This case study examines the educational needs of students attending two social affairs schools in Quebec. The aim was to determine why these youths continue to do poorly academically and why they fail to thrive once they leave the child welfare system, as described in the literature. Individual and environmental factors that hinder academic progress were investigated ethnographically. The chronic under-achievement characteristic of youths attending the social affairs schools appears to be due to a number of individual factors such as frequent school changes as well as to the mental health model that guides the social affairs schools. This model views educational difficulties to be secondary to psycho-social familial problems. As a result, appropriate educational assessments are not conducted and little attention is given to remediating learning difficulties that may prevent successful reintegration of students into regular schools and often exacerbate family dysfunction.

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This qualitative study explores the experiences of women who are welfare recipients attending a community college under the auspices of a new program, Washington State's WorkFirst/Work Study program. The study, conducted over two academic quarters, includes in-depth interviews with WorkFirst/Work Study students, observations in a weekly seminar, and interviews with community college staff who work in the program. The overarching research question is: "What are the challenges and the transition issues confronted by women who are living in poverty and participating in a community college program?" The research elicits responses about the women's expectations and fears about education, their aspirations for themselves and their children, what they hope to gain from the college experience and what barriers may interfere. The study identifies five contextual issues in the women's lives: family background and history, relationships, physical and psychological health, housing, and finances. And the study explores the participants' experience with and attitudes toward four thematic areas: parenting, welfare, work and school. A major goal was to give voice to these women. Underlying assumptions are that community college administrators and faculty want to improve access, success and satisfaction with the college for poor women; that learning about how poor women experience the community college gives college personnel valuable information; that Washington community colleges have an interest in working with WorkFirst; and that better understanding of WorkFirst/Work Study participants' experiences is valuable to the colleges and benefits low-income students. The women interviewed are highly motivated and believe that an education is key to a better life for them and their children. Some of the barriers they face are embedded in the restrictions and requirements of the WorkFirst program. Nevertheless, these women say they are better off on welfare, working and going to school than they were when they were among the working poor. The study questions the value of some vocational education and suggests that more low-income women could be recruited to community college earlier in their lives. / Graduation date: 2001

This study examined the perceptions held by former and current welfare-to-work participants of factors that contributed to the retention, persistence, attrition and/or completion of welfare-to-work training programs at a community college. Using the lived experiences and voices of former or current welfare-to-work participants and a qualitative research design, the researcher examined the following research questions: (a) What factors during the training impacted the movement of participants from welfare-to-work? (b) How did these factors enhance or serve as barriers to the movement of participants from welfare-to-work? This study was presented as a heuristic study of 12 former welfare participants who have transitioned or are currently transitioning from welfare to work. Using purposeful sampling, the researcher selected the participants for this study through self-identification or through nomination by program leaders and other program participants. Each of the 12 former welfare participants was interviewed about the situational, institutional, and dispositional aspects of their training. Demographic data were collected on each of the 12 participants for the purpose of a comparative analysis. Interviews of family members or friends of each of the participants validated the stories provided by the participant. Interviews with two administrators with direct responsibilities for some of the training programs for participants transitioning from welfare-to-work were also done to substantiate the stories of the participants. The findings of this study indicated three conclusions about the participants' perceptions of factors affecting their retention in welfare-to-work programs in a community college. / First, the participants' desires to break the cycles of generational welfare were evident in every aspect of the training from having a better life for their children to dealing with the embarrassment of receiving government assistance.Second, welfare-to-work training experiences were influenced by institutional factors such as instructional and institutional support or lack of support for education and career development, including mentoring. Third, personal factors such as family motivation and role models, religion, drive and determination, and the desire to make a difference shaped the participants' career training experiences and contributed to persistence and completion. / by Veronica Woodward Pino. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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