In 2004, Boston Public Schools reported that more than 8% of its students dropped out of school that year. The city faced a crisis. Thousands of students were failing to earn a high-school diploma, a necessary credential for entrance into postsecondary education and/or the twenty-first century workforce. Factors driving students' decisions to…

When their children were young, several parents interviewed in this book were told "you can't expect much from your child." As they got older, the kids themselves often heard the same thing: that as children with disabilities, academic success would be elusive, if not impossible, for them. "How Did You Get Here?" clearly…

Principals who are strong, effective, responsive leaders help to inspire and enhance the abilities of their teachers and other school staff to do excellent work. Such principals also tend to retain great teachers and create opportunities for them to take on new leadership roles. This leads to the following key question: What can state policymakers…

Since 1966, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) has operated in suburban communities in Massachusetts as a voluntary desegregation program. In interviews, nine white educators revealed their perspectives of the METCO program in their district and discussed their beliefs about the ways that race and whiteness intersected…

The research presented in this report examines the effect of prison-based postsecondary education (PSE) on offenders both while incarcerated and after release. Urban Institute researchers worked with the staff of four institutions in three states to conduct inmate focus groups and stakeholder interviews to explore the motivations for enrolling in…

The purpose of this study, funded by Jobs for the Future through a grant to the Massachusetts Community Colleges Executive Office, was to: (1) provide an update on the status of developmental education within Massachusetts community colleges; (2) shed light on the alignment between research-based best practices to advance success among…

A PILOT STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN EL SALVADOR AND HONDURAS TO TEST THE FEASIBILITY OF MULTINATIONAL EVALUATION OF THE RADIOPHONIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN LATIN AMERICA. RADIO SCHOOL PROGRAMS WERE EXAMINED IN TERMS OF THEIR EFFECT ON PARTICIPANT ACHIEVEMENT, SATISFACTION, AND APPLICATION OF ACQUIRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE. ATTITUDINAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL…

Late in 2007 New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City reform organization, received a grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation to organize select high schools and community partners into delivery systems that could improve student achievement. New Visions asked Policy Studies Associates, Inc. to provide research support for this effort in the…

THIS DESCRIPTIVE SURVEY AND EVALUATION WAS UNDERTAKEN PRIMARILY TO PROVIDE A MORE COMPLETE PICTURE OF NATIONAL AND STATE NEEDS FOR FUTURE PLANNING. A BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE PURPOSES FOR HEAD START PROGRAMS IS GIVEN. FIFTY-SIX PROGRAMS WERE OPERATED IN MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE SUMMER OF 1965. CENSUS DATA IS GIVEN ON THE PARTICIPATING COMMUNITIES…

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program has been around for over 30 years and is seen as "one of the most important means for students to foster mentoring relationships with faculty and research staff." By analyzing data obtained through semi-structured interviews and survey results, a…