This report is a summary of the evaluation of the Nevada School-to-Careers (STC) Year 4 (1999-2000) implementation and the extent to which implementation supported eight messages STC is intended to send. Results from three surveys are included: Quantitative Benchmark Survey, School Implementation Profile, and Student Exit Survey. All regional…

Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this report examines strategies for linking the health and child care systems in an effort to improve poor children's health. Studies show that poor, African American and Latino children have less access to health care and worse health outcomes than middle-class or non-Hispanic white…

An 8-week course on early childhood education focusing on preventing reading difficulties was conducted and evaluated in Haifa, Israel. The course objectives were to: (1) review child development in its relationship to reading; (2) examine reading theories and teaching methods; (3) analyze the effects of the child's environment on reading; (4)…

This report of the Child Welfare League of America calls for a meaningful national strategy to protect and invest in children and their families. The report outlines and documents essential investments, and highlights the costs of deficits and disinvestments in children. Specific actions are proposed to improve the well-being of vulnerable…

This chapter reviews school-based drug abuse prevention curricula. Drawing on the most current research, the chapter identifies key elements of effective prevention curricula, noting that programs should (1) reflect proven prevention theory and research; (2) provide developmentally appropriate information about tobacco, alcohol and drugs; (3) use…

In 1992, the U.S. Departments of Defense and Education jointly created a new high school program aimed at encouraging at-risk youth to remain in school until graduation. The program, which is a marriage of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and the comprehensive high school reform initiative known as career academies, was called…

This document examines strategies for preventing working families and disadvantaged youth from needing cash assistance and becoming dependent on welfare. The document begins with a brief discussion of the tenuous nature of the boundary between families who need public assistance and families who don't and factors contributing to welfare…

The concept of family literacy is firmly rooted in a substantial research base from several disciplines, including adult literacy, emergent literacy, child development, and systems analysis. Results from a review of research from each discipline found answers to questions about benefits of family literacy. Results show family literacy programs do…

Noting that although the causes of violence are highly complex and multifaceted, this book argues that a growing body of scientific knowledge demonstrates that maltreatment during the 9 months of fetal growth and the first 24 months after birth often leads to violent older children and adults. Following an introduction, the book contains the…

This paper reviews published research on school-based programs to reduce sexual risk-taking behaviors. Analysis of 23 studies of school-based programs supports several conclusions about these programs. About 93 percent of all high schools offer sexuality or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) education, and the majority of these programs include…

This document is comprised of the six issues in volume 15 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following: (1) January-February--"Retention vs. Social Promotion: Schools Search for Alternatives" (Kelly), and "School…

This paper examines the impact of a program that subsidizes children to remain in school for up to two years beyond the statutory age. The programme was first piloted in a number of areas in England from September 1999. Evaluating such interventions is of course critical to the shaping of education policy and the effectiveness or otherwise of a…

This brief document provides a look at research and evaluations that have demonstrated that school-based health centers represent cost-effective investments of public resources.

Issues in mental retardation to be addressed in the next decade include homogenization of disabilities, aging of the population, increasing information and research needs, diagnosis, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, legal and ethical problems, caregiving, adolescent care, health care delivery, lifelong disabilities, vocational opportunities,…

This chapter surveys the literature on Native American student retention, framing the discussion in the context of the broader body of literature on retention.