Many school district leaders, high school administrators, and teachers--particularly those in urban areas--have struggled to reduce high school dropout rates but find themselves overwhelmed by the dimensions of the problem. Consider: Research has shown that lack of preparation in elementary and middle school, long before students reach high…

A 5-year intensive program was designed and implemented to study Black and Hispanic achievement in 152 public schools in Montgomery County (Maryland). The focus was upon achievement in mathematics and reading/language arts, and Black and Hispanic participation in gifted/talented, honors, and extracurricular activities. The intent was to develop…

The Ford Foundation's City High School Recognition Program (conducted in l982-83), was designed to find, document, and recognize the overall progress made in recent years by inner city high schools that previously had been failing. Through a blend of $l,000 recognition awards and $20,000 project grants, the program sought to reinforce the most…

Workforce Remodelling in England has been presented as a means to enhance the development of teachers and promote rising educational attainment. Through a re-examination of roles, schools are presented with an opportunity to review their ways of working to improve the quality of their practices. This paper looks at the ways in which the…

This article analyses the new educational mandate for Latin America, exploring its repercussions on the design and development of certain educational policies. In particular, it concentrates both on the anti-poverty educational agenda (at a global level) and on targeted educational policies (at a regional, national and local level), analyzing, on…

This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2017 that impact its…

Elementary charter schools increasingly serve students who are at-risk for reading challenges, giving them a critical role in establishing literacy for young children. This article examines the complexities of starting early childhood literacy programs in charter schools. Specifically, the first year of K-3 literacy programs in a new and a…

Utah's K-3 Reading Improvement Program provides state matching funds to help districts and charter schools achieve the state's goal of having third graders read at or above grade level. All 40 Utah school districts took part in both Year 1 (2004/05) and Year 2 (2005/06) of the program, and the number of participating charter schools increased in…

The purposes of this study were to (a) identify how leadership in a successful rural school districts has helped raise student achievement levels beyond those of comparable school districts as measured by state and federal mandated test scores, (b) investigate the district leadership that aligns with identified effective practices, and (c)…

This report describes the development of two British projects designed to increase support to persons paid to care for unrelated children in their homes, and to improve the quality of childminding. Informal Drop-In Centres offering stimulating play experiences for the children under the guidance of a trained playleader/community worker were…

A basic weakness of many national educational reports is that they focus on what is wrong with the education system and overlook how the schools can be improved. Research-based guidelines to be used in change efforts are offered. (DF)

To encourage a greater policy discussion of the complexities of implementing major school improvements on a large scale, this report (a) discusses the need to expand school improvement planning to address how schools and districts will accomplish necessary systemic changes, (b) outlines some basic considerations related to systemic change, and (c)…

Five phases for establishing and improving Pre-K-12 comprehensive guidance and counseling programs serve as the organizational framework for this enduring, influential textbook written for counselor educators and their students, school leaders, practicing school counselors, and state or district supervisors. The fifth edition of this bestseller…

Blending high-quality and rigorous research with pure evaluation practice can often be best accomplished through thoughtful collaboration. The evaluation of a high school drug prevention program (All Stars Senior) is an example of how perceived competing purposes and methodologies can coexist to investigate formative and summative outcome…

Implementation refers to the process by which an intervention is put into practice. Research studies across multiple disciplines, including education, have consistently demonstrated that interventions are rarely implemented as designed and, crucially, that variability in implementation is related to variability in the achievement of expected…