The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 requires that public elementary and secondary school systems be held accountable for achieving high levels of educational proficiency for all students. While achievement testing is the central component of state accountability systems under NCLB, these systems must include graduation rates as an academic…

This book uses extensive interviews and statistical data to examine the failed desegregation efforts in Louisiana as a case study to illustrate how desegregation has followed the same unsuccessful pattern across the United States. It shows that the practical difficulty with desegregation is that academic environments are created by all the…

The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee's (BRAC) Non-Formal Primary Education (NFPE) Program is a nongovernmental rural development organization founded, managed, and staffed by Bangladeshis. In 1985 BRAC began a primary education program for the poorest rural children untouched by the formal school system. BRAC has developed well known and…

National Education Goal One, "All children in America will start school ready to learn," seems simple, but being ready for school requires meeting certain needs related to physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development. Families, schools, and communities each have responsibilities in these areas. Families in…

The academic achievement of participants in the Ten Schools Program (TSP) of the Los Angeles Unified School District (California) was compared with that of students in similar comparison schools and African American and Hispanic students throughout the school district. The TSP is a research-based instructional program for elementary school…

This book is designed to guide mental health practitioners in conducting culturally competent and effective work with economically disadvantaged youth from African American, Asian American, Latin American, and Native American backgrounds. It outlines the theoretical constructs for understanding how cultural and socioeconomic differences have an…

A 3-year intervention project focused on preventing substance abuse, violence, gang violence, and truancy among K-12 students at the Chief Leschi School in Tacoma, Washington, a tribally controlled, urban school for high risk and adjudicated Native youth. This paper reports the elementary school results. The Positive Reinforcement in Drug…

Despite widespread support for early education among policymakers and business and community leaders, the most frequently cited obstacle to expanding quality or access is fiscal constraints. Thus, in an attempt to accommodate these publicly supported programs within the confines of limited state budgets, policymakers leverage states' general…

The heaviest burden of unemployment is borne by youth from minority groups, families with poverty-level incomes, and both central city and rural areas. Schools are in a unique and advantageous position to improve the preparation and prospects of unemployed youth. (Author/GC)

Swedish longitudinal studies of twins support Scarr-Salapatek's explanation of nature-nurture influences on intelligence. This model predicts more genetic variance in test results for advantaged than disadvantaged groups. Jensen's work, however, suggests equal amounts of variance among different social classes. (Author/CP)

The effects of the changing nature of intelligence test items during the follow-up period for compensatory education program evaluations on the judgments about program effectiveness are examined. Data from the Stanford-Binet and from three compensatory education evaluations, are examined. Methods for dealing with differential validity are…

The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the Meaning and Value of Work Scale were administered to a sample of disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged, male and female, eleventh grade students in Kansas City, Missouri, to investigate the extent to which students' perception of self and work differed. Study results were displayed and discussed. (MF)

Describes how some schools are using funding from Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 to apply technology in the schools. Reviews specific requirements for allocating funds in targeted assistance and schoolwide program schools. (SLD)

Discusses adequacy and equity in school finance and efficiency in school operation, and recommends ways to improve all three. The ultimate responsibility lies at the state level. State policies and financing mechanisms must hold educators accountable while addressing challenges that are especially great for schools in high-poverty areas or for…

The relationship between performance on tests of minimum competency (MCT) required for high school graduation and dropout behavior was studied with 76,664 Florida students. Results indicate that MCT failure increases the likelihood of leaving school only for students doing well academically, but not for minority students or those doing poorly.…