The social sector's hottest "impact investing" product--the social impact bond (SIB)--has generated a range of reactions, from excitement to angst. An SIB uses private funds to pay for a social, educational, or health program, and the government repays investors (plus a return) only if the program achieves prespecified results. The…

Background: While demand for youth violence prevention programs increases, the ability of the school-day schedule to accommodate their time requirements has diminished. Viable school-based prevention programs must strike a balance between brevity and effectiveness. This article reports results from an effectiveness trial of a 12-session…

Lack of money has long kept promising preventive programs from expanding. Existing government-funded programs are furthermore subject to budgetary cutbacks or complete loss of funding. Moreover, preventive programs traditionally offer no accountability for success or failure. This leaves government entities in a bind where if they invest their…

School-based character education and violence prevention programs focus on improving prosocial competencies and reducing negative behaviors in students. The Capturing Kids' Hearts Campus by Design model is a school-level intervention that impacts student behavior by enhancing school climate through improved relational and conflict management…

The Big Read evaluation included a series of 35 case studies designed to gather more in-depth information on the program's implementation and impact. The case studies gave readers a valuable first-hand look at The Big Read in context. Both formal and informal interviews, focus groups, attendance at a wide range of events--all showed how…

The authors present the feasibility and acceptability of a parent sexuality education program led by peer educators in community settings. They also report the results of an outcome evaluation with 71 parents who were randomized to the intervention or a control group and surveyed one month prior to and six months after the four-week intervention.…

This report focuses on the seven original Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects selected for funding in 2003. Three of the original seven projects were selected for a national random assignment evaluation in 2005; however, this report only focuses on program operations prior to joining the random assignment evaluation for the three…

Under the larger scope of the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning, SEDL funded three awardees to carry out large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing the efficacy of promising literacy curricula in afterschool settings on student academic achievement. SEDL provided analytic and technical support to the RCT studies…

Neither health education nor suspension appears to help tobacco-addicted students cut back or stop smoking completely. This article describes a Long Island high school's efforts to help 27 (volunteer) students develop their own smoke-cessation program. Most participants, who had begun smoking in middle school, reduced their tobacco dependency, and…

The Child and Adolescent Trauma Treatments and Services Consortium (CATS) was the largest youth trauma project associated with the September 11 World Trade Center disaster. CATS was created as a collaborative project involving New York State policymakers; academic scientists; clinical treatment developers; and routine practicing clinicians,…

This report analyzes problems in New York State efforts to reduce unwanted adolescent pregnancy and its associated problems. Following an executive summary and introduction, the report consists of five sections. Section 1 details the framework and background for the Task Force recommendations. Section 2 provides an overview of current efforts to…