Nearly one-third of U.S. children under age 12 live in families that lack food at some point during the year or are at risk of serious food shortages during that time, according to a study by a nutrition watchdog group.
About 13.6 million children are in low-income families with some food shortages during the year--29 percent of all children under 12--according to the Washington-based Food Research and Action Center. Of those children, about four million qualify as “hungry” and 9.6 million are at “risk of hunger,” the group said in releasing the study last month.
The results come from interviews with 5,023 low-income families in nine states and the District of Columbia between 1992 and 1994, which asked a series of questions about the availability of food in the home. Statewide and nationwide projections were based on U.S. Census data.
FRAC released a similar report in 1991, which estimated that more children were hungry at that time--some 5.5 million under age 12. But in that report, fewer children--six million--were deemed at risk of hunger than in the new study. (See Education Week, 4/3/91.)
New Approaches: Nearly all the nation’s colleges and universities--99 percent--say they are exploring new classroom uses of technology, says a report released last week by the American Council on Education.
The 12th annual survey of postsecon~d~ary institutions also showed that colleges are changing their courses to improve learning. Their efforts include more in~stitution~wide academic planning and restructuring courses to bolster active learning and multicultural awareness.
Institutions are also collaborating more with other colleges and universities, improving their graduate programs, and expanding their involvement with international programs, the report says.
Campuses continue to suffer financially and are having to become more efficient in their program offerings, the study found, while students are taking out bigger loans and working more to pay for school.
Copies of “Campus Trends, 1995" are available for $20 each ($18 for A.C.E. members), prepaid, from the American Council on Education, Department 36, Washington, D.C. 20055-0036; (202) 939-9450.
