Six programs are profiled that garner both deep engagement and high achievement from young people. All build upon fundamental needs of adolescent life: to register positive impact upon the world, to feel respected and connected, and to construct one's own narrative. A community action initiative at a high school in Texas' Rio Grande Valley is…

This report describes a program for increasing academic growth through motivating students to read. The targeted population includes kindergarten, first, third, and high school special education students. The lack of motivation in reading was documented through data revealed by pre-surveys and post-surveys of students' interest in books. Analysis…

This book focuses on ways teachers can modify their teaching in order to increase the academic achievement of students from the racial and ethnic groups that are experiencing massive failure in U.S. schools, and consequently in society. Modifying instruction to improve the academic achievement of African American and Latino students will benefit…

This paper examines the discourse on Aboriginal higher education in Australia from the 1960s through the 1990s through an analysis of educational reports and government policy documents on tertiary education. Early in this period, the focus was on education as "welfare," but the emphasis shifted towards equity in higher education policy during the…

Children in foster care are the most educationally at risk population in New York City, and the longstanding failure of the responsible agencies to address the educational needs of foster children in New York City is a problem that has, for the most part, been ignored. This paper reports on a study aimed at creating a database to inform the…

In September 1999, a pilot program of Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) was introduced in 15 local education authorities (LEAs) in England to provide payments to students aged 16-19 who are from low-income families and who are attending full-time courses in schools and colleges. Participants are entitled to 2 years' support and must be…

Every school day, hundreds of West Virginia children ride school buses much longer than state guidelines say they should. Under those guidelines, no elementary student should be on the bus more than 30 minutes one way, middle school students 45 minutes, and high school students 1 hour. In fall 1999, public hearings about school transportation…

This paper describes a project that provided television set-top Internet access devices to Latino families as part of a project to link the school and home in an inquiry-based science curriculum. The early phases of adoption of the Internet and the "NetTV" devices by families are described, with special attention to the different ways…

This report provides an overview of Texas enrollment trends and growth of special instructional programs, and redistribution of the student population geographically and by community type. National enrollment trends are also presented. In the 10 years from 1987-88 to 1997-98, Texas public school enrollment increased at a faster rate than national…

This annual report provides information about dropouts in Texas public schools for the 1996-97 school year. The report includes (1) historical dropout information; (2) a summary of dropout rates based on dropout characteristics and school district characteristics; (3) a listing of dropout rates broken down by county, district, and campus; and (4)…

In 1987, the Annie E. Casey Foundation invited 10 medium-sized U.S. cities to apply to be part of the "New Futures" project, a program designed for cities that showed willingness and capacity to experiment with comprehensive, collaborative, public-private approaches to the multiple problems of at-risk children. Eventually, five cities…

This report focuses on implementation, impacts, and time limit in Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP), a welfare reform initiative. Chapter 1 describes FTP and evaluation, target population, and data. Chapter 2 describes implementation of FTP in Escambia County: staffing and organizational structure of FTP and traditional Aid to Families…

The case study of the relationship between classroom life and home for a minority child in an urban school illustrates the complex influences the home has on the child and the ways in which a culturally sensitive teacher can interact with parents in planning for the child's education. The teacher of a combined second-third grade at an urban school…

This study investigated the association between college students' engagement of learning strategies and their academic performance in a freshman psychology course. Three groups of students participated in the study: 22 at-risk freshmen who were taught learning strategies in a linked strategy-instruction course; 22 students who had previously taken…

A Cuyahoga County, Ohio, study focused on two cohorts: pre-Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) leavers who left in the third quarter of 1996 and post-TANF leavers who left in the third quarter of 1998. Outcomes were examined for about 6,151 adult welfare leavers. Findings indicated the rate of leaving welfare increased between 1996-98;…