Social Problems Affecting Students

Child Stats
This is the web site of the Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a collaborative effort of 20 federal agencies. The group publishes an annual report titled "America’s Children," that tracks indicators of children’s well-being in the areas of family characteristics, economic status, health, behavior, and education.

Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)
Marian Wright Edelman leads one of America's best-known children's advocacy groups. Check out some of the challenging issues the CDF is tackling.

Future of Children
Choose articles that interest you from this online journal, published with the goal of disseminating "timely information on major issues related to children's well-being." You can also link to a number of related online journals from the organization's home page.

At-Risk Students
The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory offers a collection of multimedia articles on helping at-risk students as part of its excellent "Pathways to Improvement" series.

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk
This national research center, based in Baltimore, studies ways to help children who are at risk for school failure.

Institute for Research on Poverty
You can find information about a variety of topics, including education, at the web site of this research institute at the University of Wisconsin.

National Center for Children in Poverty
This research center's mission is "identifying strategies prevent child poverty in the United States and improve the lives of low-income children and families."

Poverty and Learning
This "digest" from ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, gives you a thorough background on the connection between socioeconomic status and school achievement, along with a few resources for further research.

National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
The goal of this organization is to reduce the number of unwanted teen pregnancies by one-third by 2005. At their web site, you can read research reports or view videos on the causes, consequences, and prevention of unwanted pregnancy.

Prevent Child Abuse
This national organization dedicated to stopping child abuse of all kinds has chapters in 39 states. The web site links you to a great deal of information as well as to other resources.

National Institute on Drug Abuse
This federal government organization offers teachers, parents, and students information on commonly abused drugs, prevention, and more

Safe and Drug-Free Schools
This U.S. Department of Education program funds safety programs and provides research on school safety issues.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
This organization’s web site offers a great deal of information about suicide, including a special section on youth suicide.

Violence and Safety
The weekly online publication Education Week has put together this "hot topic" summary of recent information and action toward making schools safer.

Virginia Youth Violence Project
The Virginia Youth Violence Project identifies effective methods and policies for youth violence prevention, especially in school settings.

Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
The web site of this research center contains many good ideas, references, programs, and links related to violence prevention.

Bullying
Education World has put together this collection of articles and web links about how to stop bullying.

Bully-Proof Your Classroom
This article, from an experienced teacher, gives several practical suggestions for avoiding and responding to bullying behavior among students.

National Dropout Prevention Center
The web site of this research center, based at Clemson University, offers concise overviews of several strategies found to be effective at keeping students in school.

Tension Points in American Education

Equity Center
The Equity Center at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory offers regularly updated information, links to other equity sites, and a special site dealing with equity in technology.

National Coalition for Equity in Education
This is an organization of educators at all grade levels who are working to create gender, racial, and social equity in education.

Hot Topics
The weekly online publication, Education Week, has created "hot topic" summaries of information about school choice, charters schools, and vouchers. The articles also each include several links to sources for more information.

Customizing Our Schools
The April 2002 issue of the journal Educational Leadership, published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, focuses on school choice, and includes articles that examine various facets of the issues involved.

Program on Educational Policy and Governance
Located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, this program issues numerous reports on school choice.

Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
The Fordham Foundation is a conservative group that issues many papers and positions supporting vouchers and charter schools.

Changed by Charters
This three-part special report series appeared in 2002 in the weekly online publication, Education Week, examining the effect of charter schools on American education.

American Association of University Women
The mission of this national organization is to promote education and equity for all women and girls.

Center for Gender Equity
This center at the Washington Research Institute is responsible for a number of research projects designed to promote gender equity.

Gender Equity
The weekly publication Education Week has created this "hot topic" summary of information and resources on gender equity.