Many talented students in under-resourced schools do not reach their full potential. Research shows that by sixth grade, children born into poverty have likely spent 6,000 fewer hours learning than their middle-class counterparts. Higher Achievement, an intensive summer and after-school program, aims to close that learning gap. It offers…

Afterschool and competency-based learning are increasingly emerging as student-centered, supportive learning models to prepare students for college and career. This white paper explores the intersection and relationship between these two fields, recommends ideal policy environments for implementing successful programs, provides real-world…

Over the past decade great progress has been made in improving the availability of Open Educational Resources (OER). However, one area in which OER has been deficient is in its ability to lead to college or university credit, something that many users of OER may desire. This article describes the work done by the Saylor Academy in amalgamating OER…

The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium--or PERC--was launched in August 2014 as an innovative partnership designed to provide research and analyses on some of the city's most pressing education issues. This partnership was forged among the School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia's charter school sector, and Research for Action (RFA).…

This report presents baseline and process study findings of an evaluation of the Urban Alliance high school internship program, which provides training, mentoring, and work experience to high school seniors from distressed communities in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Chicago. The report, which focuses on the program's…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

Four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Howard University, Jackson State University, Talladega College, and Xavier University of Louisiana, participated in a project titled, Learning Communities for STEM Academic Achievement (LCSAA), whose goal was to increase the participation of African American students in the fields of…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

This report provides three case studies illustrating the characteristics and general nature of selected family support programs in socially vulnerable communities. The profile of each program provides in-depth information about how the program operates. Fundamental barriers to program development and service provision are identified, and specific…

By fall 2005, the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), the first federally funded voucher program in the United States, was in its second year serving low-income students in the nation's capital. More than 5,800 students have applied to the Program over the 2 years, and about 2,300 of them--eligible public school students who participated in…

Because it is based on the premise that learning is a lifelong process and that citizen involvement is essential to neighborhood problem solving, community education is particularly attuned to the current needs of cities and can be a major vehicle for cities attempting to provide convenient, comprehensive health services in an efficient,…