In recent years, issues affecting children and youth have received increased attention at the national and local levels, with numerous reports detailing challenges and offering solutions. Targeted toward policymakers, practitioners, scholars, and those seeking understanding of ideas for social and educational reform, this book focuses on promising solutions to problems facing today's children and youth in urban and other settings, with special consideration to education and child development programs, policies, and practices. Each chapter, written by a variety of experts in social, educational, and health sciences, summarizes and integrates research in a particular area and discusses implications of the research for program and policy development. The introductory chapter highlights major themes, and the remaining chapters describe conditions and interventions that enhance prospects of children and youth, focusing on home, school, and community contexts. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction and Overview" (Arthur J. Reynolds, Herbert J. Walberg, and Roger P. Weissberg); (2) "Developmental Theory as a Basis for Policy" (Olivia N. Saracho); (3) "Early Childhood Development" (Douglas R. Powell); (4) "Building Relationships for Learning" (Dorothy Rich); (5) "School-Family Partnerships" (Evanthia N. Patrikakou, Roger P. Weissberg, and Michelle I. Rubenstein); (6) "Using Motivational Theory to Guide School Reform" (Carol Midgley and Martin L. Maehr); (7) "Promoting Safe Educational and Community Environments" (David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson); (8)"Preventing Drug Abuse" (Gilbert J. Botvin and Kenneth W. Griffin); (9) "Promoting Excellence in American Adolescents" (Toni Falbo and Robert W. Glover); (10) "Promoting Literacy and the Concept of Possibility" (Vivian L. Gadsden, Wanda Brooks, and Jacqueline K. Jackson); (11) "Preparing Youth for the Work Force" (Stephen F. Hamilton); (12) "Psychological and Educational Resilience" (Margaret C. Wang, Geneva D. Haertel, and Herbert J. Walberg). Each chapter contains references. (KB)

In the United States, preschool education is characterized by the dominance of a variegated private sector and patchy, uncoordinated oversight of the public sector. Tracing the history of the American debate over preschool education, Andrew Karch argues that the current state of decentralization and fragmentation is the consequence of a chain of reactions and counterreactions to policy decisions dating from the late 1960s and early 1970s, when preschool advocates did not achieve their vision for a comprehensive national program but did manage to foster initiatives at both the state and national levels. Over time, beneficiaries of these initiatives and officials with jurisdiction over preschool education have become ardent defenders of the status quo. Today, advocates of greater government involvement must take on a diverse and entrenched set of constituencies resistant to policy change. In his close analysis of the politics of preschool education, Karch demonstrates how to apply the concepts of policy feedback, critical junctures, and venue shopping to the study of social policy.