Highlights the importance of designing integrated, coordinated social contexts to foster children's development. Summarizes effective program characteristics and guidelines for building lasting partnerships. Six types of involvement (parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community)…

Reviews current literature on sex education and concludes that adequate community support and proven methods exist for establishing much-needed sex education programs in schools. Asserts that preservice and inservice programs for teachers and educators' willingness to address the social and human problems associated with teenage sexuality are also…

Reviews 30 years of research, concentrating on ongoing reform initiatives and 18 programs designated as effective with at-risk students. Identifies broad, overarching conditions essential for transporting isolated successes to all schools serving at-risk students. Outlines key characteristics of two promising models: community in schools and…

This review of recent research on minimum competency testing requirements focuses on the impact of such requirements on school curricula and on the processes of selecting which competencies are to be tested, determining cutoff scores, and ensuring test validity and reliability. (JBM)