The evaluation by Abt Associates, Inc., of the Follow Through program, an extension of Head Start designed to improve primary education for disadvantaged children, created a controversy about the program and its assessment, which is discussed in this article. The authors see serious flaws in the evaluation design and interpretation. (MF)

A study based on data collected during in-depth interviews with a stratified random sample of 23 student families who attended the National Institute of Education (NIE) Career Education Model IV analyzed current perceptions and implied perceptual changes in self and social development. Positive results suggest that avenues of personal development…

This paper describes a decision-theory-based procedure for compensatory education student selection that will increase the informational value of data available from program evaluation data collection and district information systems. The information produced by the decision theory approach bears directly on the basic question of who gets served.…

The greatest support offered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for youth mentoring has been through the Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP), which provides one-to-one mentoring for youth at risk of delinquency, gang involvement, educational failure, or dropping out of school. Information on JUMP has been collected through…

One of the keys to enabling children from disadvantaged backgrounds to be successful in school and later in life might be to provide them, through mentors, with exposure to literacy and numeracy, and to introduce problem-solving techniques to them early in their school careers. This study was concerned specifically with the mentorship experiences…

This paper describes the implementation and support of a data-driven decision-making evaluation system developed by the San Francisco (California) school district to assess programs within the district aimed at improving achievement for students of color, especially African American and Latino students. In 1982, a Consent Decree was established to…

Article is a statement by Senator Walter F. Mondale, a Democrat from Minnesota, on the evaluation of social programs and a serious appraisal of social policy for the nation's children and their families. (Author/RK)

Title I may have fallen short of its lofty goals, but it is an effective basic skills program for underachieving students. Its successes depend on requirements that the program supplement the regular learning program, evaluate pupil progress, be coordinated with other school activities, and involve parents. (Author/JM)

This study of youth development opportunities for youth aged 7 to 14 years in Minneapolis (Minnesota) involved three phases completed between 1994 and 1995. Planning and information gathering involved interviews with 60 program providers and key informants from youth programs. A written survey of 187 program providers assesses perceived barriers…

Lessons learned from Onderwijs un Sociaal Milieu (OSM), or Education and Social Origin, the largest compensation and enrichment program ever developed in The Netherlands, are described in this paper. Although the program did not raise lower class students' standardized test scores to the national level, the program had overly ambitious goals and…

The Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home-based, early intervention program for young, disadvantaged children and their families to enhance their potential for academic success when they enter school. This book describes the components of the program and reports on the research related to HIPPY's effects on the…