In Australia access to university studies is supported through students' participation in government funded, pre-award programmes called 'enabling' programmes. These programmes allow students to meet university entry requirements and are designed to prepare students for the rigours of study. This article explores the performance and experience of…

A central goal of the Portuguese compensatory education program--Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária (TEIP)--is the improvement of the academic performance of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. In this article, we seek to understand whether the schools involved in the program have been successful in reducing their academic…

An approach to remedy the scarcity of Black students within the sciences at southern African universities has been the development of access programmes. There has been little acknowledgement of the contribution of these access programmes in increasing the quantity and quality of graduates. The contribution made by the Science Foundation Programme…

Journalist Elizabeth Redden brings to the surface several salient issues in her article entitled, "Reaching Black Men." First, she illuminates that fact that access is not enough when it comes to educating African American men. Second, she points to the importance of having campus-wide initiatives to support the success of Black men. And…

This study examines the implementation and organization of the state mandated curriculum in the 4-hour SEI block in 18 K-12 classrooms in 5 different districts. We focus on the effects of grouping by language proficiency, the delivery of the structure-based ESL curriculum, the provision of resources and limiting of access to grade-level…

Since its inception in 1992, the University of the North's, Science Foundation Year (UNIFY) Programme has provided access to higher education to over 1500 previously disadvantaged students. However, there has always been doubt about whether the concept of a foundation programme is a worthwhile endeavour. To date, government has not yet fully…

Effective programs for culturally diverse groups preserve cultural distinctiveness, accommodate preferred learning strategies and environments, use existing social networks, empower learners, emphasize lifelong learning, support family involvement, reach the most disenfranchised people, obtain creative financing, and develop the cultural…

Increasing evidence indicates that college completion rates for opportunity students equal or exceed college completion rates for the nation as a whole. In this article some of the confusing and contradictory aspects of designing and delivering educational opportunity programs are reviewed. Recommendations are offered for expanding access to…

This report displays and compares data from four special programs in postsecondary institutions operating in New York State for persons who have been academically and educationally disadvantaged. The programs are College Discovery, Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge, the Educational Opportunity Program, and the Higher Education…

The University of Western Australia's Target Student Support Project, initially funded by the Commonwealth government and subsequently by the institution, was designed to increase awareness and use of higher education opportunities among educationally disadvantaged secondary school students. The program had both academic and social components and…

Focusing on the qualitative component of the 1983-84 Operational Program Reviews (OPRs) of Educational Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) in California's community colleges, this report presents the information collected by a qualitative evaluator at 14 EOPS projects in California and assesses program strengths and weaknesses. The first part…

This paper describes state, institutional, and other community-based programs deemed exemplary (on the basis of design imperatives) for successful interventions to promote meaningful access of minority group youth to postsecondary education. The imperatives include early intervention, comprehensive and integrated intervention, intervention…

The results of a study of school/business partnerships is reported. This privately funded national study was an assessment of collaborations attempting to increase the effectiveness of public schools. Qualitative research techniques were employed to study the components and structures of the programs and to assess student outcomes. The following…

The most educationally disadvantaged population in the United States resides in our nation's prisons. Incarcerated adults have among the lowest academic skill levels and highest disability and illiteracy rates of any segment of our society--factors that likely contributed to their imprisonment. Upon completing their sentence, most inmates re-enter…

Describes the rise of the opportunity-to-learn movement and criticizes how the movement's standards have been conceptualized to date. Argues that these standards disregard the in-school factors--curricular and instructional differentiation and racial and class segregation--and the extra-school factors--home environments and educational…