The number of students with learning disabilities (LD) enrolling in postsecondary education has increased rapidly over the past decade. It is imperative to investigate what interventions have been used to assist students with LD in achieving academic success. To examine the interventions currently used to support students with LD in postsecondary…

Our study examines the impact of adult mentoring on Black, under-resourced, urban, middle grade students. First, we explore impact of mentoring on grades earned in the context of a comprehensive program which included one-on-one mentoring and an array of out-of-school enrichment activities. We also examine the nature of mentor-mentee engagement…

The ACES program is a collaboration between MCPS, Montgomery College (MC), and the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion. ACES focuses on identifying and supporting students who are underrepresented in higher education, the first in their family to attend college, or both. In…

This study looks at publicly available data on the proportion of pupils eligible and claiming for free school meals (FSM) in the top 500 comprehensive state schools and at how representative they are of their localities and of their school type. We have looked at the top 500 when measured by five good GCSEs including English and Maths and at the…

This study examines the impact that Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) in middle school has on middle school course rigor and students' high school performance and college readiness. The study compares students who took AVID in middle school and high school with students who only took AVID in high school. The changes in middle school…

The Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) program is a collaboration between MCPS, Montgomery College, and the Universities at Shady Grove to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion; it targets students who are underrepresented in higher education, the first in their family to attend college, or both. As one…

In January 2010, the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) issued a progress report on three studies being conducted by the Center that examine the implementation and outcomes of Programs of Study (POS), which were required in the 2006 reauthorization of the federal legislation for career and technical education…

Despite the historical mission of career academies to expand opportunities and engagement of minority students, particularly African American students, more recent curricular changes in the career academy model have increased the rigor of these types of programs. These new initiatives have undoubtedly resulted in a demographic shift with more…

The authors conducted a third-party study of the student achievement effects of Struggling Schools, a user-generated approach to Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). The design was a quasiexperimental, pre-post matched sample (N = 180) with school as unit of analysis, drawing on 3 years of achievement data from standardized external assessments.…

The present study describes students flows before and after the latest reform of upper secondary school in which a third year as well as a new grading system and new entrance requirements were introduced in vocational programmes. Published and unpublished data on student flows through upper secondary school before and after implementation of the…

The author was a member of the national advisory group designated to advise England's Secretary of State on results of the comparative study of selective and nonselective secondary schools. Here he reviews this study, published in 1980 as "Progress in Secondary Schools" and discusses some criticisms of it. (Editor/SJL)

This paper arises out of a longitudinal study of students in eight Scottish comprehensive schools. The schools are shown to have varied considerably in their "O" grade test results, and the differences appear to be largely but not entirely attributable to differences in the social class background of their students. (Author/SJL)

Presents an assessment of the relative performance of public and private schools, based on data from the Educational Testing Service. Challenges the Coleman Report's assertion that private schools more closely approximate the common school egalitarian ideal and sever the connections between background characteristics and measured achievement. (SA)

In England, parents make "choices" (in reality, "preferences") for the state-maintained secondary schools they wish their child to attend. If there are more applicants than places, the school's published admissions criteria are used to give priority to applicants. This article examines how school composition in London varies by…

Describes a study that investigated the effects of promising pupils that a letter would be sent to their parents if they showed "good" progress in English comprehension. Results indicated a larger significant increase in scores for those pupils who had been promised a letter to their parents than for those who had not been given this promise. (NRJ)