MDRC is conducting the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project under a contract with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of the multisite Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, MDRC,…

In 2006-2007 a non-profit reading institute initiated a reading reform programme in the United States in which demonstration classrooms were established in 13 of the lowest performing schools in Mississippi, a state recognised for its high rate of poverty and low academic achievement. This qualitative study describes the experiences of 12 highly…

Operation Opportunity was a demonstration project sponsored by General Foods to hire disadvantaged high school students for summer jobs and to hold in escrow one dollar for every dollar earned for future education or vocational training at any approved institution. (BC)

The Vo-Tech Mini Mall is a model program for unemployed out of school youth (ages 16 to 21). During a 2-year period, 60 youths participated in the program. Participants attended classes at a vocational center and/or community college depending on their career goals, developing skills in areas such as carpentry, plumbing, and heating. (PHR)

Describes Project Build which proved successful in bringing disadvantaged youth into the building trades. (MB)

Four vanguard districts are committed to raising academic scores of students by increasing academic learning time; to turning average schools for disadvantaged students into exemplary schools; and, by carefully charting the process, to providing a scenario that can be useful to other schools. (Author/JM)

MDC's mission is to help organizations and communities close the gaps that separate people from opportunity. The organization has been working to create positive change in disadvantaged communities for 40 years--by conducting research and demonstrating effective programs at the community level. MDC focuses on three areas: education, economic and…

This multifaceted, large-scale E and D project in Chicago is based on the much-emulated "hire now, train later" concept which has become a force in the Concentrated Employment Program. During the second year of operation, JOBS NOW was redesigned to become a four-component program, stressing brief (2 week) orientation for disadvantaged…

Part of a series of various Model Programs which informs educators about successful ongoing programs, the booklet describes the Project Early Push in Buffalo, New York, a preschool program for disadvantaged 4-year-olds which has been operating since 1966. The program provides experiences which are basic to later reading success and which are…

An overview of current experimental school library programs and media center demonstrations funded by the federal government. Examples of specific programs are included. (JB)

A training program which has been operating in Virginia Beach City Public Schools since 1980 provides services to disadvantaged and handicapped students ranging in age from 14 to 22 years. Each student participates on an individualized basis in academic and vocational activities, with rehabilitation counseling support, to develop appropriate work…

This document describes a demonstration project in film education, employment training, and research which included an education and employment training program offered to 26 economically disadvantaged youths ranging in age from 14 to 19. For nine months, these students met for four hours each working day to work both on individual personal films,…

In order to test the effects of financial subsidies on employment for disadvantaged youth, two experimental situations were set up: (1) a worker subsidy operating in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and (2) an employer subsidy operating in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The first project, the Cambridge Job Factory Voucher Experiment, tested a voucher…

BECAUSE OF THE FAR-REACHING EFFECTS OF STUDENT FAILURE AMONG CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS, A STUDY IS BEING CONDUCTED IN ISRAEL TO DETERMINE THE VALUE OF PRESCHOOL TRAINING, PRINCIPALLY IN KINDERGARTEN, IN PROMOTING NECESSARY SKILLS AND ABILITIES FOR SUCCESS IN SCHOOL. THROUGH A SERIES OF SPECIALLY DESIGNED TESTS, THE DEFICIENCIES OF THE…

A CURRICULUM GUIDE WAS PREPARED FOR A DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM (ED 010 332) WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO WERE CONSIDERED POTENTIAL DROPOUTS. SELECTION WAS ON THE BASES OF (1) INTELLIGENCE, (2) READING ACHIEVEMENT, (3) GENERAL ACHIEVEMENT, (4) SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, AND (5) SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT. MAJOR EMPHASIS WAS ON PROVIDING THE STUDENTS WITH A SENSE…