This study examines whether some English and Welsh secondary schools have consistently lost market share since 1988, whether the same schools are becoming relatively more socially disadvantaged in socioeconomic terms, whether the schools are in a spiral of decline, and whether the spirals of decline are caused by school choice. It outlines changes…

This report summarizes the findings of some recent pivotal studies of class size, especially as they relate to students at risk. Of particular note is a large-scale study of class size, which was designed to test the conclusions of G. Glass and M. Smith (1978) and G. Robinson (1990) about the advantages of small class size. This study, Project…

No tool has promoted educational reform more completely than coordinated school-linked services. This paper integrates results of a cross-program analysis examining 6 coordinated school-linked service programs for widely implemented practices and results of a quantitative synthesis of 44 studies of the effects of school-linked programs on…

This book chapter discusses the problem of transiency, or high classroom turnover, in education. Research shows that a disproportionate number of schools with predominantly low-income African American and Hispanic students have low stability, and that such students are much more likely than white, middle-income students to switch schools in the…

Reviews child poverty in the United States. Child poverty rates have been high since the 1970s, and it is expected that one-third of all children will be poor at some time. African American and Latino children and children in mother-only families are disproportionately poor. Both family structure and the labor market are implicated in child…

The Lilly Endowment's Research Grants Program on Youth and Caring explored the concept of caring, with the intention of effecting changes in settings and practices. This report is meant to give a brief account of the genesis and development of the Program, summarize the issues raised and findings gleaned from the research and investigation, and…

A study compared the ninth-grade performance of students who were randomly admitted to New York City career magnet high schools to those who were randomly not offered seats in those schools. The research measured the effect of career magnets on students of average and low reading ability whose academic records were not strong enough to gain them…

Protective factors that contribute to the development of resiliency in children, defined as "unusually good adaptation in the face of severe stress, and an ability of the stressed person to rebound to the prestress level of adaptation," are discussed. The biological, psychological, familial, and social factors related to disadvantages…

This publication summarizes issues relating to the education of homeless children and youth and reviews programs that are effective in the delivery of educational services to this population. The report is comprised of five sections. The first section, "Introduction," surveys factors contributing to homelessness and indicates the special…

An introduction and annotations of 37 research reports review evidence regarding the effect of parental involvement on student achievement in elementary and secondary education. The annotations cover studies from 1966 through 1980 that analyze such variables as family background and socioeconomic status, parent powerlessness, parents' expectations…

Some individuals more readily develop learned helplessness in the classroom, so it is necessary for the educational system to acknowledge it and develop teaching methods to prevent it. Creating awareness among educators of this condition could greatly decrease its occurrence. Children who have a high risk of developing learned helplessness,…

Longitudinal analysis of early childhood education, such as that in Project Follow Through, shows the superiority of explicit skill instruction for the acquisition of basic reading skills. But these early gains do not eventuate in significant progress in reading achievement in later grades, especially among disadvantaged youth. This is not for…

Over the past 40 years, the Head Start program has delivered early education and support services to 23 million low-income preschool children and their families. In addition to early education, Head Start programs must provide children and families with access to a range of comprehensive services, including parenting resources, health screenings…

The goal of the report is to provide useful information to Indiana policymakers as they debate the merits of full versus half day programs. This report sought to answer three questions: (1) What does the national research say about the effectiveness of full day kindergarten; (2) What does the Indiana data say about full day kindergarten; and (3)…

This analysis reviews the data on two types of extended school programs--those that extend the number of hours per day students spend in school, and those that extend the school year. Proponents of extending the school day or the school year frequently cite examples from outside the United States, where the average school year is often longer, and…