Reviews literature on the effectiveness of the Head Start program, with emphasis on the Westinghouse report and the long-term follow-up studies of the Consortium on Developmental Continuity. Discusses the conflict between the child educative and parental development goals of Head Start. Concludes that social competency and significant minority…

Describes positive results in instruction and in pupil's school readiness achieved within the extended-day kindergarten program implemented in Worcester, Massachusetts, public schools in 1972. (GC)

Responds to Scarr and McCartney's (1988) Bermudian study. Cites recently published research to support a conclusion that poverty alone does not predict school disadvantage so much as poor parents frequently having low motivation and less than high school graduation. (RJC)

Analysis of Tennessee Job Training Partnership Act data shows that creaming (nonrandom selection of participants, especially nonselection of disadvantaged persons) takes place but not as greatly as critics suggest. Selection of economically disadvantaged persons would lower the placement rate only 8%; targeting high school dropouts would reduce…

Elaborates reasons traditional teacher education does not meet urban needs. Presents criteria for effective preparation of urban teachers in terms of candidate selection, faculty expertise, content, coaching, and evaluation. (SK)

School leaders' values and dispositions impact the quality of education in their schools. Effective schools and appropriate leadership dispositions must be assessed and standardized models must be developed to give direction for future growth. The accrediting agencies and the college of education at a mid-sized state university in a southern state…

Responds to Levenstein's criticism of Scarr and McCartney's independent evaluation of Levenstein's Mother-Child Home Program. It is claimed that experimental evaluations of intervention programs are often more critical than nonexperimental ones. (RJC)

This study is an attempt to determine the impact of adult basic education programs on the upward mobility of disadvantaged workers. The programs studied were utilized by southern paper companies to increase the promotion potential of Negroes who were originally employed for unskilled jobs without opportunities for advancement. The study found that…

Describes the rationale for the Camden (New Jersey) Direct Instruction project, an instructional system used in elementary schools. Presents two studies completed by the project in 1984-85: a study of the improvement of reading instruction and a study of the use of Direct Instruction in "transitional classrooms" with students having…

School districts should be allowed to dispense with labeling children as disadvantaged and to use the Title I support they receive in schools that have a high proportion of children from poor families. (Author/MLF)

This report provides a description and evaluation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I-funded programs for the state of Mississippi. A needs assessment survey conducted in the state indicated that 214,443 students needed assistance in reading, 189,568 needed assistance in language arts, and 194,825 needed assistance in…

HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) is a creative program (combining the use of computers, drama, Socratic dialog, and a detailed curriculum) to build thinking skills of educationally disadvantaged students in grades four through seven. HOTS learning activities help students realize what thinking and persevering can accomplish. Principals can help…

Programs that have the potential to improve all intermediate grade students' opportunities for learning are identified and examined in this report. This 1989 review of over 200 programs focuses on 80 programs that stress high academic content or new access for educationally disadvantaged students in the middle grades. However, none can be labelled…

School district personnel responsible for administering Title I programs recognize that for a student to take advantage of remediation the individual must be present for instruction. Many evaluations of Title I programs have attributed increased achievement to increased attendance, without explicitly investigating this assumed relationship. This…