vocational Education, Grants, Low...
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project, part of a doctoral thesis, which examines the impact of university study on a group of 20 female and male mature-age students at the University of Newcastle, Australia, who have entered university via a non-traditional pathway. These students are in the second to final years of their undergraduate degree programs and have all faced significant hurdles in gaining university entrance and continuing with their studies. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Foreign Countries, Student Experience, Genealogy, Nontraditional...
This study concerns a multi-year after school arts technology program, the Multimedia Arts Education Program (MAEP). The Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) sponsored MAEP in downtown Tucson for low-income youth. A five-semester curriculum was developed to introduce multimedia literacies in the electronic arts workplace and provide tools for students to become creators as well as consumers of new literacies. In this six-year study, formative data on an early cohort of participants was collected...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Participant Observation, Self Efficacy, Middle School Students,...
There are effective conflict transformation programs available for students at the middle level. What is missing is a program designed to have an enduring message, that is, a message that is both positive and vivid. Project WIN provided a positive message by teaching students how to create a justice-based community in their classrooms and the program made the message more vivid by teaching students about "transforming power." Project WIN was implemented in a low-income, urban middle...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Control Groups, Low Income Groups, Conflict, Urban Youth, Adolescents, Intervention,...
Data from a unique new survey of over 1,000 teachers in K-12 public schools across the country show that our teaching force is largely segregated. Using this new dataset, I find that teachers of different races are teaching students of very different racial composition, adding an extra dimension to growing student racial segregation. White teachers comprise an overwhelming majority of the nation's teachers. Yet at the same time, they were the least likely to have had much experience with racial...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Racial Segregation, Racial Composition, Second...
Growing consensus among policy makers and educators alike suggests that our education system must be transformed to address the needs of a global society as well as the needs of the 21st century student. Often overlooked as a resource, students can contribute a valuable perspective on education. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to learn from middle grades students, through surveys and focus groups, what engages them to achieve in school. The findings, which centered on student...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Focus Groups, Faculty Development, Educational Technology, Computer Uses in...
This article describes some of the features of the Mathematics for Learning Inclusion program. The program is designed to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics in clusters of primary schools serving low socio-economic communities (low SES). Specifically, it aims to improve the engagement and learning outcomes for low SES and Aboriginal learners by enhancing the capacity of primary teachers in the effective and inclusive teaching of mathematics. (Contains 4 figures.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Instruction, Inclusive Schools, Low Income Groups, Indigenous...
The introduction of the Internet has dramatically changed the process of information transmission as well as practically every other aspect of American society, including the higher education system. Many colleges and universities have taken advantage of the utility of the Internet and instituted online courses and online degree and certificate programs. Although this form of instruction has gained increasing acceptance as an effective tool for the delivery of instruction, the issue of student...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Nontraditional Students, Community Colleges, Online Courses, Internet, Computer Uses...
The teaching of digital literacies is regarded as an important facet of literacy teaching in the 21st century. With many literacy tests continuing to indicate that students' levels of achievement tend to be differentiated along socioeconomic lines, it seems timely to consider the connections between home and school and how these play out in relation to digital literacies. This is particularly important in light of the considerable evidence that has demonstrated how important home-school...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disadvantaged, Prior Learning, Teaching Methods, Family Environment, Low Income...
This study investigated the generalization of parenting skills to the home from PCIT delivered in a community mental health setting with four urban, low-income, single mothers at risk for child maltreatment. Using a multiple baseline design and direct observation in the home, the research examined changes in positive attention skills (praise, reflections, and behavioral descriptions) and the quality of parent-child interactions at home concurrent with phases of PCIT. We also investigated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Child Abuse, Mothers, Child Rearing, Parenting Skills, Stimulus Generalization,...
Today's community college serves as the entry point to well-paying technical jobs as well as the entry point to the baccalaureate degree and beyond. What, then, can be done to ensure that low-income students have access to and success in community colleges? Research, both theoretical and empirical, shows that there is no one student characteristic that will predict student success--not academic preparation or lack of it, not finances, not socioeconomic status; rather, a holistic accounting of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Counseling Services, Community Colleges, Low Income Groups, Access to Education,...
By all accounts, the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) is a special school. It was the first public charter high school in Denver to become a one-to-one laptop school, thanks to a $1 million gift from Hewlett-Packard. Even though the school accepts applicants via a lottery system and its charter requires that 40% of its students come from low-income families, its test scores are among the highest in the state, and every graduating senior was accepted to a four-year college or...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Program Effectiveness, Educational Technology, Low Income Groups, High Schools,...
John Tyler and Magnus Lofstrom take a close look at the problems posed when students do not complete high school. The authors begin by discussing the ongoing, sometimes heated, debate over how prevalent the dropout problem is. They note that one important reason for discrepancies in reported dropout rates is whether holders of the General Educational Development (GED) credential are counted as high school graduates. The authors also consider the availability of appropriate student data. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, High School Students, Dropout Rate, Dropouts, Global Approach, High School Graduates,...
Although there is extensive research pertaining to Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), it is primarily framed around the U.S. federal definition of Hispanic Serving Institutions established by Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965. This law identifies HSI as institutions that have a Hispanic student population of at least 25 percent and "at least 50 percent of their Latino students are low-income individuals and that those institutions have nonprofit status" (as cited in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Aid, Hispanic American Students, Educational Policy, Financial Support,...
The author's former College of Education encouraged faculty to implement pedagogy that responded fully to the needs of citizens in diverse situations, including the urban, metropolitan community they served. Such a vision requires, by default, a sincere effort to change or "reform" schools. Research endeavors involving the social and historical contexts of education (e.g., Hughes, 2006a; Milner, 2003; Noblit & Dempsey, 1996; Valenzuela, 1999) suggest that any sincere and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Teachers, Urban Schools, School Restructuring, Social Class, Gender...
A longitudinal study of student growth gains was conducted in Title I schools to assess growth in reading comprehension and critical thinking. Results suggested that all students benefited from the intervention of Project Athena units of study designed for high-ability learners. In addition, the study suggested that the comparison curriculum also benefited learners. Implications for practice include the use of high-level curriculum with all learners to elevate instruction and enhance critical...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Units of Study, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Program Effectiveness,...