This study, conducted during the 2006/07 academic year, describes how four midsize urban school districts in the Northeast and Islands Region--Worcester, Massachusetts; Nashua, New Hampshire; Yonkers, New York; and Providence, Rhode Island--were providing foundation skills assessments and programs to struggling middle-grade readers. Researchers…

Children, grades three through six, in Lawrence (Massachusetts) were studied during the 1986-87 school year to determine whether participation in the School Breakfast Program by low-income children is associated with improvements in standardized achievement test scores and attendance rates. Findings indicate that participation is associated with…

This evaluation research report describes a program originally implemented to meet the needs of English dominant Hispanic students in an urban junior high school. The report combines qualitative and quantitative data in order to provide an understanding of the relationship of program goals, implementation procedures, and effects and delineates…

The testing of every fourth-grade classroom in Massachusetts was carried out in an effort to answer the following questions: (1) What are the levels of mastery of basic skills in Massachusetts fourth grades? Are there differences in achievement between skills?; (2) What educational needs can be inferred for Massachusetts' students, based on basic…

Juvenile Correctional Education has been evolving in the United States for over 360 years. From inclusion in an indentured servant/foster care type of placement legislated in the Massachusetts Colony in 1642, it has become manifest today as an entitlement regardless of juvenile justice disposition. The education for juveniles was wrapped in the…

This document, which is designed to assist workplace education practitioners in business, education, and labor partnerships funded through the Massachusetts Department of Education's Workplace Literacy Program, includes materials about and/or for use in developing workers' mathematics skills. The first section, which examines the current state of…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Response to Intervention: A New Approach to Reading Instruction Aims to Catch Struggling Readers Early (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting Advisory Right: Focus and…

This report was prepared to provide information on the operation and management of state-funded educational programs for the disadvantaged in Massachusetts institutions of high education. Schools surveyed included ten of the 13 community colleges and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Detailed information was collected from each school on…

A Merrimack Education Center (MEC) project was developed to provide technology consultation, expertise, and advice for capacity building and networking of adult center staff in regional locations in Massachusetts. Two pilot sites were installed to demonstrate the computer/skills center approach of teaching basic skills to adult learners. Six…

The nature of the listening and speaking instruments used for the Massachusetts assessment of those skills is discussed in this paper. Information concerning the design and administration of the assessment and data analysis is included. Copies of the instruments are appended. (FL)

This document contains one of two assessment tools developed by Proect Proud Option, which developed and field-tested a set of student- and job-assessment instruments that provide a strategy for determining (1) the vocational skills required on a particular job; (2) the functional skill levels of a particular student; (3) a process to determine…

Site visits to 17 workplace education projects funded in the second year of the Massachusetts Workplace Education Initiative are reported for year 1 and year 2 projects. The year one projects are as follows: EASCO Handtool Company (Springfield), T.J. Maxx Distribution Center (Worcester), laundry workers (Boston/Lynn), AT&T (Lawrence), and…

This report summarizes the contents of the 270 secondary level basic skills improvement program plans for reading, writing, and mathematics submitted by school districts in Massachusetts to the State Department of Education. School districts developed these plans in response to the State Board of Education Policy and Regulations published in…

This document, which is designed to assist workplace education practitioners in business, education, and labor partnerships funded through the Massachusetts Department of Education's Workplace Literacy Program, includes materials for an 18-month workplace education program that was developed as part of a partnership between the Asian American…