This research brief examines the challenges and opportunities presented in evaluating whether an intervention achieves defined goals of increasing students' educational attainment, employment, and earnings after high school. The report concludes that evaluations should: (1) Distinguish between gross outcomes (such as how many young people attend…

First Step to Success is a collaborative home and school early intervention program designed to address secondary prevention goals and outcomes for behaviorally at-risk children in the K-2 age-grade range (see Walker, Kavanagh, Stiller, Golly, Severson, & Feil, 1998; Walker, Stiller, Golly, Kavanagh, Severson, & Feil, 1997). In 1999 the…

The Parent Involvement Program (PIP) was designed to promote the active and continuing participation of individual parents in the education of their children, as well as a partnership with the schools their children attend. An evaluation of PIP focused on its planning and implementation and determined the program's effectiveness in meeting its…

This paper reports the development and implementation of a multi-year program targeting a cohort of at-risk pre-freshmen. The program, called BOSS Camp (Business Opportunities for Success School), was designed to motivate, acculturate and encourage economically disadvantaged pre-freshman to attend college and become business majors. The process of…

The article describes the main outcomes of the intervention programme "Positive behaviour, interactions and learning environment in school" (PALS). PALS is an adapted Norwegian version of the School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support model, developed in the United States with school-wide interventions aiming at the prevention of behaviour…

This booklet describes the efforts of the California Department of Education and the California State University, San Bernardino to develop, implement, and evaluate a statewide Reading Recovery program. After presenting a definition of Reading Recovery, the first section of the booklet provides an overview of the Reading Recovery program and of…

This interim report on the Program Alternatives to Special Education (PASE) program in New York City: (1) describes strategies offered by 32 districts that provide program alternatives to special education referrals; (2) elucidates the strengths and weaknesses of program designs and highlights factors having positive effects on at-risk children;…

This study presents a rare opportunity to systematically examine the relationship between teachers' implementation of the America's Choice comprehensive school reform model and gains in student learning in an urban, at-risk school district. The results provide empirical evidence of relationships between student learning gains and variation in…

The Boulder Valley (Colorado) Teen Parenting Program is designed to meet the educational and vocational needs of pregnant or parenting adolescents. It focuses on the following goals: (1) decreasing the dropout rate of teen parents; (2) improving the health and well-being of children born to teen parents; (3) decreasing repeat pregnancies of teen…

Describes how the interprofessional case management model developed by the Center for the Study and Teaching of At-Risk Students (C-STARS) positively influences student performance. Evaluation data and a case study show the model's uses. Principles learned from the model's application are identified, and recommendations for practitioners about…

Based on positive results from a previous evaluation of a summer learning intervention, the current report describes the specific elements of the successful program so it can be replicated, and investigates potential barriers to implementation and replication. The study estimated impacts of the program overall; the authors could not identify which…

A study traced the establishment and implementation of the Reading Recovery program on the North Coast of New South Wales (Australia) in 1991. Teachers at the 12 schools involved in the program, key personnel at the New South Wales Department of School Education and the Catholic Education Office, and the Reading Recovery Tutor were interviewed.…

The Youth Opportunity Grant program (YO) represented an innovative approach to improving education and employment opportunities for at-risk youth by targeting resources in high poverty areas and incorporating strategies that experts have identified as effective for serving this population. The Department of Labor (the Department) awarded 36 grants…

Using traditional Native research methods (talking circles and vision quests), a teacher at Edmonton (Alberta) Public Schools discovered why Canadian Native students' dropout rate was so high. Kids' complaints about poor relationships with teachers, racism, peer pressure, and poor family support were heeded, and successful interventions were…

In 1991, the U.S. Congress commissioned the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement to investigate the various aspects of education reform. This digest summarizes the findings of a resulting study that focused on the effects of school reform on students at risk. The digest identifies the components of effective…