Evidence-based reform in education refers to policies that enable or encourage the use of programs and practices proven to be effective in rigorous research. This article discusses the increasing role of evidence in educational policy, rapid growth in availability of proven approaches, and development of reviews of research to summarize the…

This paper presents a summary of data from one program, Success for All, that is in the process of making the transition from local pilot to national model. Earlier evaluations of Success for All in its original home, Baltimore (Maryland), have shown that it can be highly successful in increasing reading achievement among very disadvantaged…

This report explores the technical, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of the scaling up process of Success for All (SFA), one of the nation's most successful and extensively researched whole-school change models. SFA, a reform effort aimed at elementary schools serving disadvantaged children, is currently being implemented in over 475…

This paper describes the second year of the Success for All program, which tries to assure that each student in an inner-city school succeeds in acquiring basic skills in the early grades. The program was first implemented in the 1987-88 school year in Abbottson Elementary School in Baltimore. First year results revealed substantially higher…