Since its inception in 1985, the effectiveness and quality of the Michigan School Readiness Program (MSRP), the state's early childhood education program for 4-year-olds at risk of school failure, have never been evaluated. This report details the first evaluation findings for 1995-97. The program is comprised of a child development program for…

This follow-up study examined the long-term effects of providing 5 years of high-quality childcare for low-income mothers participating in the Abecedarian study, a randomized trial of early childhood educational intervention for children from low-income families. Participating in the age-21 follow-up were 100 of the original 109 biological…

In September 1999, a pilot program of Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) was introduced in 15 local education authorities (LEAs) in England to provide payments to students aged 16-19 who are from low-income families and who are attending full-time courses in schools and colleges. Participants are entitled to 2 years' support and must be…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a variety of academic intervention programs designed to improve the success of "at risk" students at one university. Most programs were designed to either help students in a particular course (such as calculus or chemistry) or in a particular major. The performance benchmark used to assess…

In 1987, the Annie E. Casey Foundation invited 10 medium-sized U.S. cities to apply to be part of the "New Futures" project, a program designed for cities that showed willingness and capacity to experiment with comprehensive, collaborative, public-private approaches to the multiple problems of at-risk children. Eventually, five cities…

This report focuses on implementation, impacts, and time limit in Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP), a welfare reform initiative. Chapter 1 describes FTP and evaluation, target population, and data. Chapter 2 describes implementation of FTP in Escambia County: staffing and organizational structure of FTP and traditional Aid to Families…

The Free to Grow pilot project, developed by the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and its Head Start project, operated between 1994 and 1999. Following a 2-year planning and development stage, 5 project sites went on to complete the 3-year implementation phase in California, Colorado, Kentucky, New York, and Puerto Rico; the…

The state of Washington implemented the Readiness to Learn program as part of the state's Family Policy Initiative. The primary goal of the program is to serve as a formal link between education and human services by authorizing grants to local school-linked, community-based consortia to develop and implement strategies that ensure children arrive…

An evaluation was conducted to determine if there were any statistically significant, educationally meaningful, and longitudinally consistent effects on student achievement of the Ten Schools Program (TSP) after controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status and level of English proficiency. The TSP was designed to improve the academic…

This document consists of the three 1999 issues of The Bernard van Leer Foundation's "Early Childhood Matters." This periodical, addressed to practitioners in the field of early childhood education, evolved from an in-house publication directed to projects funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Articles in the February 1999 edition…

Families and Schools Together (FAST) is a 2-year program beginning with 8 weeks of multiple family meetings and transitioning into a long-term follow-up segment called FASTWORKS. FAST uses tested family therapy principles, delinquency and substance-abuse strategies, psychiatric techniques, family systems theory, and group dynamics to give parents…

A Faculty of Education dramatically restructured its preservice teacher education program by putting experience first through introducing an extended fall-term practicum of 14 weeks. Focus group interviews were conducted with elementary and secondary teachers and administrators over a 3-year period, prior to and twice during the controversial…

This is the first annual Results Report for the Illinois Community College System. For each of the six statewide goals, the report provides information on stated Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and college priorities, common and individual college initiatives and actions, and state-level initiatives that support the goal. ICCB staff review…

Beginning in the 2002-03 school year, the revised Florida School Code required 3rd grade students to demonstrate reading proficiency by scoring at level 2 or higher on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). If not, the student must be retained, unless exempted from mandatory retention for special circumstances…

Describes the summative evaluation of a course, Career Planning and Decision Making for College (CPDM), developed to help students gain a greater understanding of themselves and to help them acquire career planning and decision-making skills. The evaluation indicated that the CPDM course was important, helpful, and useful to students. (Author/RC)