In most Western countries where English is the medium of instruction, there is a substantial gap in student success between immigrant English as a second language (ESL) students and non-ESL students. In the United States, this situation has been observed in particular with Latino ESL students. This article describes a longitudinal study of two…

Despite recent progress, college attendance rates of Latino students continue to lag behind those of White students in the United States. Research suggests that outreach programs designed to increase the college knowledge of Latino students and families hold promise for reducing the observed discrepancy. Based on participant observer methods, this…

The 400 fastest-growing churches (based on the percentage change in average worship attendance in the previous five years) in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a mainline Protestant denomination, were invited to take part in the US Congregational Life Survey. Completed surveys were received from 19,033 worshipers in 93 fast-growing churches. These…

This 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Brief features highlights of the enhanced, mobile-friendly Data Center; data on the 10 key indicators of child well-being for all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and many cities, counties, and school districts; and a summary of this year's essay, which calls for improvements to the nation's ability to design and…

Background: Truancy is a serious concern that affects most school districts in the United States; however, we do not have accurate estimates of the prevalence of truancy due to inconsistent tracking and reporting practices of schools. As a result, our best current estimates of the national state of truancy may be from self-reported data. In this…

This brief summarizes the findings of the larger study, "Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems into Effective Educational Systems. A Study of Juvenile Justice Schools in the South and the Nation." With awareness growing that schools are disciplining and suspending minority students at alarming rates, the…

With awareness growing that schools are disciplining and suspending minority students at alarming rates, the report provides powerful evidence that young people placed in the juvenile justice system-predominately minority males incarcerated for minor offenses-are receiving a substandard education. The report, "Just Learning: The Imperative to…

This article highlights the importance of considering the flow of newcomers into church life and the inadequacy of relying solely upon changes in numbers of attenders in assessing the effectiveness of churches. Drawing upon data collected in four countries, Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States of America, this article looks at the…

Poor school attendance is a problem in many schools throughout the United States. A study was conducted on students in an elementary school who were all paired with adult volunteer reading partners to assess whether attendance improved the year the reading program was implemented. The study involved a pre- and posttest exploratory research design…

This composition of related attendance studies of both Canada and the United States includes (1) a review of school attendance/nonattendance literature for 1975-86, the results, and a discussion involving the topics of nonattendance correlations, causes, and intervention; (2) a survey of compulsory school attendance legislation, the results, and a…

Approaches to promote attendance and prevent nonattendance range from methods designed to help individual students with specific attendance problems, to programs aimed at the student bodies of entire school systems. The former approaches usually are well documented as to results, but raise questions regarding generalizability and applicability for…

The data presented in this combined report--"Rankings & Estimates"--provide facts about the extent to which local, state, and national governments commit resources to public education. As one might expect in a nation as diverse as the United States--with respect to economics, geography, and politics--the level of commitment to…

The more than 500,000 children currently in foster care are among the most at-risk children in American society. Research shows that adults who were formerly in foster care are more likely than the general population to succumb to poor life outcomes. Many of these problems are at least in part a product of problems in the classroom, where foster…

This article examines levels of involvement of weekly church attenders in Catholic parishes in Australia, New Zealand and the United States through an analysis of data from the International Congregational Life Survey. Factor analysis was used to identify four questionnaire items related to parish involvement which were then combined to produce a…

Growing concern about the quality of public education in the United States has driven numerous educational reform efforts across the last three decades. These reforms include increased accountability as exemplified by various requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the introduction of new curriculum and instructional methods in…