This document synthesizes the findings from the evaluations of four statewide programs designed to provide support for underperforming schools and districts in California as part of the state accountability system: (1) Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP); (2) High Priority Schools Grant (HPSG) Program; (3) School…

The educational achievement and attainment of young people in the United States has been a long-standing issue of concern. While analyses of long-term trend data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students in the United States have made gains in reading and mathematics over the past few decades, a sizeable…

Educational inequalities are evident even before children start school. Some educational achievement gaps widen out as individuals progress further through the education sequence and into the labour market, especially those connected to disadvantaged students. Thus, there is a significant need for careful evaluation of educational policies that…

The idea of civic engagement among school staffs is explored with the aim of understanding why reform initiatives often fail to be initiated fully in urban schools. This synthesis of findings across nine separate program evaluations conducted for the Philadelphia Education Fund (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was prompted by the recognition that the…

The 1988 Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments to Chapter 1 (now Title I) have enabled broad expansion of Title I schoolwide projects. The regulatory changes provide funding to entire schools, rather than targeting services to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged subpopulations. This paper reviews what is…

An evaluation was conducted to examine the process by which the Yellowhead School Division in Alberta (Canada) had integrated children with disabilities into regular classrooms, and to describe the current status of that process. A list of 16 steady objectives was developed. The evaluation, which took place from January through June 1991, covered…

In the fall of 1995 the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) held a conference to stimulate dialogue about future developments in the fields of education, statistical methodology, and technology and the implications of these developments for the nation's education statistics program. This paper summarizes and synthesizes the results of…

This paper compares the effects of desegregation on black achievement with the effects of other factors in the process of school learning that have recently been synthesized. The first section of the paper discusses techniques and guidelines for research synthesis, including meta-analysis. The second section presents a summary of the statistical…

This report synthesizes the evaluation results of forty-five federally funded K-12 career education programs. Although, according to the author, diversity in individual program goals and evaluation procedures made the synthesis difficult and inconclusive, the tabulated evaluations are used to provide a status report on career education's progress…

This document reports on how key stakeholders in work force preparedness nationwide are responding to pressures of the skills race. Part 1 presents an overview of the skills challenge and the economic and social consequences of failing to meet the challenge. Part 2 examines the impact of the skills shortage on major stakeholders and explains how…