The growth of potential GDP in Mexico is not fast enough to narrow the income gap with other OECD countries at a sufficient pace. The persistent weakness in human capital development contributes to this situation. In particular, Mexicans spend comparatively few years in formal education, and the quality of the education they receive is lower than…

Americans rely on public schools to educate and prepare almost 50 million students to become productive members of society. Yet many public schools, particularly those in large cities, face significant challenges: over-crowded classrooms, shortages of highly-qualified teachers, low student achievement, achievement gaps, access to preschool, and…

These three case studies highlight the implementation and impact of Mid South Middle Start by: (1) contributing toward an in-depth understanding of what it means to be a school implementing Middle Start; (2) describing a holistic portrait of the schools' participation in Mid South Middle Start; and (3) assisting the Academy for Educational…

This final project report describes three related studies that examined reform efforts in a major metropolitan school district. Emphasis was on seven schools that had developed collaborative service approaches to reduce fragmentation of service delivery, increase accountability for students "at risk," and eliminate duplication of services. In…

This study used data on 1992 high school graduates from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (a survey that began with eighth graders in 1988 and followed them every two years through 1994) to examine the critical junctures when at-risk high school graduates are most likely to leave the pipeline to college enrollment, and to identify…

This digest discusses the findings of empirical studies on teacher-directed and child-initiated preschool programs. Three long-term preschool curriculum comparison studies--the High/Scope Preschool Curriculum Comparison, the Louisville Head Start Study, and the University of Illinois Study--were started in the 1970s. These studies indicated that…

This report describes the findings of 10 focus group meetings that discussed issues related to the performance of students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) on Minnesota's Basic Standards Exams. Ten groups were formed, with one group of parents and one of students representing each of the following language communities: Cambodian, Hmong, Lao,…

Topics of NECC '98 (National Educational Computing Conference) papers presented at this conference on technology in education include: digital portfolios; technology-integrated multidisciplinary curriculum design; a virtual Web site; a computer literacy course; Internet projects for various subjects; staff development; music videos; interaction of…

Schools use a variety of ways to group students for instruction; most prevalent in middle level schools seems to be ability grouping. Arguments once considered persuasive for ability grouping are losing influence given evidence that the practice results in few achievement benefits and several negative effects. This Digest discusses attitudes…

Studies show that community colleges with more liberal arts courses have higher rates of transfer to four-year institutions than those with a less general curriculum. This paper surveys the research conducted on the community college collegiate function in order determine the influence of the liberal arts curriculum and student support services on…

This manual is a support document that supplements other Career & Technology Studies (CTS) documents, including the "Career and Technology Studies Program of Studies" and the "Guide to Standards and Implementation" for each strand. Appendixes support each section and may be photocopied or adapted. Section A describes CTS…

This handbook presents statistics about the public and private schools of Maryland. In 1998 there were 841,671 public school students in Maryland and 175,622 nonpublic school students, representing a 9.1% increase in the public school enrollment over 5 years and a 15.9% increase in the nonpublic school enrollment over 5 years. There were 1,355…

Since a substantial majority of preschoolers participate in some form of child care before coming to school, the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers Study (CQO) was designed to examine the influence of typical center-based child care on children's development during their preschool years and as they move into formal elementary…

A study investigated the postsecondary intentions and the actual outcomes of secondary transition among 321 students from five schools in New Zealand. Phase 1 identified students who did not intend to return to secondary school. The next year (2000), they became the target population for Phase 2, which examined the students' actual continuation on…

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…