The goal of the "Closing the Achievement Gap for 21st Century Learners in West Virginia (CAG)" report, 3rd edition, is to update West Virginia educators to the status and improvement of student achievement in West Virginia which may then be utilized as a basis for determining future educational decisions. In order to enhance the quality…

The efforts of a large urban school district to apply research findings on effective elementary schools to improve the reading achievement of its low-income junior high school students were studied. The research objective was to create an ethnographic account of change. At the school district studied, the Comprehensive Reading/Language Arts…

Research on the results of welfare-to-work programs is both encouraging and sobering. On the one hand, it provides evidence that states can effectively implement various work-oriented programs to encourage large percentages of the welfare caseload to prepare for and enter the labor market. These programs range from rather low-intensity programs…

An attempt to identify methods of human resource management that emerge as schools and classrooms become more effective, this literature review emphasizes the importance of administrator "support functions," which include feedback to teachers, monitoring of teacher and student performance, incentives for teachers, and visible commitment…

To inform policymakers as they deliberate over the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization, this guide reviews what states have done with the flexibility afforded them by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The first section examines how states have shaped their welfare reform strategies…

Over time, compensatory education has become an increasingly institutionalized and effective Federal program, characterized by the following: (1) cooperation; (2) mutual accommodation on the part of national, state, and local officials; (3) ready acquiescence to Federal guidelines at the state and local level; and (4) shared responsibility among…

These matrices summarize the content of the certification/chartering requirements established by nine first-round and three second-round implementation states to deliver services in One-Stop Career Centers. Seven areas or dimensions of design/operations are compared. The narrative accompanying the matrices is divided into two sections--a matrix…

Introduces a special issue on educational program adequacy--the cost of raising poor children's outcomes to functional levels through improved systems of finance, governance, organization, implementation, and educational practice. Essays raise numerous problems, including a weak knowledge base, low educational productivity, political resistance,…

This monograph brings together what has been learned over the past few decades about children at risk, as it analyzes current strategies designed to improve student and school performance and proposes ways of achieving academic excellence with high reliability. Section 1, "Becoming at Risk of Failure in America's Schools," integrates…

A literature review examined the extent to which public funds for adult basic education and the guidelines under which funding is granted are meeting the needs of the target population as delineated by law. Research was limited to adult basic education programs funded by Federal and state monies and operated through the public school systems of…