EDUCATING OUR GIRLS AND WELFARE MOTHERS - DISCUSSIONS OF EDUCATION POLICY FOR PREGNANT AND PARENTING ADOLESCENTS IN FEDERAL HEARINGS, 1975-1995

This article explores federal education policy for pregnant and parent ing teenagers by examining discussions about education in federal hear ings from 1975 to 1995. In this period, education policy for teen pare nts was captive to the two major policy contexts of teen pregnancy: th e perceived public health crisis of an ''epidemic'' of teen pregnancy and the perceived welfare crisis of the 1980s. Images of solo teen mot hers associated with these two policy contexts changed the way policym akers defined the educational needs of these young women: During the e pidemic, they defined education as an entitlement, but during the perc eived welfare crisis, they redefined it as a requirement The article c oncludes that the details of education programs were overshadowed by t he politics of the two policy crises, resulting in an unexamined incre asing reliance on the General Educational Development (GED) test in fe deral programs.