This chapter is published as the introduction to a six-chapter interim report on an experimental program at Southern Illinois University. 275 graduating high school seniors in the bottom one-third of their class were identified as high potential low achievers and admitted into the University to participate as experimental and control subjects in a…

This book examines in detail the experiment in educational performance contracting conducted by the United States Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) during the 1970-71 school year. Major objectives of the OEO project were to find out whether a private educational firm could teach educationally disadvantaged children to read and write better than…

The Evaluation of the Emergency School Assistance Program (ESAP) for the 1971-72 school year is the first application of full-blown experimental design with randomized experimental and control cases in a federal evaluation of a large scale program. It is also one of the very few evaluations which has shown that federal programs can raise tested…

The School Board of Virginia Beach has conducted a two-year pilot program focusing on elementary school students who attend school 45 days and break 15 days year round. Four principal questions were proposed and researched by various independent agencies: (1) What effect does the 45-15 cycled-attendance year-round operation have on pupil…

This chapter outlines the procedures followed in an experimental program for low-achievers during their freshman year at Southern Illinois University. Specifically described are the experimental design, selection of subjects, and the treatment according to the experimental, control, and norm groups. In addition, the sample group is described in…