Faced with the problem of how to measure the magnitude of economic disadvantage in the populations served by schools or districts, researchers addressing school finance topics have invariably turned to the fraction of students eligible for free- or reduced-lunches (FRPL). But the facile dependence on FRPL may be problematic. A large and growing literature in learning sciences and in the field of education itself has pivoted towards studies that explore the relationship between social/emotional health and the learning of children. The growing body of research on social/emotional health and learning (e.g. Gershoff, Aber, Raver, and Lennon, 2007) suggests that more refined measures of wealth, income and hardship more fully account for the effects of economic disadvantage than does FRPL. Historically, research in school finance has not utilized these refined measures but instead has depended on FRPL. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a recent change in how student eligibility for free lunch is determined, may have the unintended, and yet fortuitous, consequence that it will force school finance researchers to use more sophisticated measures of student hardship. The CEP makes it possible for schools serving low-income populations to classify all students as eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch. Koedel and Parsons (2021) argue that, while FRPL might have been a workable measure of student disadvantage prior to CEP, post-CEP the extent of a school’s or a district’s population that is disadvantaged is no longer measured accurately by FRPL. The CEP made accurate FRPL counts less critical for many schools and districts; post-pandemic legislation (Vock, 2023) in a number of states to make school meals free for all students in those states has increased the number of districts for which accurate counts are unimportant. Fazlul, Koedel, and Parsons (2023) go on to argue that, even prior to CEP, FRPL failed to provide an accurate measure of a school or district’s poverty. This new policy environment makes it imperative to explore alternatives to FRPL and the implications for school finance. The book aims to provide a timely collection of new research on a measurement issue that is central to much research on K-12 education finance. The book is meant to serve scholars in education finance and policy who need a refined perspective on the context of schooling. The book is also meant to serve students and faculty from programs in public administration, public policy, community development and applied economics, education administration, educational leadership and policy studies who are studying content related to education policy, the economics of education, state and local public finance, and taxation. Some upper-level undergraduate students may also benefit from this resource. ENDORSEMENTS: "Fundamental to understanding the efficacy of many policies and interventions is having a clear picture of student poverty. The increasing uncertainty about the validity of student poverty measures due to changes in the free- and reduced-price lunch program in schools thus creates challenges for researchers and policymakers alike. This book offers insights into how to think about the ongoing utility of existing and new measures of students’ economic and social disadvantage, a topic that is both timely and important." — Dan Goldhaber, American Institutes for Research and University of Washington "Understanding differences across schools in what they provide for students and, particularly the extent to which students living in poverty have access to differential opportunities, is essential for effective policy making. Yet, policy makers and education decision makers have not had accurate measures of their students’ economic resources, especially since changes in the subsidized lunch program. This important book offers needed suggestions for a range of new and reliable measures and related directions for research to improve education decision-making." — Susanna Loeb, Stanford University

New York Times best seller Ever since Gabrielle Stanley Blair became a parent, she’s believed that a thoughtfully designed home is one of the greatest gifts we can give our families, and that the objects and decor we choose to surround ourselves with tell our family’s story. In this, her first book, Blair offers a room-by-room guide to keeping things sane, organized, creative, and stylish. She provides advice on getting the most out of even the smallest spaces; simple fixes that make it easy for little ones to help out around the house; ingenious storage solutions for the never-ending stream of kid stuff; rainy-day DIY projects; and much, much more.

Will Walker has written a collection of poems so intelligent and clear that reading them I wake up¿and find myself alive in the world. This is what art can do¿and every time it happens it¿s a miracle. Here is a miraculous book¿awake to what the Buddhists call the ¿full catastrophe¿ of living right now. If you want to feel yourself alive and in great company, buy this book and read it, and then pass it on.¿Marie Howe, author of The Kingdom of Ordinary TimeThere is a calm meditative grace to the poems in Will Walker¿s Wednesday After Lunch. His is a narrative ¿in the American grain,¿ to use William Carlos Williams¿ phrase. While some are quiet lyric poems of love of landscape and streetscape and quite human dogs, and some of a sweet domestic love, even asleep, a man and his wife ¿on your own side/of the bed/ split neatly into neighboring countries,¿ Walker¿s work has that very American room for Khrushchev at the UN pounding his shoe, and rhinestones, and Monopoly, and Jack Ruby, and Marilyn Monroe. In a tour de force of a poem, he writes of a dream of a bonfire, a barbecue on the flats in Provincetown, everyone from his Edenic past reunited, and ¿even the ocean loves to gather by fire.¿ These are poems to warm yourself by.¿Gail Mazur, author of Zeppo¿s First WifeIWf you want a batch of poems that are consistently good, if you consistently enjoy the poems of, say, Billy Collins or William Stafford or Sharon Olds, and if you were inclined to take any one of them with you to a desert island, mountain retreat, or simply to your own home, you may find yourself content in the company of Will Walker¿s poems. All things being relative in poetry, these poems tend toward the precise and the astounding; these are most often ¿stories¿ told with attention to where any parts of the story are likely to lead the reader, digression to detour and closer inspection to wider perspective: like the diagram of the city containing the aroma and curiosity of time before you¿past, future, present! The subjects journey, Italo Calvino-like, from what summons to what will not go away. In the space of these poems, there¿s a lot that won¿t go away and only some things, ephemeral by day, that are preserved as in a ghost-town you are happy to re-visit because when you do you, like the poet, will become closer to your nature.¿Peter Money, editor and publisher of Harbor Mountain PressWill Walker¿s poems are vivid, poignant, often funny, and always big-hearted. He writes with a keen eye, a generous heart, and an expansive spirit, both embracing the everyday and transcending it. His poems always make me see with new eyes. They are love poems to the world.¿Thea Sullivan, poet and teacher of The Intuitive Voice

More than 15 million persons suffer from Type 2 diabetes, a disease of insulin resistance. 50 Ways to Manage Type 2 Diabetes is a straightforward guide that offers 50 quick and easy solutions for minimizing the effects of the disease, preventing complications, and controlling blood sugar levels without daily insulin injections. It also includes an extensive meal planning section.

There's a battle going on in school lunchrooms around the country...and it's a battle our children can't afford for us to lose. The average kid will eat 4,000 school lunches between kindergarten and twelfth grade. But what exactly are kids eating in school lunchrooms around the country? Many parents don't quite know what their children are eating-or where it came from. As award-winning filmmaker and nutritionist Amy Kalafa discovered in researching her documentary film Two Angry Moms: Fighting for the Health of America's Children, these days it's pretty rare to find a piece of fresh fruit in your average school lunchroom amid all the chips, french fries, Pop-Tarts, chicken nuggets, and soda that's being served. But what, if anything, can parents do about it? Written in response to the onslaught of requests she received from parents who saw her film and asked, "If I want to attempt to change the food culture in my kid's school, how on earth should I get started?!" this empowering book arms parents with the specific information and tools they need to get unhealthy-even dangerous-food out of their children's school cafeteria and to hold their schools and local and national governments accountable for ensuring that their growing children are served healthy meals at school. In Lunch Wars, Kalafa explains all the complicated issues surrounding school food; how to work with your school's "Wellness Policy"; the basics of self- operated vs. outsourced cafeterias; how to get funding for a school garden, and much more. Lunch Wars also features the inspiring stories of parents around the country who have fought for better school food and have won, as well as details Amy's quest to spark a revolution in her own school district. For the future health and well-being of our children, the time has come for a school food revolution.

Focusing on an isolated community in central Australia, this highly-readable examination presents insights into the cultural underpinnings of indigenous daily life through evocative narratives revolving around five Warlpiri women. The seemingly contradictory realities of a distant hunter-gatherer past and current life in a first-world nation-state are addressed as this refreshing study answers questions about the specifics of camps, sleeping arrangements, public and private boundaries, and how indigenous people in praxis relate to each other. This analysis illuminates the personal, utilizing rich vignettes and narrative portraits to expand understandings of indigenous Australia.

James Schuyler's utterly original What's for Dinner? features a cast of characters who appear to have escaped from a Norman Rockwell painting to run amok. In tones that are variously droll, deadpan, and lyrical, Schuyler tells a story that revolves around three small-town American households. The Delehanteys are an old-fashioned Catholic family whose twin teenage boys are getting completely out of hand, no matter that their father is hardly one to spare the rod. Childless Norris and Lottie Taylor have been happily married for years, even as Lottie has been slowly drinking herself to death. Mag, a recent widow, is on the prowl for love. Retreating to an institution to dry out, Lottie finds herself caught up in a curious comedy of group therapy manners. At the same time, however, she begins an ascent from the depths of despair—illuminated with the odd grace and humor that readers of Schuyler's masterful poetry know so well—to a new understanding, that will turn her into an improbable redeemer within an unlikely world. What's for Dinner? is among the most delightful and unusual works of American literature. Charming and dark, off-kilter but pedestrian, mercurial yet matter-of-fact, Schuyler's novel is an alluring invention that captures both the fragility and the tenacity of ordinary life.