Current U.S. policy initiatives to improve the U.S. education system, including No Child Left Behind, test-based evaluation of teachers and the promotion of competition, are misguided because they either deny or set to the side a basic body of evidence documenting that students from disadvantaged households on average perform less well in school…

Since the 1960s, there have been continuing federal efforts to bring reform to scale in high-poverty elementary and secondary schools across the U.S. This paper traces the evolution of these efforts and discusses their impacts on achievement outcomes. Drawing on evidence from meta-analyses of the Title I evaluation literature and the Comprehensive…

The Higher Education Amendment of 1968 provided for support services on college and university campuses to facilitate the progress of disadvantaged young people (from families within the national poverty criteria or the physically handicapped). Three years later an evaluation of the special service programs (typically including specially staffed…

This report is considered to constitute the first attempt to present a comparative analysis on university level programs of educational opportunities. The following topics are included in the analysis: enrollment and retention, demographic characteristics, academic background, major subject area, supportive services, academic progress, student…