Equal access to education is an important American ideal, yet for many years it has been unavailable to a large number of Americans living in impoverished communities. Biddle gives an insightful progress report on today's educational system.

Chapter 1 - Poverty, Ethnicity, and Achievement in American Schools Bruce J. Biddle Chapter 2 - First Person Plural: Education as Public Property Peter W. Cookson, Jr. Chapter 3 - Poverty, Welfare Reform, and Children's Achievement Greg J. Duncan and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn Chapter 4 - Linking Bordieu's Concept of Capital to the Broader Field: The Case of Family-School Relationships Annette Lareau Chapter 5 - Defensive Network Orientations as Internalized Oppression: How Schools Mediate the Influence of Social Class on Adolescent Development Ricardo D. Stanton-Salazar Chapter 6 - Family Disadvantage, The Self, and Academic Achievement David L. DuBois Chapter 7 - Policy, Poverty, and Capable Teaching: Assumptions and Issues in Policy Design Michael S. Knapp Chapter 8 - Social Class, Poverty, and Schooling: Social Contexts, Educational Practices, and Policy Options Peter M. Hall Name Index Subject Index Contributors