This paper poses a question of direct relevance for welfare administrators, program operators, and policy makers: What management practices, program strategies, and local conditions are key to running effective welfare-to-work programs? To address this question, the present analysis links detailed measures of program characteristics to valid and…

This practitioner's guide to helping employment program clients find, retain, and advance in jobs is based on the experiences of Moving Up, an employment program operated by New York's Vocational Foundation, Inc. (VFI). The guide begins with an overview of Moving Up, which has become a national model for helping disadvantaged minority youths…

A 2-year project was undertaken to develop, test, and distribute a video-based program to train low-income parents in engaging their 3- to 5-year-old children in highly motivating play techniques in order to enhance children's cognitive, social and motor skills for school readiness. An evaluation was conducted of the Year One phase of the training…

This book reports on a 3-year ethnographic study of academic achievement and schooling orientations among immigrant Mexican and Mexican American students at a Houston (Texas) high school. The study included a survey of the entire student body (2,281 students), participant observation in the school and community from 1992 to 1995, 25 open-ended…

This third evaluation progress report concerns a 5-year project that links technology and the visual and performing arts with other subject areas to transform the education of K-12 students in Nebraska and nationwide. The report states that the "Community Discovered" project is continuing to make substantial and consistent progress in…

A study empirically examined a high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes upon exiting a four-year comprehensive, urban university in California. Data are drawn from applicant and student records for all students coming from a single high school district that has a strong career academy program. Findings…

Upward Bound is a federal program designed to help disadvantaged students prepare to enter and succeed in college. Students typically enter the program in their freshman or sophomore year of high school and can remain in it through the summer following high school graduation. Upward Bound projects provide students with a variety of services,…

A study evaluated the basic skills and employment prospects of current adult Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients. It performed an analysis for the United States as a whole and separate analyses for nearly all the 75 most populous U.S. counties, plus the District of Columbia. These counties contained 43 percent of the nation's…

This action kit highlights steps city officials can take to help young people who are not connected to school, work, or caring adults. The kit recommends steps that cities can take to promote educational achievement, develop stronger workforce connections, support youth in transition from the foster care and juvenile justice systems, and build a…

The most educationally disadvantaged population in the United States resides in our nation's prisons. Incarcerated adults have among the lowest academic skill levels and highest disability and illiteracy rates of any segment of our society--factors that likely contributed to their imprisonment. Upon completing their sentence, most inmates re-enter…

Researchers at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) recently completed a study of "beat-the-odds" schools--high-needs schools that demonstrated atypically high student achievement. This policy brief draws from the report of the study's findings, "High-Needs Schools--What Does It Take to Beat the Odds?"…

This report summarizes Austin Independent School District (AISD) prekindergarten program activities for the 2003-2004 school year.

Describes two educational programs designed to assist disadvantaged adults in personal development and social adjustment. (SB)

Discusses the educational approach and process at the Highland Center, formerly known as Highlander Folk School, which for forty-five years has experimented with various means of utilizing nonformal education to support social movements. The Highlander technique, short-term residential workshops to help people solve their problems, is described.…

Describes strategies implemented in New York City to make vocational education available to more students: (1) creating vocational programs in comprehensive and academic high schools and (2) expanding and diversifying programs and facilities in vocational high schools. Several alternative programs among the schools provide for sharing limited…