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Rural poverty is often discussed in combination with spatial inequality where rural poor face worse problems with diverse remedies in comparison to urban poor. The present study aims to find out area-level effects and possible determinants of rural poverty based on data from the Rural Household Panel Survey of Pakistan Round-1 (2012). The multilevel binary logistic model is used to integrate concurrent individual and district-level variables to explore area-level effects on poverty. A two-level multilevel model is used for the analysis of the poverty status of 4804 respondents nested in 19 districts. Individual-level variables included in the model are education, socioeconomic status, and spending behaviour. It is found that approximately 60% of individuals of the overall population were found poor, and district-level effect accounts for 7% variations in poverty. A particularly significant ratio of poor is found for people who attained deeni madrassa/religious education or no education at all. Poverty existence is significantly associated with spending behavior and socioeconomic status. The persons with relatively middle/high socioeconomic status and successful educational achievement but a lacking attitude toward spending money are considered poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the successful transition into democracy in South Africa, poverty and inequality levels remain consistently high for an upper-middle-income country. The pace of human capital development continues to be inadequate to solve the socio-economic challenges. The objective of the study is to examine the effect of human capital formation represented by education attainment, on poverty and inequality in the Eastern Cape province. Using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator, the study investigates the long-run relationship between the variables. The study found that an increase in human capital leads to a decline in poverty levels. However, human capital is positively related to income inequality which is an indication of unequal economic opportunities and inequality in the education system. The study recommends that policies be introduced to reduce inequality in schools. Community involvement in improving the quality of schools is of utmost importance. Education policies such as school choice may have contributed to education inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The problem of students dropping out of school is one of the barriers to improving educational outcomes in poor and developing countries. Purpose: This small scale, in-depth study sought to explore the phenomenon of students who drop out from secondary education, through the perspectives of fathers of such students in a rural district of Pakistan. Method: Primary data were collected through detailed, individual interviews with 14 fathers whose sons had dropped out from secondary education. The study adopted a framework involving push and pull factors to analyse qualitatively the processes and examine the reasons for dropping out that prevailed inside and outside school. Findings: The analysis suggested that, from the perspectives of the fathers, family poverty, poor academic performance and issues relating to teachers' engagement with teaching at school were main factors involved in a student dropping out of school. Conclusions: The findings from this small scale, detailed analysis of data draw attention to the issues arising from a tension in mainstream teachers' educational roles in and beyond the school. It further highlights the need for greater investment in secondary education, in order to help to reduce rates of student drop out in the remote rural areas of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the problem of world hunger and discusses potential solutions to it. It reflects on the debate about whether transgenic foods should be used, which is more of a social controversy than a scientific one. Sustainability is considered a key driver for innovation that can be used as a basis for assessing the problem of hunger in the world, and the question is inseparable from its ethical aspects. Given that economic growth does not directly equate to human development, this paper states that it is necessary to address the problem of poverty and hunger from the capacity development framework according to human rights. Poverty causes disability by limiting human development; it creates the conditions for the violation of human rights; therefore, an institutional framework and social initiatives aimed at protecting the poor should be established. Finally, the main lines of research in the field of biotechnology are outlined, such as the development of genetically modified organisms and the need to continue defining methods, based on the development of capabilities. Such capabilities should be embedded in educational programmes, to establish guidelines that are incorporated into curricula as transversal orientations to be able to make sustainability a social reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the problem on education and land reform which is needed to economic growth and social justice in Latin America. A major factor in Latin American poverty is the unproductive agriculture. A revelation has shown that the prestige of universities have been seriously compromised by arrangements with agencies of the U.S. government. Only $400 million, out of the one billion dollars public funds provided by the U.S. for aid to the country, represents development loans on liberal terms which is the balance consists of surplus food shipments and businesslike project loans from the Export-Import Bank.

Parenting quality is important in child development. In the presence of HIV poverty and life stress, parenting may be challenged and child development affected. This study examines cross-sectional associations of situational factors such as poverty, mental health, HIV status, living with a biological parent, and stigma with good parenting and child outcomes (n = 989; age = 4–13 years) within the Child Community Care study (South Africa and Malawi). A parenting measure was created from 10 variables comprising 6 child and 4 parent ratings. These were highly correlated. Total parenting score was generated on a 10-point continuous scale, with a good parenting cut-off then defined as ≥8 out of a possible 10. Five factors were associated with good parenting. Positively associated with good parenting were being the biological parent of the child, parental mental health and dwelling in households with multiple adults. Poverty and stigma were negatively associated with good parenting. Using multiple mediation analysis, a positive direct effect of good parenting was found on child self-esteem, child behaviour and educational risks with a partial mediation via child depression and trauma. These data highlight possible intervention points. Influences on parenting could be seen through being the biological parent, parental mental health, poverty and stigma. In these challenging environments, health, nutrition, mental health, education and treatment to keep parents alive are all clearly identified as potential pathways to ensure child well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals to be achieved by 2015 addressing poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, communicable disease, education, gender inequality, environmental damage and the global partnership. Most activities worldwide have focused on maternal and child health and communicable diseases, while less attention has been paid to environmental sustainability and the development of a global partnership. Up to now, several targets have been at least partially achieved: hunger reduction is on track, poverty has been reduced by half, living conditions of 200 million deprived people enhanced, maternal and child mortality as well as communicable diseases diminished and education improved. Nevertheless, some goals will not be met, particularly in the poorest regions, due to different challenges (e.g. the lack of synergies among the goals, the economic crisis, etc.). The post-2015 agenda is now under discussion. The new targets, whatever they will be called, should reflect today's political situation, health and environmental challenges, and an all-inclusive, intersectoral and accountable approach should be adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 is focused on reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health care. India has made extensive efforts to achieve MDG 5 and in some regions much progress has been achieved. Progress has been uneven and inequitable however, and many women still lack access to maternal and reproductive health care. Objective: In this review, a framework developed by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) is used to categorize and explain determinants of inequity in maternal and reproductive health in India. Design: A review of peer-reviewed, published literature was conducted using the electronic databases PubMed and Popline. The search was performed using a carefully developed list of search terms designed to capture published papers from India on: 1) maternal and reproductive health, and 2) equity, including disadvantaged populations. A matrix was developed to sort the relevant information, which was extracted and categorized based on the CSDH framework. In this way, the main sources of inequity in maternal and reproductive health in India and their inter-relationships were determined. Results: Five main structural determinants emerged from the analysis as important in understanding equity in India: economic status, gender, education, social status (registered caste or tribe), and age (adolescents). These five determinants were found to be closely interrelated, a feature which was reflected in the literature. Conclusion: In India, economic status, gender, and social status are all closely interrelated when influencing use of and access to maternal and reproductive health care. Appropriate attention should be given to how these social determinants interplay in generating and sustaining inequity when designing policies and programs to reach equitable progress toward improved maternal and reproductive health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past decades international organisations and governments have promoted and implemented analogous education policies on the grounds that education is the key factor to foster development and fight poverty. This article sets the context of these educational programmes and analyses their discourse on poverty in Argentina and Chile. Then, it shows how they institutionalise strict surveillance, institutional denigration of the poor and professional scepticism. In general, the conclusions underpin one hypothesis that leads the analysis: eventually, these targeted education policies 'pedagogise' poverty alleviation in that they aim to 'instil flexible identities' into the poor rather than open channels for social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of NGO work is hugely dependent on the quality of critical thinking and analysis of poverty among all levels of staff. In particular, the quality of the work in the field - at partner and community levels - depends on an understanding of development processes and on strong facilitation skills, both of which rely on strong levels of critical thinking. While these are innately present in almost everyone, rote learning in education systems and patriarchal and top-down power structures often impede their development. This article suggests some practical means by which development agencies can develop strong analytical thinking and strong facilitation skills among their staff. While the article is mainly aimed at frontline staff, the implication is that such mechanisms are required at all levels if organisations are going to develop their own capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August 2002, while briefing the press in Lusaka, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official warned Zambia to brace itself for increased sex work, crime and exploitation if food contingency measures were not immediately addressed. UNICEF feared the food and water crisis and increasing poverty in the country's southern province might create a new set of social problems for women and children. MAPODE (Movement of Community Action for the Prevention and Protection of Young People Against Poverty, Destitution, Diseases and Exploitation), an organisation running a street children and sex worker outreach programme in Lusaka City, was not surprised by UNICEF's concern. That same year, the organisation had conducted a study on sex work and trafficking of women and children in Zambia. This focus relies on these findings, pointing to the link between poverty, sex work, trafficking and the global sex industry. It contextualises these issues by pointing to gender and feminist concepts and proposed prevention and protection strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal education is often assumed to be a positive force for change, enabling people to find a route out of poverty. However, this is not always the case. The Haramkbut community in the Peruvian Amazon are now questioning the widespread assumption that schooling can provide knowledge and skills for establishing alternative livelihoods. Indigenous knowledge and traditional forms of work have been devalued through economic changes forced upon the Haramkbut by ecological destruction and environmental degradation. The result of this has been a process of impoverishment, which has been worsened by missionary education and an adherence to the national Spanish-language curriculum. In contrast, the indigenous model of intercultural bilingual education which is currently being 'rolled out' to the Harakmbut puts indigenous knowledge and practices at the centre of its curriculum, pedagogy and philosophy. This in turn contrasts with the education reform measures currently being implemented nationally through the Ministry of Education. Education could and should be a positive force in the lives of the Harakmbut people, and Harakmbut women in particular, and in their fight against an impoverishment of their way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the links between poverty, HIV/AIDS, and barriers to education, based on the first-hand experiences of 'street children' in northern Tanzania. Within the context of national levels of poverty, 'cost-sharing' in health and education sectors, and the AIDS epidemic, poor families in Tanzania are under considerable pressure, and increasing numbers of girls and boys are consequently seeking a living independently on the streets of towns and cities. My research with street children shows that some children orphaned by AIDS are subject to rejection and exploitation by the extended family after the death of their parent(s). They are exposed to considerable risks of abuse, sexual violence and HIV within the street environment. Here, I discuss the links between poverty, HIV and barriers to education, which compound young people's vulnerability, and offer some policy recommendations in response to the young people's experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the political relationship between education and poverty reduction. It argues that authoritarian rule in Africa has exacerbated levels of poverty and sets out six ways in which this has happened. However, the achievement of greater levels of democracy will not be possible unless political culture and civil society in Africa become more democratic but this will depend on the spread of more democratic values and behaviours. As democratic values and behaviours are socially learned and are not genetic, education must play a part in fostering greater democracy. The article then discusses three examples from Africa where education has not played a significant role in furthering democracy and provides some further examples of African countries where serious attempts are being made to try to change education systems in a more democratic direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the common elements of high poverty middle schools with high level of academic performance. The Council for School Performance (1996-1997) reveals that middle schools are reporting higher achievement scores as compared to school with similar low income student populations. A research of the literature of high achievement middle grades is conducted to know the factors associated with their performance. The study ends that there are three common elements of high performing poverty schools including the use of a grant writer to generate proposal, the use of teams to do their work, and the use of goals and focus on specific strategies to meet the goals.

Although he was much influenced by David Ricardo when he wrote the classical part of his Principles, John Stuart Mill was not a Ricardian when he penned his theories of wealth and distribution. They are based on a triple foundation. First, a belief that economics is a moral discipline. Second a theory of custom-driven human behavior. Third, an empirically formed conviction that the institutions of state, education and business cooperate to structure the distribution of income. On the basis of these presuppositions, Mill formulated 1) an institutional theory of the formation of human and non-human wealth and 2) an even more institutional theory of distribution demonstrating how the aforementioned institutions malignantly skew the distribution of income to the advantage of the propertied classes and to the extreme disadvantage of the working class. As a social economist, Mill recommended institutional reforms designed to eradicate the poverty of the working class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable conflict between Romani Gypsy child socialisation and education processes and mainstream education practices. In Romani communities children are encouraged to show initiative and independence at an early age. They learn by participating in the communities' economic activities and observing adult verbal and non-verbal communication skills. In main stream education, by comparison, they learn in an enclosed classroom where they are rarely able to initiate or create their own learning experiences. Due to the increasing demands of industrialised societies, literacy is vital for Romani people However, education systems are at present failing to meet the needs of these children. Structural inequalities such as poverty and racism, coupled with differing viewpoints on the benefits of education, continue to contribute to the low participation rates of Romani children in mainstream schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of pedagogical relationships offer insights into policies and practices which have the capacity to promote progressive change in educational practice for children in poverty This paper focus on relationships established in three differently-located Australian primary schools. Greytown a medium sized inner-city school in New South Wales, Manger, a large suburban school in Queensland, and Meiks, a small rural school in New South Wales Each school is a designated disadvantage school and finded according through accordingly through a fedral Disadvantage Schools Program, is located in working class area and is ethincally diverse. The schools' pedagogical response to children in poverty are contrasted and analysed in terms of their capacity to contribute to socially just outcome from schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the details of the Commission on Social Justice, 1994. It captures so comprehensively the widespread failures of British society the scourges of poverty and unemployment, the gross and unjustifiable inequalities in income and wealth. This report is timely and welcome because it catalogues in grim detail the extent of the national malaise in all areas of our social life in health as well as in housing, in social fragmentation and in economic underperformance, in education and in training, in social security and in taxation, in local democracy and in the crisis of public accountability created by the quangos. One of the central tasks now facing all the European democracies is how to control the global market. Finally, an open acknowledgement that the ambitious vision of the Commission will need additional resources for its realisation would have been welcome. The main purpose of the report to trigger debates about how one can best build an inclusive society where economic success is seen to depend on a greater measure of social justice.

The article highlights the book "An Educational War on Poverty. American and British Policy Making 1960-1980," by Harold and Pamela Silver. There can be no doubt that the Silvers' book provides for a fairly wide audience an excellent basis on which to review some aspects of educational development in Great Britain and the United States in the two decades in question. Over and above this it raises, at least in the mind of the writer some substantial issues, worthy of consideration in their own right. Harold and Pamela Silver have produced a insightful and interesting book of considerable scholarship. The idea of an educational war on poverty is both novel and ironic. It is novel to the extent that it stretches British imagination to see a sustained high level of concern about, and commitment to, poverty and education in recent history, let alone the use of the latter to relieve the former, other than in respect to individuals. Within the scale and complexity of their account the presentation appears to be an innocent, conservative portrayal. To the writer's mind there seems to be a dedication throughout to sustaining several assumptions which remain questionable.

The article highlights Disadvantaged Schools Program (DSP), a compensatory education for children in poverty. Programs of "compensatory education" for children in poverty were set up in a number of affluent Western countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Little known outside Australia, the Disadvantaged Schools Program (DSP) is one of the few compensatory education programs to operate on a national scale. During the 1950s and 1960s Australian education systems had expanded at breakneck pace, riding an industrial boom and driven by enormous increases in demand at secondary and tertiary level. The idea of a targeted poverty program in education was drawn from the United States and Great Britain, traditionally the two main sources of ideas for Australian education. The result of this conjuncture was that the Disadvantaged Schools Program had a framework derived mainly from overseas poverty programs--it was targeted on a minority and had "compensatory" justification--but also had distinctive local features. First, it was based on the school as its unit of action, not the individual disadvantaged child.

The article discusses the unequal distribution of earnings in the United States and the contribution of feminist activists in improving the condition of working women. Greater poverty among women reflects changes in the distribution of earnings among women who work full-time year-round (ETYR). The percentage of FTYR women workers with relatively low earnings increased sharply in the late 1970s. From 1970 to 1978, the percentage of women with low earnings declined from 21 percent to 16.5 percent. As the ranks of low-wage FTYR women's jobs increased, the relative share of middle-wage jobs declined and the percentage of women in high-wage jobs increased. Sustained efforts to improve women's economic opportunities and challenge traditional patterns of sex discrimination, have paid off in the last ten years-particularly for upper-and middle-class women who are able to take advantage of new educational opportunities and gain access to professional-managerial jobs. Among FTYR women, the share of professional-managerial jobs increased from 27.1 percent to 32 percent between 1975 and 1986. Many feminist activists have pressed for new strategies, such as pay equity. unionization drives, and family policy, to complement affirmative action goals.

Theories of labor market segmentation have been concerned with the problem of marginal economic group, the low-skilled and poorly paid workers in menial or routine jobs who are the first to be fired during recessions. During the 1960s, many researchers became convinced that the problem of education, at least in the way it was posed by the dominant school, was a red herring. They found that regardless of the skill level of the available work force, employers were creating jobs which required nothing more than a minimal education. One implication of this finding was that even if all workers were well-trained, employers would still be offering a certain number of low-skill and low-paying jobs. Raising the skill level of the poor, in other words, would not eliminate poverty. Someone, after all, would have to take the low-skill jobs if no better ones were to be had. Moreover, the researchers found that marginal workers had motives for their behavior which did not square at all with the picture painted of them in the orthodox theory.

The article discusses the achievements and contribution of William Vickrey, an economist on macroeconomics. Vickrey's work focused on the economics of asymmetric information that is the study of transactions in which some of the parties involved know more than others. Vickrey's appreciation of incentives was not limited to the microeconomic behavior of individuals, but extended to corporate pricing behavior and to the macroeconomic aggregation of consumer and investor preferences. He pointed out that the official unemployment rate seriously understates the true level of joblessness and underemployment. Mass unemployment, according to him remains one of the most significant contributing factors to a wide range of "social pathologies," including poverty, homelessness, crime, drug abuse, divorce, domestic violence, broken homes, racial and religious antagonisms, and neglect of educational opportunities. He argued that official capacity utilization rates understated the real level of unused industrial capacity and capital resources.

This article discusses the Children's Defense Fund's (CDF) research on the impact of children's poverty on the value of their paid work later life and on economy. CDF used four separate methods in the research. The first three methods take an indirect approach based on children's years of education. These methods provide an incomplete picture because they trace only one pathway of effects from child poverty to economic output. The three methods, therefore, do not capture all the ways child poverty can hamper the economy. Childhood poverty also may lead to lower wages and productivity during adulthood by subtly lowering an individual's basic skills and ability to learn on the job. Beyond its effect on hourly wages and productivity, moreover, child poverty is likely to affect the economy further by causing unemployment, involuntary part-time employment, or work hours lost due to teenage parenthood, ill health, or death at an early age. The fourth method used considers the total effect on future worker output. This method reflects every child poverty effect on employment and productivity, not just reduced hourly pay due to lost years of schooling. Like previous methods, these estimated effects are not due to single-parent families, race, or mother's education. Most of the estimated impacts on future worker output would be substantially higher if education's effects on unemployment, underemployment, and labor force nonparticipation were taken into account, along with additional effects of poverty on productivity, employment, ill health, and mortality that are not captured by years of schooling.

The article focuses on a field research which examines the major problems of rural village schools in Sri Lanka. On the basis of the data collected in the research it can be stated that effective functioning of village schools in Sri Lanka are inhibited by three broad categories namely poverty, traditional and/or negative attitudes and weaknesses in the system. Every level of the educational network is penetrated by these three categories. Poverty is very evident at school level with inadequate equipments, insufficient learning aids, lack of space and poor building maintenance. Teachers and principals' boarding conditions are miserable. There are several structural drawbacks which make possible corruption, bribes, favouritism and a host of smaller weaknesses in the educational system. Most of the times, politicians rather than educationists take important decisions related to education. The view that good teachers and headmasters can compensate for barriers to effective schooling is not supported by the study.

This research evaluates the impact of family structure on the educational attainment of northern urban blacks. Separate analyses of male and female adults reveal support for the traditional view that the "broken home" lowers the achievement of black males. Rather, we find it is black females, especially in segregated contexts, who have been most adversely affected by parental absence. These findings are interpreted at reflecting the different relationship of males and females to the family under conditions of structurally-induced poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data obtained from a random sample show that in São Paulo intermarriage between Brazilians and foreigners gradually increased from the onset of heavy foreign immigration in the 1870's up to the 1920's. Intermarriage occurs most frequently between Brazilians and those of Mediterranean origin, least so with Japanese. It is concluded that common cultural characteristics facilitate intermarriage and that it is doubtful whether, as Savorgnan suggests, Italian endogamy in the U.S.A. is attributable to the immigrant's poverty and lack of education. The rates of assimilation for immigrants of various origins shown by the index of homogamy resemble those suggested by G. Mortara's study of linguistic assimilation. Matrimonial selection and linguistic assimilation appear to be equally useful measures of immigrant absorption. Although there are differences in the rates of intermarriage between Brazilians and the various nationalities, the rate of intermarriage between the foreign-born and persons of any nationality other than their own is roughly constant, except in the case of the Japanese among whom exogamy is infrequent. The index of homogamy must, however, be used with caution as a guide to immigrant assimilation. In 40% of marriages of Brazilians with the foreign- born the nationality of all four parents was identical with that of the foreign spouse, especially in the case of Italians. Many legally mixed marriages are thus, sociologically or psychologically speaking, homogamous. Analysis of the social status of husbands in three types of marriage suggests that intermarriage tends to occur among immigrants who are rising in the social scale. This conclusion is consistent with recent sociological studies in São Paulo which show that intermarriage with a Brazilian may be a symbol of rejection of the primary immigrant group by the economically successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the relationship between education and the social problems of the community. It is assumed that there is a direct association between educational needs and crucial social problems. The study indicates a substantial relationship between educational need and social problems, particularly the social problems most directly related to inadequate income. Educational need is positively related to poverty, a high proportion of unskilled workers, unemployment, morbidity, aid to dependent children, and illegitimacy, and it is negatively related to high income and alcoholism; however, mental illness, divorce or separation, crime and delinquency, suicide, and venereal disease are not significantly associated with educational need. It is suggested that low income is both a cause and effect of inferior education, with a vicious circle of poverty perpetuated from generation to generation in a never-ending cycle. The typical syndrome includes an inadequate economic base and low paying jobs and unemployment, which result in inadequate education, diet, medical care, housing and recreation, which in turn contributes to a low level of performance, high morbidity and mortality.

Despite an abundance of research on rural crime, few attempts have been made to construct an ecological model of rural crime rates. Perhaps the most recognized ecological model of social disorganization theory which viewed poverty, residential mobility and racial ethnic diversity as indicative of the social disorganization of a community which in turn was associated with delinquency rates, has been applied exclusively to cities primarily because rural crime was thought to be both quantitatively and qualitatively different from urban crime. However, recent research contends that most of the rural-urban differences contributing to this contrast in crime, real or imagined, have clearly dissipated with advances in and standardization of education, transportation and communication, thus casting some doubt about the appropriateness of the social disorganization model for rural settings. A series of preliminary diagnostic analyses were conducted to test for the possible existence of influential data. These analyses identified several counties which were statistical outliers.

The article focuses on whether the strategic approach to reduce poverty among children who are looked after by local authorities should be the same as they are for prisoners. It discusses the causes of poverty amongst care leavers which include lack of family support, early age of independence and lack of skills. It suggests that the effective changes can be made by delivering life-long education and full employment policies to young persons.

Background: In a post-war frontier area in north-western Nicaragua that was severely hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, local stakeholders embarked on and facilitated multi-dimensional development initiatives to break the cycles of poverty. Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the process of priority-setting, and the strategies, guiding principles, activities, achievements, and lessons learned in these local development efforts from 1990 to 2014 in the Cuatro Santos area, Nicaragua. Methods: Data were derived from project records and a Health and Demographic Surveillance System that was initiated in 2004. The area had 25,893 inhabitants living in 5,966 households in 2014. Results: A participatory process with local stakeholders and community representatives resulted in a long-term strategic plan. Guiding principles were local ownership, political reconciliation, consensus decision-making, social and gender equity, an environmental and public health perspective, and sustainability. Local data were used in workshops with communities to re-prioritise and formulate new goals. The interventions included water and sanitation, house construction, microcredits, environmental protection, school breakfasts, technical training, university scholarships, home gardening, breastfeeding promotion, and maternity waiting homes. During the last decade, the proportion of individuals living in poverty was reduced from 79 to 47%. Primary school enrolment increased from 70 to 98% after the start of the school breakfast program. Under-five mortality was around 50 per 1,000 live births in 1990 and again peaked after Hurricane Mitch and was approaching 20 per 1,000 in 2014. Several of the interventions have been scaled up as national programs. Conclusions: The lessons learned from the Cuatro Santos initiative underline the importance of a bottom-up approach and local ownership of the development process, the value of local data for monitoring and evaluation, and the need for multi-dimensional local interventions to break the cycles of poverty and gain better health and welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a special conference sponsored by the American Association of School Administrators to discuss the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 in the United States. The anti-poverty legislation was previewed by 130 school administrators from various regions of the United States. It includes an in-depth analysis of the provisions of the law pertaining to the role of education in the war against poverty, as well the issues' different implications for art and art education.

This nationwide study examined the relationships among gender, ethnicity, and poverty with fifth graders' (n = 8,741) science performance. Extant fifth grade data files (2003-2004), from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), were used. An ANOVA test revealed that males performed significantly better than females on science assessments, and this difference was maintained across ethnic groups. The science scores, in order of ethnicity from the highest to lowest scores, were White, Asian, Hispanic, and African American. Asian fifth graders showed the largest ethnic discrepancy between students above and below poverty. The unique features of this study were the depth of the disaggregation of the data and statistical analyses. Disaggregation of data by all three variables revealed compounding consequences for students at the extremes. White "at/above poverty" males had the highest mean science IRT scale score, while African American "below poverty" females had the lowest mean score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]