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Rachel Jones Rachel Jones reports on education, social policy, and welfare reform issues at NPR. She has also covered children’s health and development, as well as well as racial disparities in health care.
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Rachel Jones

Wednesday

Education

Teachers, Schools Challenge No Child Left Behind Law

Nine school districts and the nation's largest teacher's union file a federal lawsuit in Michigan claiming the No Child Left Behind Act has placed new demands on school districts without providing the funding to pay for them.

Teachers, Schools Challenge No Child Left Behind Law

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Saturday

Children's Health

Study Finds Link Between Daycare, Aggression

A government study on daycare suggests that the quality of daycare matters more than the amount of time a child spends there. But researchers also found that in some cases, long-term daycare can make children more aggressive.

Study Finds Link Between Daycare, Aggression

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Wednesday

Sports

Maine Aims to Ease Pressures on Student Athletes

A new Maine initiative seeks to change the culture of competitiveness for student athletes, especially at the middle and high school level. The project urges coaches and parents to acknowledge negative behaviors surrounding school sports, and make a public pledge to change them.

Maine Aims to Ease Pressures on Student Athletes

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Wednesday

Health

Journal Focuses on Black-White Mortality Gap

In an issue of the journal Health Affairs that is devoted to racial disparities in health care, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher calls for greater equality in health care to close the gaps between blacks and whites in death rates and life expectancy.

Journal Focuses on Black-White Mortality Gap

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Thursday

Education

University Program Courts Black Male Teaching Students

A program at South Carolina's Clemson University and other colleges strives to ease the drastic shortage of black male teachers in the state's elementary schools.

University Program Courts Black Male Teaching Students

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Sunday

Education

Governors Focus on High School

Forty-two of the nation's governors come to Washington to demand more funding for education at the National Education Summit. At issue are the costs many states are incurring in their attempts to follow the No Child Left Behind Act.

Governors Focus on High School

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Wednesday

Education

College Grading System Considers Student Effort

A historically black college in South Carolina rewards students not just for the quality of their work, but for the effort they put into it. But some complain that the policy puts the value of students' education into question.

College Grading System Considers Student Effort

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Saturday

Health Care

Aiding Those on Wrong Side of Health-Care Divide

While low-wage workers are the least likely to have health insurance, they are the most likely to have serious health problems. The problem is highlighted at a clinic which reaches out to people who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid. but whose jobs carry no insurance.

Aiding Those on Wrong Side of Health-Care Divide

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Friday

Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004-05

Tsunami Disaster Puts Focus on Child Trafficking

Many are concerned that children orphaned by the tsunami disaster are being kidnapped or sold into slavery. Though most such reports have proven false, authorities in countries affected by the disaster are taking steps to protect young victims from exploitation. Hear NPR's Rachel Jones.

Tsunami Disaster Puts Focus on Child Trafficking

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Friday

National

Medicaid on Rise in Budgets

A report released by the National Governors Association finds that, for the first time, 22 states are spending more on Medicaid than on K through 12 education. The study suggest this surprising new trend isn't going to change anytime soon. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

Medicaid on Rise in Budgets

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Friday

National

Study Finds Mixed Results in Hope Six Housing Project

New research examines what happens to residents displaced in the federal Hope Six program. The 14-year-old program seeks to tear down old public housing projects and replace them with a mixture of affordable housing. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

Study Finds Mixed Results in Hope Six Housing Project

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Thursday

Education

Long-Term Effects of Pre-school Project Examined

Rachel Jones reports on the results of four decades of research on the Perry Pre-school Project, a precursor to Head Start and a model for preschool programs nationwide. The study was begun in 1962 and followed 123 people from pre-school until the present, to determine how that early childhood experience may have affected their lives.

Long-Term Effects of Pre-school Project Examined

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Friday

Wednesday

Education

N.C. Child Care Program Seen as National Model

NPR's Rachel Jones reports on North Carolina's advanced childcare system called Smart Start. The decade-old program has worked as a model for other state-run child care programs.

N.C. Child Care Program Seen as National Model

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Monday

Children's Health

Study Rates Adolescent Drug Treatment Programs

A new study offers a Consumer Reports-style analysis of adolescent drug treatment programs. The study, which appears in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, sets research-based standards of quality for teen substance abuse programs. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

Study Rates Adolescent Drug Treatment Programs

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