This digest describes the essential components of college preparation programs for urban and minority youth. The digest suggests that such programs must attend to the cultural norms of the community and their own political contexts in order to increase students' access to, enrollment in, and graduation from college. College preparation programs…

This digest reviews approaches that have been proven effective in preparing urban minority youth for college. Precollege programs that offer comprehensive approaches and combine a variety of services have the largest impact on college access for minority youth in low-income neighborhoods. The most effective programs are of substantial duration and…

Over the last two decades, there has been a growing body of research evidence suggesting important benefits to be gained by elementary-age schoolchildren when their parents provide support, encouragement, and direct instruction in the home and school and maintain good communication with the school and related organizations. Involvement is often a…

Recent educational approaches that have career and technical education (CTE) components have integrated work-based learning (WBL) with traditional academics. Among positive effects of the association between WBL and secondary students' educational outcomes are: (1) increased attendance, (2) decreased dropout rates, (3) increased number of academic…