sions on hiring and retaining teachers in the spring, and they need to know what funds are available, the date for the decision could not be changed. The panel would have liked more time for obtaining more information and preparing this report, but the panel wants to respond to its mandate to help the Department of Education meet the pressing needs of school districts.

The panel reviewed the work of Census Bureau staff at three meetings—in June, October, and December 1996. During this time, the Census Bureau was still conducting its work. It provided provisional estimates to the Department of Education and our panel on January 7, 1997. Later that month, the Department of Commerce informed the panel that those preliminary estimates were to serve the purposes of the legislation.

We thank the staff of the Department of Education and the Bureau of the Census for their untiring assistance to us, especially under the pressures of time. Many people helped us with evaluations we requested and with careful reviews of technical descriptions in our report. We also thank TerriAnn Lowenthal, of the Rothleder-Lowenthal Group, for providing information on the legislative history of small-area poverty estimates and our study.

I thank my colleagues on the panel for their valuable contributions to our deliberations, investigations, and report and for doing so under a very demanding situation. We were fortunate to have been assisted by a very able staff. Above all, we are appreciative of research associate Kirsten K. West, who prepared many drafts of the panel's report. Michael L. Cohen served as interim study director and contributed to the report in many ways. Constance Citro began working with us during the intensive process of report revisions, and we are delighted that she will be the study director for the next phase of the project. Meyer Zitter, who served as a consultant, investigated a number of technical issues for the panel. Eugenia Grohman, associate director for reports of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, edited the report and also assisted in our deliberations. We also benefited from the helpful advice of Miron L. Straf of the Committee on National Statistics. Margaret Gill and Kathleen Saslaw provided administrative support for our study, and Candice Evans assisted in the production of the report. To all we are grateful.