The commentaries on Downey and Condron found in this issue help advance an overdue conversation about schools and inequality. This paper considers two questions that are prompted by the comments from the authors' colleagues: (1) Would we make more progress reducing socio-economic and racial achievement gaps by reforming schools or by reforming the…

The achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their traditional counterparts has continued to be a problem in education. Based on cognitive constructivist theory and enrichment theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between scores on a high-stakes achievement test and participation in a summer…

Attendance is probably the most fundamental behavioral indicator of student engagement with school. Though many students fall off-track to success for the first time in ninth grade, poor attendance patterns often begin increasing in middle school and become worse in high school. Missing school during the secondary grades can often be traced to low…

Four-week summer academy programs served homeless children and adults in two contiguous innovative learning programs. The programs may be the first of their kind in the homeless literature in which both adults and children were exposed to career, academic, and leadership opportunities in the supportive learning environment of a university campus,…

Even with current evidence-based preschool programming efforts for children from high-risk backgrounds, many children vary in their skill levels at school entry. The authors examined the influence of using an evidence-based literacy curriculum during a 6-week summer program. The authors documented improvements in children's letter-naming,…

THE EARLY TRAINING PROJECT ATTEMPTED TO IMPROVE THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING AND PERSONAL ADJUSTMENT OF CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN THROUGH SPECIAL EXPERIENCES IN THE 15- OR 24-MONTHS PRECEDING FIRST GRADE AND IN THE FIRST YEAR OF SCHOOL. THE PROCEDURES OF THE PROJECT CONSISTED OF TWO TRAINING SEQUENCES. THE FIRST SEQUENCE INVOLVED TWO…

In the past decade, human service professions such as recreation, public health, and education have been asked to increase their services and document their contribution to the people and communities they serve. The recreation profession specifically has been looked upon as a unique contributor to the positive development of youths, with emphasis…

In the summer of 1986, 564 of the 752 members of the treatment group of the first full-scale implementation of the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) model returned for their second summer. At the same time, a second cohort consisting of 1,591 youth (765 in the treatment group and 754 in the control group) began their first summer of…

The summer of 1985 marked the first full-scale implementation of the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) model. Federally funded, STEP provides 14- and 15-year-olds with a paid summer experience that combines work, remediation in reading and math, and life skills instruction with an emphasis on responsible social and sexual attitudes and…

A NEW YORK CITY PROGRAM TO IDENTIFY DISADVANTAGED YOUTH WITH UNDISCOVERED COLLEGE POTENTIAL AT THE END OF NINTH GRADE, TO IMPROVE THEIR MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN SCHOOL WORK, TO DEVELOP THEIR EXPECTATIONS FOR COLLEGE ENTRANCE, AND TO IMPROVE THEIR CHANCES FOR SUCCESS IN COLLEGE, IS DESCRIBED. DURING THE SPRING OF 1965, 579 DISADVANTAGED BOYS…

VOLUME IV, A STATISTICAL SUPPLEMENT TO AN EVALUATION REPORT OF NEW ENGLAND'S 1966 TITLE I PROJECTS, PRESENTS PROJECT DATA WHICH COMPARE THE STATES AND PROJECT TYPES. (LB)

This White Paper summarizes findings from an extensive literature review that was conducted to identify the most promising models and approaches for meeting the needs of low-income children, youth, and families during the summer months. Special attention is paid to summer learning programs that serve diverse, urban low-income children and youth.…

VOLUME III, A STATISTICAL SUPPLEMENT TO AN EVALUATION REPORT OF NEW ENGLAND'S 1966 TITLE I PROJECTS, CONTAINS DATA WHICH COMPARE STANDARD METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS (SMSA) AND PROJECT TYPES. (LB)