Showing papers on "Disadvantaged published in 2000"

Endogenous Development, Social Capital and Social Inclusion: perspectives from leader in the UK

Abstract: There is a danger of subscribing too readily to the rhetoric of participative development. The communitarian assumptions of the endogenous approach privilege a ‘territory’ as potentially homogenous and gloss over internal socio-economic and cultural inequality. The insights of Bourdieu are particularly instructive here. This paper argues that leader-type programmes need to include pro-active action targeted at raising the social and cultural capital of individuals and of disadvantaged groups (either of which happen to be in the area, but not innately defined by the area).The ideas are illustrated in relation to leader in the United Kingdom.

Making the Most of Summer School: A Meta-Analytic and Narrative Review

Abstract: Summer schools serve multiple purposes for students, families, educators, and communities. The current need for summer programs is driven by changes in American families and by calls for an educational system that is competitive globally and embodies higher academic standards. A research synthesis is reported that used both meta-analytic and narrative procedures to integrate the results of 93 evaluations of summer school. Results revealed that summer programs focusing on remedial or accelerated learning or other goals have a positive impact on the knowledge and skills of participants. Although all students benefit from summer school, students from middle-class homes show larger positive effects than students from disadvantaged homes. Remedial programs have larger effects when the program is relatively small and when instruction is individualized. Remedial programs may have more positive effects on math than on reading. Requiring parent involvement also appears related to more effective programs. Students at all grade levels benefit from remedial summer school, but students in the earliest grades and in secondary school may benefit most. These and other findings are examined for their implications for future research, public policy, and the implementation of summer programs. Based on these results, our recommendations to policy makers are that summer programs (a) contain substantial components aimed at teaching math and reading and (b) include rigorous evaluations, but also (c) permit local control of curricula and delivery systems. Funds should be set aside to foster participation in summer programs, especially among disadvantaged youth. Program implementers should (a) begin summer program planning earlier in the year, (b) strive for continuity of staffing and programs across years, (c) use summer school in conjunction with summer staff development opportunities, and (d) begin integrating summer school experiences with those that occur during the regular school year.

Children of the Land: Adversity and Success in Rural America

Abstract: A century ago, most Americans had ties to the land. Now only one in fifty is engaged in farming and little more than a fourth live in rural communities. Though not new, this exodus from the land represents one of the great social movements of our age and is also symptomatic of an unparalleled transformation of our society. In "Children of the Land", the authors ask whether traditional observations about farm families - strong intergenerational ties, productive roles for youth in work and social leadership, dedicated parents and a network of positive engagement in church, school and community life - apply to 300 Iowa children who have grown up with some tie to the land. The answer, as this study shows, is a resounding yes. In spite of the hardships they faced during the agricultural crisis of the 1980s, these children, whose lives we follow from the 7th grade to after high school graduation, proved to be remarkably successful, both academically and socially. A moving testament to the distinctly positive lifestyle of Iowa families with connections to the land, this book also suggests important routes to success for youths in other high risk settings.

Situating legal consciousness: Experiences and attitudes of ordinary citizens about law and street harassment

Abstract: The legal consciousness of ordinary citizens concerning offensive public speech is a phenomenon whose legal status has been vigorously debated, but which has received little empirical analysis. Drawing on observations in public spaces in three northern California communities and in-depth interviews with 100 subjects recruited from these public locations, I analyze variation across race and gender groups in experiences with offensive public speech and attitudes about how such speech should be dealt with by law. Among these respondents, white women and people of color are far more likely than white men to report being the targets of offensive public speech. However, white women and people of color are not significantly more likely than white men to favor its legal regulation. Respondents generally oppose the legal regulation of offensive public speech, but they employ different discourses to explain why. Subjects' own words suggest four relatively distinct paradigms that emphasize the First Amendment, autonomy, impracticality, and distrust of authority. Members of different racial and gender groups tend to use different discourses. These differences suggest that the legal consciousness of ordinary citizens is not a unitary phenomenon, but must be situated in relation to particular types of laws, particular social hierarchies, and the experiences of different groups with the law. "[H]ey white bitch, come suck my dick!"1 "I hate women; they're all sluts."2 "Monkey for a dollar!"3 "You fucking people need to go back where you came from, I'm sick of this, you come over here and think you can take everything away from us."4 I. Introduction When one experiences remarks such as these in a public place, law may be the last thing that comes to mind. However, ideas about law, both conscious and unconscious, shape how people make sense of such interactions, what types of speech they consider problematic, and what remedies or responses they believe are possible. Examining the links between people's experiences with street harassment and their attitudes about its legal regulation can shed light on the roots and consequences of the "legal consciousness" of different social groups. In this article I analyze the legal consciousness of ordinary citizens by examining how experiences with and legal attitudes toward offensive public speech vary by race, gender, and class. I find that white women and people of color experience dramatically higher levels of offensive public speech and that these experiences significantly affect their daily lives. Yet experiencing harms from offensive public speech does not translate into supporting its legal regulation. Subjects offer a variety of reasons to justify their opposition to the legal regulation of such speech. Members of different racial and gender groups articulate distinctive discourses about offensive public speech and the law that invoke various and competing schemas regarding law. These understandings reflect their prior experiences with the law and their attitudes about the prospects for social change through law. This variation suggests that an explicit comparison of particular legal phenomenon across categories of race, gender, and class provide a more nuanced understanding of legal consciousness. II. Prior Approaches to Offensive Public Speech Racist and sexist speech generate much debate about the proper balance between freedom of speech and protection of historically disadvantaged groups from verbal abuse. First Amendment absolutists argue that speech cannot and should not be legally restricted (Post 1991). Critical race theorists argue that racist speech results in substantial harms for its victims (Matsuda 1993), perpetuates inequality, and must therefore be legally limited to realize the equality guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment (Lawrence 1990). Cultural theorists contemplate how the performative aspects of speech translate into harms (Butler 1997). …

Success in Early Intervention: The Chicago Child-Parent Centers

Abstract: This book is a valuable source of information on the long-term effects of early intervention programs on the education of children living in economically disadvantaged areas and in other contexts. Early intervention programs such as Head Start enjoy popular and legislative support, but until now, policymakers and practitioners have lacked hard data on the long-term consequences of such locally and federally mandated efforts. "Success in Early Intervention" focuses on the Child-Parent Center (CPC) program in Chicago, the second oldest (after Head Start) federally funded early childhood intervention program. Begun in 1967, the program currently operates out of twenty-four centers, which are located in proximity to the elementary schools they serve. The CPC program's unique features include mandatory parental involvement and a single, sustained educational system that spans preschool through the third grade. Central to this study is a 1986 cohort of nearly twelve hundred CPC children and a comparison group of low income children whose subsequent activities, challenges, and achievements are followed through the age of fifteen. The lives of these children amply demonstrate the positive long-term educational and social consequences of the CPC program. Arthur J. Reynolds is a professor of social work, educational psychology, and child and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Role of Family Poultry in Poverty Alleviation, Food Security and the Promotion of Gender Equality in Rural Africa

Abstract: Throughout the African continent poultry keeping has been practised by village communities for many generations. These birds currently make up more than 80% of the continent's poultry flock. Rural family poultry (RFP) are a valuable asset to local populations as they contribute significantly to food security, poverty alleviation and the promotion of gender equality, especially in disadvantaged groups and less favoured areas of rural Africa. The paper stresses the need to design, implement, monitor and evaluate RFP development programmes by taking sociocultural issues into account.

The Multiple Bottom Lines of Corporate Citizenship: Social Investing, Reputation, and Responsibility Audits

Abstract: Corporate citizenship, that is, company practice that impacts various stakeholders, is increasingly being assessed along multiple bottom lines. Increasingly, executives need to be aware of the ways in which their corporate practices are monitored externally, as well as undertaking internal reviews that can improve performance. This paper highlights the trends in assessing citizenship. There are, for example, four relevant types of social investing, which evaluate citizenship in multiple ways. In the most common, investment houses/researchers develop screens on company practices for interested social investors. Alternatively, activist shareholders monitor corporate practice in areas of concern and use shareholder resolutions to foster change. Some investors are willing to commit financial resources to development of disadvantaged areas with expectations of market or less than market rates of return. The fourth type of social investing involves funding either micro ventures or small-to-mid-sized ventures either in disadvantaged areas or for proactive social gains, sometimes using corporate philanthropic resources to do so. In addition, dimensions of reputation are rated by researchers and magazines for specific groups or for overall corporate reputation. Companies that wish to improve

Teacher Development and Change in South Africa: A critique of the appropriateness of transfer of northern/western practice

Abstract: This paper discusses the differential distribution of opportunities for professional development of science teachers in post-apartheid South Africa. It is argued that northern/western ideas about teacher change and development are poorly suited to modelling practices and challenges for those who were historically disadvantaged. The environment in which teachers work-physical, social and political-act to select a more limited repertoire of behaviour than those providing in-service might imagine. The paper proposes that evolutionary ideas on teacher change and development offer a more effective model of the constraints under which teachers work. These ideas have general application to educational systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The implications for policy are a need to research current practices more thoroughly and to facilitate change through modest steps.

Hearing the voices of children with chronic illness.

Abstract: This qualitative study has aimed to explore children's, parents' and health professionals' experience of childhood chronic illness. Seven families and their professional carers participated in semistrucured interviews. The children's interviews were augmented with a 'drawing' technique. A grounded theory approach facilitated data collection and analysis. This paper debates the perceived passivity of the voice of children in health care and research and illustrates data collection methods that seek to give children and other disadvantaged groups a voice. The children who participated in this study are described as competent interpreters of their world.

Researching Disability Politics, Or, Some Problems with the Social Model in Practice

Abstract: This article arises from a research project involving the disabled members' group in UNISON, and problematises the social model which explicitly undergirds the discourses and practices of this group. In abstract terms, there are dangers that the social model can be interpreted in a way which privileges some impaired identities over others, sanctions a separatist ghetto which cannot reach out to other groups of disabled and disadvantaged people, and weaves a tangled web around researchers who adhere to the emancipatory paradigm. In concrete terms, these dangers are explored with reference to the stories of impaired people who believe that they are excluded from the disabled members' group, the predicaments of ex-disabled and differently-disabled people in relation to the movement, and the culture of suspicion surrounding academics, particularly the 'non-disabled' researcher as would-be ally. It is argued that, whilst such identities and issues might appear to be 'marginal' ones in the sense of occurring at...

Escaping from the crime of inner cities: Church attendance and religious salience among disadvantaged youth

Abstract: With the theoretical backdrop of social disorganization and “resilient youth” perspectives, we hypothesize that individual religiosity is protective in helping at-risk youths such as those living in poor inner-city areas to escape from drug use and other illegal activities. To test this hypothesis, we draw data from an interview survey of 2,358 youth black males from tracts in poverty in Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, conducted in 1979 and 1980. Results from a series of multilevel analyses indicate that church attendance (the frequency of attending religious services) has significant inverse effects on nondrug illegal activities, drug use, and drug selling among disadvantaged youths. Religious salience (the perceived importance of religion in one's life), however, is not significantly linked to reductions in juvenile delinquency. We discuss the implications of our findings, focusing on individual religiosity as a potentially important protective factor for disadvantaged youths.

Overcoming the Tasks on the Path to College for America's Disadvantaged

Abstract: Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, this chapter seeks to gain a better understanding of what factors assist economically and sociologically underprivileged Americans to ready themselves for college.

Preparing America's Disadvantaged for College: Programs That Increase College Opportunity

Abstract: This chapter reviews many of the major programs seeking to increase college access among economically disadvantaged and at-risk students. The author evaluates the potential of these programs while stressing four conditions that effective programs must meet.

A new typology of fathering: defining and associated variables

Abstract: Our goal was to identify different types of parenting based on self-report measures of fathers' involvement and parental attitudes. The present investigation studied 468 two-parent, French Canadian families with at least one child between 0 and 6 years of age, living in a disadvantaged environment. The study, conducted on a sample of fathers, revealed the presence of the three basic types of parenting identified by Baumrind (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive), and also of a new type of parenting (stimulative parenting). The fathers in this latter group provide more emotional support to children and are more stimulating, as is evidenced by the greater psychological presence of children in the father's cognitions and by the fact that they more frequently introduce their children to new activities. These fathers are characterized by more secure social relationships. The father's parental stress level was found to be the most important variable discriminating between different types of fathering. Authoritarian and authoritative fathers are more at risk of maltreating their children because their more favourable attitude towards the use of physical punishment is combined with greater parental stress, less parental involvement of mothers, and a larger number of children in the home. Authoritarian fathers are even more at risk of maltreating their children because of more difficult family socioeconomic conditions, particularly lower levels of maternal education and income. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ethnic disadvantage and schizophrenia.

Abstract: Objective: To review and interpret epidemiologic research on ethnic disadvantage and schizophrenia. Method: A search of the research literature was conducted. Results: Seventeen population-based studies were reported in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands from 1967 to 1997. The studies report high incidence rates for immigrants whose position in society is disadvantaged, than majority-group native-born, with a range of relative incidence from 1.7 to 13.2. It is proposed that the developmental task for formulating the life plan challenges the young adult's executive function abilities, which may be weaker in individuals vulnerable to schizophrenia. Formulating the life plan may be made more difficult by the position in society of disadvantaged ethnic minorities, raising the risk for schizophrenia. Conclusion: Further research on executive function, and the developmental challenge of formulating the life plan, might provide insights into the etiology of schizophrenia, as well as suggest avenues for prevention.

Assessment practices that improve teaching and learning

Abstract: Higher education the world over has been forced to respond to the demands placed on the sector by two late modern imperatives, globalisation and the massification of education. In Southern Africa, and in South Africa in particular, the massification of higher education has a particularly moral dimension, as it implies the need to respond to the gross historical inequalities of the past, by making the higher education sector accessible to previously disadvantaged black and working class communities. This requires the system to be more open, flexible, transparent and responsive to theneeds of under-prepared, adult, lifelong and part-time learners. This, of course, has implications for appropriate assessment practice in higher education. In this chapter, the authors analyse the term " assessment " and differentiate amongst various types thereof. Five dimensions of the process of assessment are used and explained. The authors include graphs, tables and illustrations to explain the concept fully.

Economically Disadvantaged Students in a School for the Academically Gifted: A Postpositivist Inquiry into Individual and Family Adjustment:

Abstract: In this paper, we report the results of an inquiry into the effects of the placement of five economical disadvantaged minority students from central Harlem, who were identified in kindergarten as p...

Inner-City Youth Development Organizations: Strengthening Programs for Adolescent Girls

Abstract: The challenges of early adolescence are intensified for girls of color who live in disadvantaged urban communities. One response to the needs of these girls comes from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Ame...

Three Critical Tasks America's Disadvantaged Face on Their Path to College.

Abstract: Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, this chapter examines the wide disparity of college-choice activities between socioeconomic groups. To highlight this disparity, the authors analyze three tasks that all students must complete on their path to college.

Title I: Its Legislative History and Its Promise.

Abstract: By the end of the 1999-2000 legislative session, our national leaders must reaffirm our country's commitment to raising the educational achievement of disadvantaged children, Mr. Jennings maintains. Any other result would not be true to the facts or to American history - nor would it be in the best economic, social, and moral interests of the country. IN THE United States, although state governments have primary responsibility for elementary and secondary education, the federal government provides significant but limited support in a few key areas. A special concern of the federal government for more than three decades has been the education of children who come to school with disadvantages - be they educational, economic, physical, or mental. Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 is the principal embodiment of the national commitment to help educate economically and educationally disadvantaged children. This legislation has been regularly authorized for periods of five years and expires in the 1999-2000 congressional sessions. Thus the President and the Congress will have to decide whether and how to continue providing financial support to states and local school districts through Title I. In other words, they must ask themselves, Is the education of disadvantaged children still a matter of national concern? Federal Aid Before Title I Although federal support for education is secondary to state support, it nevertheless has been important from the very beginnings of the nation. In the late 18th century, Congress encouraged the establishment of schools by setting aside land for their support - in fact, a vast amount of land, 77 million acres. After the Civil War, Congress demanded that all new states admitted to the union provide free, nonsectarian public schools.1 During the 20th century, the federal government encouraged general support of schools and colleges by allowing federal income tax deductions, by promoting vocational education to train workers, by enacting the GI Bill of Rights, and by passing the National Defense Education Act to support science and mathematics instruction. Over the course of two centuries, the federal government took action, although limited, in the area of education when vital national interests were involved - supporting democracy by educating ordinary citizens in common schools and colleges; furthering economic prosperity by training workers; and providing for the defense of the nation by ensuring the health of children, their preparation in crucial areas of learning, and their training for jobs. These same objectives were behind the enactment of Title I of the ESEA and other legislation of the 1960s designed to improve the education of disadvantaged children. But two additional imperatives for national action were also present: civil rights and social welfare. The Birth of Title I In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education ruled that segregation of children by race in the public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment. That ruling gave rise to a national debate about the quality of education being provided to African American children and eventually led to a broader discussion of the needs of children of all races who came from poor families or who had other disadvantages. When President John Kennedy assumed office in 1961, he proposed large-scale federal aid to improve education, including the education of black children and of other poor and disadvantaged youths. At the time, black children constituted approximately 13% of the enrollment in elementary and secondary schools. As a group, they were overwhelmingly poor - 65% of black children were living in poverty, compared with 20% of white children.2 In other words, the issues of race and poverty became linked because the facts of race and poverty in America were intertwined. Most of President Kennedy's legislative proposals for education were not enacted because of three major obstacles. …

Enhancing the educational achievement of at-risk youth.

Abstract: This study examined a non-school program aimed at enhancing the educational performance of economically disadvantaged early adolescents who live in public housing. The educational enhancement program included discussions with adults, writing activities, leisure reading, homework, helping others, and games using cognitive skills. A three-arm research design juxtaposed program youth who received educational enhancements with comparison youth in affiliated facilities who did not receive the program and with control youth in other community programs without educational enhancements. From youths, follow-up data collected 2 1/2 years after baseline revealed uniformly positive outcomes for program youth on measures of reading, verbal skills, writing, and tutoring. Teacher reports at final follow-up favored program and comparison youth over controls on measures of reading, writing, games, overall school performance, and interest in class material. School grades were higher for program youth than for comparison and control youth for reading, spelling, history, science, and social studies. Overall grade averages were higher for program youth versus comparisons and controls, as was school attendance. Study data lend empirical support to the provision of educational enhancements in non-school settings for at-risk youths.

Computer-assisted reading intervention in a secondary school: an evaluation study

Abstract: There is widespread concern over literacy standards in UK schools and growing evidence that problems become increasingly intractable as children grow older. Computer-based reading instruction may provide a ‘fresh start’ that helps a child to rediscover the path to literacy. Recent controlled studies demonstrated that infant and junior school children could be given very cost-effective support using RITA, a computer-based literacy support system that assists, rather than replaces, the teacher in providing support tailored to each child's profile of reading attainments. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of RITA in secondary school with 8 children (mean age 11.7 years) who were initially very seriously disadvantaged in terms of literacy skills (mean reading age 7.3 years). The RITA intervention over a 10 week period led to effective and cost-effective literacy gains. Significant overall improvements were made in the skills targeted, including reading standard scores, and reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. All children reacted positively to the RITA lessons, and most made good progress towards their Individual Education Plans. It is suggested that computer-assisted reading support can be effective in supporting the majority of children with reading failure, even in secondary school.

Structural model of the effects of poverty on externalizing and internalizing behaviors of four- to five-year-old children

Abstract: Mother-child data of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to identify the parenting practices that mediate relations between persistent, recent, and transitional poverty and the externalizing and internalizing behaviors of children four to five years old. Persistent poverty is associated with a lower-quality physical home environment, which is linked to children's internalizing behaviors. Lower-quality physical environment, maternal emotional unresponsiveness, and fewer stimulating experiences contribute significantly to the effect of recent poverty on internalizing behaviors. Lower-quality physical environment and fewer stimulating experiences mediate the relation between recent poverty and externalizing behaviors. Contrary to hypothesized relations, transitional poverty predicts fewer externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Key words: externalizing behaviors; internalizing behaviors; parenting practices; poverty Children who live in economically disadvantaged families are more likely to experience socioemotional problems, such as impaired peer relations, low self-esteem, lower levels sociability and initiative, and classroom externalizing, and internalizing behavior problems, than children who live in families with greater financial resources (Bolger, Patterson, Thompson, & Kupersmidt, 1995; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994; Hanson, McLanahan, & Thomson, 1997; Patterson, Kupersmidt, & Vaden, 1990). Classifying descriptions of childhood socioemotional problems into a child's tendency to either externalize or internalize emotions and behaviors is a common practice in child development research (Campbell, 1995; Cicchetti & Toth, 1991). Externalizing problems are characterized by aggression, hyperactivity, and noncompliance, whereas internalizing behaviors include problems such as withdrawal, depression, and anxiety. (Campbell, 1995). Externalizing and internalizing behaviors that occur early in a child's life disrupt normal peer relations; externalizing behaviors tend to be stable over time and predict poor school performance and delinquency (Cicchetti & Toth, 1991; Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989). In 1997 almost 20 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998), suggesting that a significant proportion of children are at higher risk of experiencing socioemotional problems. Yearly poverty rates, however, do not fully capture the dimensions of economic deprivation in children's lives. Ashworth, Hill, and Walker (1994) estimated that 38 percent of children are poor during some time in childhood, 5 percent of children are persistently poor, and 16 percent experience multiple transitions in and out of poverty. These studies have prompted research on two related questions: (1) Do differences in parenting practices of poor and nonpoor parents account for or mediate the effects of poverty on children's socioemotional problems? (2) Do different measures of poverty, such as persistent or recent, differentially affect children's behavior problems or the parenting practices that relate economic hardship to children's socioemotional adjustment? The purpose of this research was to identify parenting practices that mediate relations among persistent, recent, or transitional poverty and the externalizing and internalizing behaviors of four- to five-year-old children. A substantial body of literature indicates that parents who are warm and responsive, set appropriate limits, are involved with their children, and use consistent but not harsh disciplinary practices, promote children's socioemotional adjustment (see Campbell, 1995, for a review of this literature). Studies on small, rural samples of young adolescents suggest that parental adjustments to stressors associated with current economic hardship disrupt effective parenting behaviors. Parental economic stress leads to inconsistent and harsh discipline, negative emotional affect, and uninvolved parenting, all of which are linked to adolescent socioemotional problems (Brody et al. …

Behaviours of Concern to Teachers in the Early Years of School

Abstract: Teachers of students aged from five to eight years at 21 primary schools in western Sydney were surveyed about child behaviour that concerned them and their needs for support in dealing with such behaviour. Although most teachers were confident of their ability to manage classroom behaviour, teachers reported a need for support in dealing with distractibility and concern about aggressive behaviours. Less confident teachers expressed higher levels of concern about aggression, distractibility, and disobedience and wanted more support for dealing with distractibility and disobedience. No relationships were found between teacher concerns or support needs and teacher experience, class level or size, Local Government Area income grouping, and whether or not the school received additional funding for disadvantaged schools.