Children with autism spectrum disorder from low-income, minority families or those with limited English proficiency are diagnosed at a later age, or not at all, compared with their more advantaged peers. The Developmental Check-In is a new tool that could potentially be used to screen for autism that uses pictures to illustrate target behaviors.…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) this study compares if and how neighborhood effects on the likelihood to drop out and be "disconnected" from school and work in young adulthood change when schools are taken into account. As widely documented, I find that neighborhood socioeconomic status…

Prevalent definitions of the achievement gap conceptualize it as the difference in achievement between white and minority students. Recent research, however, points to numerous gaps both within and between groups. This study explores a further conceptualization of achievement gaps by looking at the "underachievement gap"--the difference…

The present longitudinal study employed two distinctive approaches (variable-oriented and person-oriented) to examine low-income children's academic and social functioning across the important transition from pre-k to first grade. Participants included 152 former urban Head Start children. Variable-oriented and person-oriented approaches were…

Research Findings: Early Head Start home-based programs provide services through weekly home visits to families with children up to age 3, but families vary in how long they remain enrolled. In this study of 564 families in home-based Early Head Start programs, "dropping out" was predicted by specific variations in home visits and certain family…

The relationship between performance on tests of minimum competency (MCT) required for high school graduation and dropout behavior was studied with 76,664 Florida students. Results indicate that MCT failure increases the likelihood of leaving school only for students doing well academically, but not for minority students or those doing poorly.…

Education professionals have long known that family background is a stronger predictor of academic success than are school or teacher characteristics. The past 30 years have seen a series of drastic alterations in patterns of family living in the United States, and these changes mean that a substantial number of youngsters are being born or are…