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In January 2014, the White House urged that college be made more accessible for low-income Americans. Yet, moving beyond access to success requires knowing more about the experiences of these students. A new research report captures the challenges low-income, first-generation students faced in their collegiate journey, examining the strategies they employed to persist. Organized thematically and using student narrative, the brief report explores the diversity of first-generation students, the intersections of their multiple identities, and their interactions with the institutional agents that affect college success. An Exploration of Intersecting Identities of First-Generation, Low-Income Students also offers practical suggestions for higher education professionals working with this diverse and growing population. Following an introduction, this book contains the following sections: (1) First-Generation Students: Intersecting Contexts and Identities; (2) Setting the Context: The Focus-Group Study; (3) Betwixt and Between: Visible/Invisible and Different Worlds; (4) Negotiating New Terrains: Perpetual Border Crosser and Burden of Privilege; (5) Finding Footholds: Establishing Voice and Call for Genuine Commitment; and (6) Discussion and Implications. A list of references and a section about the authors is included.

Over the past twenty years, elite colleges and universities enacted policies that reshaped the racial and class composition of their campuses, and over the past decade, Latinos' college attendance notably increased. While discussions on educational mobility often focus on its perceived benefits -- that it will ultimately lead to social and economic mobility -- less attention is paid to the process of "making it" and the challenges low-income youth experience when navigating these elite spaces. In "Meanings of Mobility," sociologist Leah C. Schmalzbauer explores the experiences of low-income Latino youth attending highly selective, elite colleges. To better understand these experiences, Schmalzbauer draws on interviews with 60 low-income Latino youth who graduated or were set to graduate from Amherst College, one of the most selective private colleges in the United States, as well as their parents and siblings. The vast majority of these students were the first in their immigrant families to go to college in the U.S. She finds that while most of the students believed attending Amherst provided them with previously unimaginable opportunities, adjusting to life on campus came with significant challenges. Many of the students Schmalzbauer spoke with had difficulties adapting to the cultural norms at Amherst as well as with relating to their non-Latino, non-low-income peers. The challenges these students faced were not limited to life on campus. As they attempted to adapt to Amherst, many felt distanced from the family and friends they left behind who could not understand the new challenges they faced. The students credit their elite education for access to extraordinary educational and employment opportunities. However, their experiences while in college and afterward reveal that the relationship between educational and social mobility is much more complicated and less secure than popular conversations about the "American Dream" suggest. Many students found that their educational attainment was not enough to erase the core challenges of growing up in a marginalized immigrant family: many were still poor, faced racism, and those who were undocumented or had undocumented family members still feared deportation. The challenges they faced were only intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Schmalzbauer suggests ways institutions of higher education can better support low-income Latino students and lower the emotional price of educational mobility, including the creation of immigration offices on campus to provide programming and support for undocumented students and their families. She recommends educating staff to better understand the centrality of family for these students and the challenges they face, as well as educating more privileged students about inequality and the life experiences of their marginalized peers. "Meanings of Mobility" provides compelling insights into the difficulties faced and the resilience demonstrated by low-income Latinos pursuing educational and social mobility.

This book takes a comprehensive look at community engagement strategies in education to demonstrate the diverse nature of school-community relations and their value to promote their effective development. The author brings twenty years of experience in various educational settings in Ontario and California to examining community involvement policies and their interpretation, as well as school-community collaboration in practice. Chapters include recent research on school-community collaboration from the perspective of teachers, school district leaders, administrators, and support staff within two school districts in a low-income and culturally diverse urban community. The book also includes perspectives from community members involved in organizations across the city with a mandate to work with youth. In a time where students' academic, social, and emotional support needs are on the rise, this book offers a valuable resource for strengthening school-community relations and demonstrating the power of collaboration.

A grassroots understanding of well-being can be an effective approach to meeting the needs of children in low-resource settings. Due to this, evidence on how to sustain such approaches is needed. "Successful Pathways for the Well-Being of Black Students" addresses a long-standing need for a book that focuses more on strength over weakness, inclusion over exclusion, health over neurosis, agency over passiveness, and future over the past of Black students' well-being. The book also articulates a vision for the kind of educational environment where Black students can thrive. Covering key topics such as community, workplace well-being, stress, and relationships, this premier reference source is ideal for administrators, policymakers, academicians, researchers, scholars, practitioners, librarians, instructors, and students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated challenges in the early care and education (ECE) sector, including: preexisting structural flaws; insufficient funding mechanisms; sector fragmentation; inadequate support for the workforce; and inequalities, such as the lack of access to high-quality care among low-income, rural populations, and communities of color. Addressing the impacts of the pandemic and the resulting economic recession on the ECE sector will require that state, local, and tribal decision makers use available COVID-19 relief funds to mitigate those impacts while also laying the foundation for longer-term solutions. This rapid expert consultation identifies mitigation strategies that could be implemented to achieve these goals. These strategies include: (1) Reduce the rate of closures; (2) Assist the ECE workforce; (3) Modify subsidy reimbursement and payment policies; (4) Improve coordination of the ECE sector and funding systems; and (5) Integrate data systems across provider and funding types.

This book is a critical-cultural evaluation of educational technology adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa, including projects such as the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). It presents efficient ways of improving education delivery among low-income communities through designing and implementing congruent educational technologies that incorporate social and cultural proclivities. Ezumah defines technology with regards to pedagogy, and seeks to debunk the assumption that educational technology consists only of digital and interactive options. Additionally, she argues for a narrative paradigm shift aimed at validating analog technologies as equally capable of providing necessary and desired educational objectives and outcomes for communities who cannot afford the digital alternatives. By comparing African educational systems in precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial times and incorporating the history of technology transfers from the Global North to South, the book highlights cultural imperialism, development theory, neocolonialism, and hegemonic tendencies.

Meaning-making is an essential feature of social life: as humans make their way through their daily lives, they inevitably interpret themselves, their actions, those of others, and the environment that surround them. Thus, understanding social life requires attending to the cultural dimension of reality. Yet, when it comes to the study of low-income populations, factoring in culture has often been a contentious project. This is because explaining poverty through culture has been equated with blaming the poor for their predicaments. Lamont and Small (2008) and Harding, Lamont and Small (2010) have tried to move the debate forward by making a case for integrating culture in explanations of poverty. They have suggested that this requires going beyond the “culture of poverty” debate to incorporate concepts that cultural sociologists have developed and used over the last thirty years to understand the role of meaning making in basic social processes: concepts such as frames, narratives, institutions, repertoires, and boundaries.1 These concepts are analytical devices typically used to capture intersubjective definitions of reality, as opposed to normative positions. They have been useful for identifying a diversity of frameworks through which low-income populations understand their reality and develop paths for mobility. The present paper builds on these contributions by exploring the place of culture in studies of American low-income populations in three important areas of social life: family, neighborhood, and work. The three core sections of this paper describe scholarship that has incorporated culture concepts from cultural sociology, as well as other approaches to culture, to illuminate crucial aspects of social processes related to poverty considered as an explanans or an explanandum. Each section concludes with a few proposals for future research., Sociology

There are over 20 million young people of color in the United States whose representation in STEM education pathways and in the STEM workforce is still far below their numbers in the general population. Their participation could help re-establish the United States' preeminence in STEM innovation and productivity, while also increasing the number of well-educated STEM workers. There are nearly 700 minority-serving institutions (MSIs) that provide pathways to STEM educational success and workforce readiness for millions of students of color--and do so in a mission-driven and intentional manner. They vary substantially in their origins, missions, student demographics, and levels of institutional selectivity. But in general, their service to the nation provides a gateway to higher education and the workforce, particularly for underrepresented students of color and those from low-income and first-generation to college backgrounds. The challenge for the nation is how to capitalize on the unique strengths and attributes of these institutions and to equip them with the resources, exceptional faculty talent, and vital infrastructure needed to educate and train an increasingly critical portion of current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and health professionals. Minority Serving Institutions examines the nation's MSIs and identifies promising programs and effective strategies that have the highest potential return on investment for the nation by increasing the quantity and quality MSI STEM graduates. This study also provides critical information and perspective about the importance of MSIs to other stakeholders in the nation's system of higher education and the organizations that support them. [Contributors include Policy and Global Affairs; Board on Higher Education and Workforce; Committee on Closing the Equity Gap: Securing Our STEM Education and Workforce Readiness Infrastructure in the Nation's Minority Serving Institutions.]

U.S. students exit undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs at alarming rates. Less than 50 percent of the undergraduate students who enter STEM degree programs as aspiring freshmen complete degrees in these areas. This is especially true for minorities, whose departure from STEM degree programs is often twice the rate of others. "Broadening Participation in STEM" features chapters from developers of high impact educational practices and programs that have been effective at broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines. It explores strategies used with special populations of STEM aspirants including minority groups such as African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans; persons from economically disadvantaged background; and persons with disabilities. This volume contributes to national knowledge of best practices in educating underrepresented students aspiring to STEM careers. This book provides campus-based faculty, administrators, and diversity professionals with a guide that can be used to develop programs designed to address specific student success and inclusion goals in STEM programs.

The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Teaming and Collaboration: Building and Sustaining Partnerships" is the sixth edition of the DEC Recommended Practices Monograph Series, and it offers professionals and families multiple ways to implement the teaming and collaboration practices across the settings in which children grow and learn.

For children and youth, summertime presents a unique break from the traditional structure, resources, and support systems that exist during the school year. For some students, this time involves opportunities to engage in fun and enriching activities and programs, while others face additional challenges as they lose a variety of supports, including healthy meals, medical care, supervision, and structured programs that enhance development. Children that are limited by their social, economic, or physical environments during the summer months are at higher risk for worse academic, health, social and emotional, and safety outcomes. In contrast, structured summertime activities and programs support basic developmental needs and positive outcomes for children and youth who can access and afford these programs. These discrepancies in summertime experiences exacerbate pre-existing academic inequities. While further research is needed regarding the impact of summertime on developmental domains outside of the academic setting, extensive literature exists regarding the impact of summertime on academic development trajectories. However, this knowledge is not sufficiently applied to policy and practice, and it is important to address these inequalities. "Shaping Summertime Experiences" examines the impact of summertime experiences on the developmental trajectories of school-age children and youth across four areas of well-being, including academic learning, social and emotional development, physical and mental health, and health-promoting and safety behaviors. It also reviews the state of science and available literature regarding the impact of summertime experiences. In addition, this report provides recommendations to improve the experiences of children over the summertime regarding planning, access and equity, and opportunities for further research and data collection.

West Baltimore stands out in the popular imagination as the quintessential "inner city"--gritty, run-down, and marred by drugs and gang violence. Indeed, with the collapse of manufacturing jobs in the 1970s, the area experienced a rapid onset of poverty and high unemployment, with few public resources available to alleviate economic distress. But in stark contrast to the image of a perpetual "urban underclass" depicted in television by shows like "The Wire," sociologists Karl Alexander, Doris Entwisle, and Linda Olson present a more nuanced portrait of Baltimore's inner city residents that employs important new research on the significance of early-life opportunities available to low-income populations. "The Long Shadow" focuses on children who grew up in west Baltimore neighborhoods and others like them throughout the city, tracing how their early lives in the inner city have affected their long-term well-being. Although research for this book was conducted in Baltimore, that city's struggles with deindustrialization, white flight, and concentrated poverty were characteristic of most East Coast and Midwest manufacturing cities. The experience of Baltimore's children who came of age during this era is mirrored in the experiences of urban children across the nation. For 25 years, the authors of "The Long Shadow" tracked the life progress of a group of almost 800 predominantly low-income Baltimore school children through the Beginning School Study Youth Panel (BSSYP). The study monitored the children's transitions to young adulthood with special attention to how opportunities available to them as early as first grade shaped their socioeconomic status as adults. The authors' fine-grained analysis confirms that the children who lived in more cohesive neighborhoods, had stronger families, and attended better schools tended to maintain a higher economic status later in life. As young adults, they held higher-income jobs and had achieved more personal milestones (such as marriage) than their lower-status counterparts. Differences in race and gender further stratified life opportunities for the Baltimore children. As one of the first studies to closely examine the outcomes of inner-city whites in addition to African Americans, data from the BSSYP shows that by adulthood, white men of lower status family background, despite attaining less education on average, were more likely to be employed than any other group in part due to family connections and long-standing racial biases in Baltimore's industrial economy. Gender imbalances were also evident: the women, who were more likely to be working in low-wage service and clerical jobs, earned less than men. African American women were doubly disadvantaged insofar as they were less likely to be in a stable relationship than white women, and therefore less likely to benefit from a second income. Combining original interviews with Baltimore families, teachers, and other community members with the empirical data gathered from the authors' groundbreaking research, "The Long Shadow" unravels the complex connections between socioeconomic origins and socioeconomic destinations to reveal a startling and much-needed examination of who succeeds and why.

The compendium of writings in this edited volume sheds light on the event "Race & Ethnicity: A Day of Discovery and Dialogue" at Washington University in St. Louis and the work current students, faculty, and staff are doing to improve inclusivity on campus and in St. Louis. The book includes speeches, reflections, art, and photography aligned with the Day of Discovery and Dialogue in addition to original academic work on race in higher education, race in St. Louis, and race in the United States. Leading scholars and emerging voices feature in this volume, filling a void in the race and higher education literature since it will foreground a case study of a single university at the epicenter of a national racial crisis and how a university-wide event brought a campus together. This praxis focus may have far reaching impact in aiding other universities across the country in addressing racial tensions in their own communities.

Chicago has long struggled with racial residential segregation, high rates of poverty, and deepening class stratification, and it can be a challenging place for adolescents to grow up. "Unequal City" examines the ways in which Chicago's most vulnerable residents navigate their neighborhoods, life opportunities, and encounters with the law. In this pioneering analysis of the intersection of race, place, and opportunity, sociologist and criminal justice expert Carla Shedd illuminates how schools either reinforce or ameliorate the social inequalities that shape the worlds of these adolescents. Shedd draws from an array of data and in-depth interviews with Chicago youth to offer new insight into this understudied group. Focusing on four public high schools with differing student bodies, Shedd reveals how the predominantly low-income African American students at one school encounter obstacles their more affluent, white counterparts on the other side of the city do not face. Teens often travel long distances to attend school which, due to Chicago's segregated and highly unequal neighborhoods, can involve crossing class, race, and gang lines. As Shedd explains, the disadvantaged teens who traverse these boundaries daily develop a keen "perception of injustice," or the recognition that their economic and educational opportunities are restricted by their place in the social hierarchy. Adolescents' worldviews are also influenced by encounters with law enforcement while traveling to school and during school hours. Shedd tracks the rise of metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and pat-downs at certain Chicago schools. Along with police procedures like stop-and-frisk, these prison-like practices lead to distrust of authority and feelings of powerlessness among the adolescents who experience mistreatment either firsthand or vicariously. Shedd finds that the racial composition of the student body profoundly shapes students' perceptions of injustice. The more diverse a school is, the more likely its students of color will recognize whether they are subject to discriminatory treatment. By contrast, African American and Hispanic youth whose schools and neighborhoods are both highly segregated and highly policed are less likely to understand their individual and group disadvantage due to their lack of exposure to youth of differing backgrounds.

Reviews Toni Morrison's novel "Sula" as a celebration of the working-class African American. The characters of this novel provide an understanding of the social, psychological, and sociological issues that might otherwise have been evident only to African Americans. (SLD)

L. Goldberg, T. W. Schultz, and M. Piel comment on proposed funding strategies for an allowance for child care for poor families, the creation of a parental leave policy to ensure infant care, and a plan to link public schooling and child care. The commentaries suggest proposal refinements or alternatives. (SLD)

Reviews textbook by Christina Szanton Blanc and others, incorporating viewpoints of students. Analyzes chapters focusing on particular countries, noting that the book sheds light on the old problem of disadvantaged children in postindustrial cities while also shedding new light on the more recent challenge of supporting human development in the cities of developing countries. (BGC)

Eleven articles highlight successful youth programs in health, physical education, and recreation, examining partnerships between schools, community agencies, and parks and recreation departments. The articles discuss issues of program evaluation, cultural diversity, inner city programs, skating, interagency collaboration, partnerships in education, university school cooperation, self-empowerment for girls, military families, and homosexuality. (SM)

Reviews a new textbook of West Virginia history, published in 1993 and intended for upper high school and college students. Praises the book's liberal use of firsthand accounts and its clarification of significant historical issues (such as factors leading to statehood), but criticizes its avoidance of issues of corporate exploitation and negligence in the state. (SV)

Kozol's books examine how public schools perpetuate racial injustice, noting ethical abdication by the affluent in violation of children's innocence and capability by urban schools. Schools fail children by deforming the spirit of the poor and soothing the conscience of the rich. Kozol demands greater resources for poor students. (SM)

Kozol's book, Savage Inequalities, examines inequality between urban and suburban education and encourages suburban residents to reflect on U.S. education since the 1970s and on the role of their communities in structuring the current savage inequalities. The book suggests affluent parents successfully transmit their ideology of inequality to their offspring. (SM)

Reviews the following books: (1) "The Reading Crisis: Why Poor Children Fall Behind"; (2) "Prevention of Child Maltreatment: Developmental and Ecological Perspectives"; (3) "Attention and Information Processing in Infants and Adults: Perspectives from Human and Animal Research"; and (4) "Children's Interpersonal Trust: Sensitivity to Lying, Deception, and Promise Violations." (MM)

Raises concerns about the procedures used and conclusions drawn in C. Bolon's article on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System 10th grade mathematics tests. Bolon's conclusions do not follow from his data, as described. (SLD)

Addresses the criticisms and points made by S. Michelson and V. Willson and N. Kellow, demonstrating weaknesses in their analyses and defending the original study of the relationship between per capita income and the scores of 10th graders on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment in mathematics. (SLD)

This rebuttal provides a more complete description of the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative than the previous article, describes the Program Improvement Review process in more detail and outlines its role in the overall project, and provides data that supports the program's overall effectiveness. (Author/SLD)

Reviews Corson's book on changes in educational strategies intended for immigrant girls, aboriginal peoples, urban poor, and language minority groups, and the way educators value student groups differently. Considers classroom suggestions for dealing with bias against nonstandard language use and the book's examination on differences in the education of immigrant girls. (JPB)

The authors of proposals for a child care allowance for poor families, a parental leave program to ensure infant care, and a linkage of child care and public education systems respond to comments by three reviewers. The commentaries illustrate the diversity of perspectives on child care and the public sector. (SLD)

Reviews "Fair Start for Children," (Mary Larner and others), book summarizing efforts and effects of seven projects funded by the Ford Foundation in diverse communities in the United States during the early 1980s. The projects, part of the Child Survival/Fair Start network, addressed issues related to infant health among low-income families underserved by traditional health and human services. (TJQ)

College-for-all has become the new American dream. Most high school students today express a desire to attend college, and 90 percent of on-time high school graduates enroll in higher education in the eight years following high school. Yet, degree completion rates remain low for nontraditional students--students who are older, low-income, or have poor academic achievement--even at community colleges that endeavor to serve them. What can colleges do to reduce dropouts? In "Bridging the Gaps," education scholars James Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn, and Janet Rosenbaum argue that when institutions focus only on bachelor's degrees and traditional college procedures, they ignore other pathways to educational and career success. Using multiple longitudinal studies, the authors evaluate the shortcomings and successes of community colleges and investigate how these institutions can promote alternatives to BAs and traditional college procedures to increase graduation rates and improve job payoffs. The authors find that sub-baccalaureate credentials--associate degrees and college certificates--can improve employment outcomes. Young adults who complete these credentials have higher employment rates, earnings, autonomy, career opportunities, and job satisfaction than those who enroll but do not complete credentials. Sub-BA credentials can be completed at community college in less time than bachelor's degrees, making them an affordable option for many low-income students. "Bridging the Gaps" shows that when community colleges overemphasize bachelor's degrees, they tend to funnel resources into remedial programs and try to get low-performing students on track for a BA. Yet, remedial programs have inconsistent success rates and can create unrealistic expectations, leading struggling students to drop out before completing any degree. The authors show that colleges can devise procedures that reduce remedial placements and help students discover unseen abilities, attain valued credentials, get good jobs, and progress on degree ladders to higher credentials. To turn college-for-all into a reality, community college students must be aware of their multiple credential and career options. "Bridging the Gaps" shows how colleges can create new pathways for nontraditional students to achieve success in their schooling and careers.