Discusses innovations in arts-teacher training, such as partnerships and interdisciplinary, integrated, and individualized programs. Features excerpts from Dana's 2007 symposium and profiles of best practices at twenty-four higher-education institutions.

Rates of graduation and degree completion at community colleges remain distressingly low. This report evaluates two versions of a program designed to help probationary students at community college succeed in school. One version increased the average number of credits earned, the proportion of students who earned a grade point average of "C" or higher, and the proportion who moved off probation.

Rates of graduation and degree completion at community colleges remain distressingly low. This report evaluates two versions of a program designed to help probationary students at community college succeed in school. One version increased the average number of credits earned, the proportion of students who earned a grade point average of "C" or higher, and the proportion who moved off probation.

The United States faces major challenges in sustaining a strong middle class in the decades ahead. Rapidly changing, often volatile economic conditions are making it more difficult to enter the middle class--and stay there. Even as the bar to a middle class life is raised higher, economic opportunity is fading. As a result, the most rapidly growing groups in the U.S. --particularly African Americans and Latinos--face growing obstacles to entering, and staying in, America's middle class. Drawing on recommendations from a previous Demos report, Millions to the Middle, we advocate policies that reinforce educational and economic opportunity for all Americans as the building blocks of a representative middle class. Foremost among these efforts should be developing programs that make college affordable, that foster homeownership and asset building and that ensure that work pays a living wage. We also advocate addressing discriminatory lending practices head on as one way to attack America's ongoing legacy of racial discrimination. We must bolster our existing opportunity infrastructure to prepare for the future middle class.

The United States faces major challenges in sustaining a strong middle class in the decades ahead. Rapidly changing, often volatile economic conditions are making it more difficult to enter the middle class--and stay there. Even as the bar to a middle class life is raised higher, economic opportunity is fading. As a result, the most rapidly growing groups in the U.S. --particularly African Americans and Latinos--face growing obstacles to entering, and staying in, America's middle class. Drawing on recommendations from a previous Demos report, Millions to the Middle, we advocate policies that reinforce educational and economic opportunity for all Americans as the building blocks of a representative middle class. Foremost among these efforts should be developing programs that make college affordable, that foster homeownership and asset building and that ensure that work pays a living wage. We also advocate addressing discriminatory lending practices head on as one way to attack America's ongoing legacy of racial discrimination. We must bolster our existing opportunity infrastructure to prepare for the future middle class.

The United States faces major challenges in sustaining a strong middle class in the decades ahead. Rapidly changing, often volatile economic conditions are making it more difficult to enter the middle class--and stay there. Even as the bar to a middle class life is raised higher, economic opportunity is fading. As a result, the most rapidly growing groups in the U.S. --particularly African Americans and Latinos--face growing obstacles to entering, and staying in, America's middle class. Drawing on recommendations from a previous Demos report, Millions to the Middle, we advocate policies that reinforce educational and economic opportunity for all Americans as the building blocks of a representative middle class. Foremost among these efforts should be developing programs that make college affordable, that foster homeownership and asset building and that ensure that work pays a living wage. We also advocate addressing discriminatory lending practices head on as one way to attack America's ongoing legacy of racial discrimination. We must bolster our existing opportunity infrastructure to prepare for the future middle class.

Developed in collaboration with the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, By a Thread: The New Experience of America's Middle Class looks at the financial security of the middle class using the innovative Middle Class Security Index, rating household stability across five core economic factors: assets, educational achievement, housing costs, budget and healthcare. The Index provides a comprehensive portrait of how well middle-class families are faring in each of these areas, with spotlight on the strengths and vulnerabilities of today's middle class.