9450209 Hiatt The Academy of Arts and Sciences, under the direction of Howard Hiatt, M.D., as the Principal Investigator, will conduct a series of conferences intended to enable participants and the broader community, especially those involved in the Urban Systemic Initiatives (USI), to understand and address the problems faced by children living in poverty and the impact of these problems on urban learning communities. Two of the conferences, "The Economics of Child Poverty," (conducted jointly with the Children's Defense League) and "Economic, Health and Family Status Indicators" will be funded by the National Science Foundation. The conferences will bring together social science researchers, community and government agencies, members of funded USI cities and other interested parties. They will probe beneath factual associations to understand the primary and secondary causal mechanisms for children's learning and living problems. Their objectives include: * reviewing existing knowledge. * focusing public attention on conditions affecting the teaching and learning of mathematics and science. * suggesting educational programs that will lead to systemic reform. * promulgating conference results. * identifying topics for further research.
