Low-income scholarships facilitate an immediate, cost-effective way for students to go to much better schools, providing leverage for public schools to undertake needed reforms to benefit disadvantaged students. The United States is one of the few countries that does not have a significant voucher or choice system, though support for choice…

A study of school achievement and student-income data for 54 Wichita (Kansas) Public Schools over three years revealed six "breakthrough" elementary schools with above-average achievement and proportions of poor students. These schools shared three characteristics: positive school climate, smaller school size, and structural leadership…

Examines changes in the 1994 reauthorization of Title I that shift flexibility and accountability to local schools and explores implications of these changes for the 1999 reauthorization. Congress will need to determine whether the structure of the Improving America's Schools Act is adequate to bring about educational improvement for all students.…

How can high schools counteract deterrents to achievement that disadvantaged students face? "Project P-BLISS: Problem-Based Learning in the Social Sciences" presents "hidden" disadvantaged gifted students with a curriculum that first captures their interest and challenges them to realize their true potential. (MLH)

"School Effectiveness for Whom?" (1998), edited by R. Slee and others, challenges the claims and silences of effective schools research and seeks more theoretically robust understandings. M. Thrupp's book "Schools Making a Difference: Let's Be Realistic" (1999) urges greater recognition of educational reform's limitations. Both…

Shares the goals and activities of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, Illinois. Serving disadvantaged Hispanic students, Cristo Rey has a corporate internship program in which students work one day a week at a local business to pay for their education, and attend a full schedule of classes the rest of the week. (YKH)

Defines and discusses at-risk readers, and reviews assessments of student classroom performance. Strategies that have been successful with at-risk readers in the elementary classroom are discussed, including dramatization, parallel drama, semantic guides, word images, connecting reading and writing, and media-intervention. (SLD)

Describes early intervention programs designed to encourage later college attendance. The programs provide disadvantaged students with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge, confidence, aspirations, and overall preparedness for college early enough in their schooling to influence their ultimate educational attainment levels. Discusses…

The perceptions of school counselors of biracial children and the counseling services available to this population within the school system were studied. Survey results suggest that the 120 counselors who replied are satisfied with the services available to biracial students. This provides another perspective on the current emphasis for the need…

Analysis of data from a panel study of homeless youth in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, found that various elements of human and social capital previously associated with conventional business success also played important roles in criminal success. Predictors included desire for wealth, propensity for risk taking, willingness to cooperate, and…

Studied the barriers encountered by an urban school principal in implementing reforms within the context of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act. Results show how site-based decision making councils exemplify a policy decision that ignores the practical realities of distressed schools. (SLD)

Provides a theoretical analysis of tracking and attempts to explore the impact of this educational structure on student achievement and affective development. Explains the inconsistency in research findings supporting and discouraging use of tracking and concludes that tracking does indeed place minority groups at a disadvantage. (SLD)

Investigates differential effects of small classes on academic achievement among disadvantaged elementary students using data from Tennessee's Student Achievement Ratio Project. While positive effects of small classes are evident on both reading and mathematics achievement, there is no evidence of differential effects for low socioeconomic status…

Discusses why it is irresponsible to suggest that distance education can provide the same quality of learning and access to leadership as a liberal arts education. Asserts that disenfranchised students, as much as their affluent and advantaged peers, deserve a chance at a residential, liberal education--not an unproven alternative. (EV)

Asserts that opponent's predictions that school choice would result in mass exodus of students and a disparate impact on public schools have failed to materialize. Argues that disadvantaged students, especially blacks, in inner-city schools are the principal beneficiaries of voucher programs. (Contains 13 references.) (PKP)