Act 49 of 1987 requires the Secretary of Education to provide the General Assembly with an annual report on public school dropouts in Pennsylvania. The purpose of this report is to document the actual number of students who drop out each year and to provide various characteristics about these students. The type of data collected about each dropout…

The follow-up to Pianta & Cox's groundbreaking "The Transition to Kindergarten," this book updates readers on what has happened in early childhood education in the past seven years; clarifies influential changes in demographics, policies, and practices; and describes promising early education programs and policies. More than 30 highly respected…

In a pair of recent studies, Fryer and Levitt (2004a, 2004b) analyzed the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to explore the characteristics of the Black-White test score gap in young children. They found that the gap grew markedly between kindergarten and the third grade and that they could predict the gap from…

Data from the Fragile Families and Child-Well-being Study were used to examine predictors of involvement among fathers of young children (N = 2,215) born to adolescent and young adult mothers (ages 14-25; N = 2,850). Participants were interviewed immediately following their baby's birth and at 3-years postpartum regarding co-parental relationship…

We investigated the relationship between family structure and substance use in a sample of 2,138 public middle school students in a southern state. The CDC Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey was utilized and adjusted logistic regression models were created separately for four race/gender categories (African American females/males, and…

The state of Indiana took a unique approach to developing a statewide plan to improve perinatal health outcomes by engaging parents in a series of focus groups, called Community Conversations in Perinatal Care (CCPC), to hear directly from consumers about their health care experiences and needs. Recognizing that disparities exist among different…

The legal status of women's intimate relationships may allow for different experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV) and the protections received from the criminal justice system. There has been limited research examining differences in IPV and protective orders for women in marital and cohabiting intimate relationships. This study examines…

A randomized prevention pilot trial compared caregivers who participated in the Black Parenting Strengths and Strategies (BPSS) Program with control caregivers. BPSS is a strengths- and culturally based parenting program designed to improve aspects of parenting associated with the early development of conduct problems and the promotion of social…

The attrition of females studying physics after high school is a growing concern to the science education community. Most undergraduate science programs require introductory physics coursework. Thus, success in introductory physics is usually necessary for students to progress to higher levels of science study. Success also influences attitudes;…

Monitoring the Future is a long-term program of research being conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Now in its 33rd year, the study is comprised of several ongoing series of annual surveys of nationally…

This report summarizes AISD's 2007-2008 evaluation of year one implementation of the First Things First initiative at 3 high schools.

This study examined both socioeconomic and cultural factors in explaining ethnic differences in monitoring, behavioral control, and warmth--part of a series of coordinated studies presented in this special issue. Socioeconomic variables included mother's and father's educational levels, employment status, home ownership, number of siblings in the…

This study used semi-parametric group-based modeling to explore unconditional and conditional trajectories of self-reported depressed mood from ages 12 to 25 years. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 11,559), 4 distinct trajectories were identified: no depressed mood, stable low depressed mood, early…

Attendance in preschool centers can yield short-term benefits for children from poor or middle-class families. Yet debate persists in Europe and the United States over whether centers yield gains of sufficient magnitude to sustain children's cognitive or social advantages as they move through primary school. We report on child care and home…

In today's school systems, students of color, particularly in urban settings, represent the majority student populations (Lewis, Hancock, James, & Larke, in press). Interestingly, the educators--teachers and administrators--that comprise these settings are predominately White, and, in turn, the students of color commonly face pressures that…