This volume is one of the products of the knowledge development activities mounted in conjunction with research, evaluation, and development activities funded under the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977. Based on the Ventures in Community Improvement (VICI) "enhanced" job training/job placement approach, which used…

Described are the general procedures and features of the Frank Porter Graham Center's program to prevent retardation by supplementing the lives of poverty level children beginning within 3 months of birth. The goals of the program are noted to include understanding more about the effects of one particular strategy (daycare) on basic biological,…

This report is an evaluation of the College Discovery and Development (CDD) Program Prong II, operated jointly by the New York City Board of Education and by the City University of New York. This compensatory education program prepares disadvantaged students for college entrance and for success in college. The major purpose of this evaluation is…

The major anti-poverty educational programs are evaluated in this report by comparing those operated by the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) with those in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (DHEW) affecting a similar target population. A comparison of OEO Head Start with DHEW Title I preschool programs indicated that: (1) Title I…

The technical report provides preliminary findings on the academic achievement of over 9,000 kindergarten through grade 3 children (78 percent economically disadvantaged) involved in the Follow Through program, a structured program of academic instruction based on the principles and materials (DISTAR) of S. Engelmann and W. Becker. The following…

Describes a study investigating the effects of the Developing Understanding of Self and Others (DUSO-R) program and relaxation/imagery training on the self-esteem of economically disadvantaged fourth graders. Data analysis indicated that the DUSO-R effectively elevated students' feelings of self-esteem and global self-worth and acted as an…

Study of Upward Bound programs, designed to help disadvantaged high school students attend and succeed in college, finds participants have higher educational expectations and college-preparatory achievement than do nonparticipants; Hispanic students and students with initially lower expectations benefit most; there is no impact on students' high…

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, is a federally-funded system of grants that focuses on preparing low-income students to enter and succeed in postsecondary educational programs. GEAR UP grants extend across 6 school years and require that funded districts begin providing grant services to students no…

The Peninsula Academies program operates two schools within schools, the electronics academy and the computer academy, in a three-year high school program for disadvantaged students labeled as potential dropouts in San Mateo County, California. A review of the performance of the Peninsula Academies program during its second year of operation…

The school accountability movement has led to a marked increase in the use of standardized test scores to measure school and teacher productivity, yet little is known about the correlation between test score gains and improvements in long-term outcomes. In the first chapter of my dissertation, I study the impact of a school choice policy in…

This research evaluates the social context of adolescent intervention programs through a critical lens to determine the impact on youth postsecondary decisions with respect to both educational attainment and deviant behavior, further examining the role of education from a social and political perspective. The Education Longitudinal Study 2002/06…

This report summarizes the findings from a study on the impacts of Head Start on children and families during the children's preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade years. Its study goals were to: (1) Determine the impact of Head Start on children's school readiness, and on parental practices that support children's development; and to (2)…

This report summarizes evaluation results for an efficacy study of the Leveled Literacy Intervention system (LLI) implemented in Tift County Schools (TCS) in Georgia and the Enlarged City School District of Middletown (ECSDM) in New York during the 2009-2010 school year. Developed by Fountas & Pinnell (2009) and published by Heinemann, LLI is…

We study how the employment effects of enterprise zones vary with their location, implementation, and administration, based on evidence from California. We use new establishment-level data and geographic mapping methods, coupled with a survey of enterprise zone administrators. Overall, the evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase…

The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) is a school voucher initiative targeted to disadvantaged students in the US Capital. Vouchers worth up to $7,500 annually are awarded by lottery to students with family incomes near or below the federal poverty line. Students can then use their voucher at any of 60 participating…