In 1996, Chicago became the epicenter for this debate when it "ended social promotion" in the third, sixth, and eighth grades. While not the first, Chicago's initiative has been the most sustained to date and has produced the clearest evidence of positive as well as negative results. Test scores rose rapidly after the institution of…

This paper reviews research related to effective secondary school programs aimed at dropout prevention and increasing college enrollment rates for at-risk Latino youth. The review identifies programs that have demonstrated a significant impact on dropout rates, college attendance, school performance, or related outcomes in rigorous evaluations;…

This report, the second part of a longer study prepared by the Delinquency and School Environments Program, further describes interim results of the program's national evaluation of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) Alternative Education Program. The report consists of evaluations of 14 specific projects: (1)…

The performance of Hispanic participants in the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) was examined in detail because findings about short-term outcomes for the first year of STEP operation were more promising for Hispanics than for members of other ethnic groups. In addition, Hispanic performance was examined because of the relatively poor…

Project SUCCESS, a combined bilingual education and college/career orientation program for Spanish speaking and Asian high school students of limited English proficiency, is described in this report. Located at Theodore Roosevelt High School in New York City, the program, in 1980-81, provided courses in English as a second language, English…

Assessment of the special education needs of Indian children in the Aberdeen area and six possible courses of action for the Pierre Indian School are discussed in this evaluation. The first section reports in detail the findings of the needs assessment, which was conducted with a survey questionnaire completed by 137 individuals concerned with…

A literature review examined educational research on school reform and vocational and technical education. The first area examined student risk factors in education, the state of the art in secondary vocational education (career and technical education or CTE), and the interplay of these new forms of CTE and other comprehensive school reform…

New Jersey's urban--or "Abbott"--schools have improved at the preschool and elementary school level, but lag when it comes to middle and high school performance. These are the key findings of an Abbott Indicators Project report entitled, "The Abbott Districts in 2005-06: Progress and Challenges." The report was prepared by…

This report provides a summary and assessment of the Priorities, Quality and Productivity (PQP) efforts during 1994-95 of Illinois community colleges and independent colleges and universities, collectively, and of individual public universities. Emphasis is on implementation of recommendations of the Illinois Board of Higher Education of November,…

Guidance Oriented Acquisition of Learning Skills (Project GOALS) was a federally-funded project in three Brooklyn (New York) high schools in its fourth year of operation in 1992-93. It served 312 limited-English-proficient and 57 English-proficient students through instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL), native language arts (NLA) in…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited (LSYOU) program. (LSYOU is an intensive 8-week residential dropout prevention program held at Louisiana State University that provided work experience, academic training, counseling, supportive services, recreation, health care, team support, and training in…

A systematic, statewide study of vocational education consumer and homemaking programs was conducted in Pennsylvania to gather data for use in decision-making concerning future funding and for redirection and improvement of these programs. Data were gathered through review of funded projects; questionnaires to school districts; in-depth study of…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects (YIEPP) demonstration, which was in full operation from 1978 to 1980, was established to test the efficacy of work combined with education as a remedy for high unemployment, low labor force participation, and the excessive school dropout rate of teenagers. YIEPP offered Federal minimum-wage jobs…

The TRIO/Special Services program at the University of Minnesota's General College (GC) is described, and 1981-1982 program evaluation results are examined. Federally-supported TRIO programs (also including Education Opportunity Centers, Talent Search, and Upward Bound programs) provide support services for disadvantaged college students. The GC's…

A project was conducted in Kansas City, Missouri, to diminish the dropout rate by establishing an on-going linkage between the local high school and the adult basic education (ABE) program. The program involved the development of a system of dropout identification, contact, and referral from the secondary school to the ABE program for young adults…