The federally financed GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program) was organized two decades ago with the purpose of increasing high school completion and college enrollment among low-income students. The College Crusade of Rhode Island's GEAR UP program was designed as a long-term effort to buttress student success…

Texas state grant aid programs provide significant support to many low- and moderate-income state residents pursuing postsecondary education. Only a small share of eligible students receives state grants, however, and students often cannot predict whether they will receive aid, especially if they apply to different types of institutions.…

This brief provides an overview of the implementation and impact of near peer mentoring programs in Alaska and Idaho from the standpoint of both existing research and the near peers themselves. While progress is being monitored as part of state College Access Challenge Grant (CACG) program implementation and activity, only limited data on the…

The Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (subsequently renamed the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS) was created via ACT 1375 during the 1997 Regular Legislative Session. The first college freshman class to receive TOPS awards entered postsecondary education in the fall of 1998. ACT 1202 of the 2001 Regular Legislative Session…

The Kentucky Placement and Followup System (KPFS) was assessed to determine the effectiveness of the different components, describe the potential usefulness of KPFS, and identify any barriers that had been encountered. A questionnaire was developed by the program director to survey the fourteen vocational education regions in Kentucky to determine…

This guide is designed to assist Missouri school district personnel in conducting follow-up studies of special education graduates. The guide outlines the questions that need to be addressed prior to conducting a follow-up study as well as the procedures to complete such a project. Sample follow-up questionnaires are included for districts to…

A review of the annual report of Jobs for America's Graduates, Inc., regarding the activities of the Jobs for Florida's Graduates Program, concluded that the program had not met its goals. It does not appear that the program will meet its statutory outcome goals of an 82 percent student graduation rate and a 70-75 percent employment rate, and the…

This document presents the transcript of a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Education Reform about state and local level special education programs that work and federal barriers to innovation as part of efforts to reform the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Highlights of the testimony include: (1) progress in New York in…

The State of New York conducted a follow-up study of the 76,000 students who completed an occupational education program in New York in 1987. Students were followed up by mail and telephone interviews, with an overall rate of return of 67 percent. Some of the major findings of the study were the following: (1) for all occupational education…

A study assessed the effectiveness of the Occupation of Homemaking programs in Illinois secondary schools by collecting data for evaluating current programs and determining future needs. Approximately 350 randomly selected high school graduates from the years 1979-1984, half of whom had been enrolled in Occupation of Homemaking classes and half of…

In an effort to conceptualize, plan, and conduct research activities to gather data for decision making concerning program improvement in vocational agriculture, a model for evaluating programs was developed by the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, University of Florida. Through use of this model, six objectives to guide research…

High school graduates from a self-selected group of school districts in Texas were surveyed early in the year after graduation regarding the extent to which they were engaged in activities endorsed by the state's School-to-Careers (STC) initiative during their senior year in high school. Since the STC initiative had only begun during these…

A follow-up of 1983 Idaho high school graduates who had participated in secondary vocational education sought to determine program effectiveness and efficiency. Idaho public school graduates of 1983 were the population. Data were collected from transcripts and two different mail questionnaires. The Idaho Student Followup questionnaire assessed…

A project was conducted to gather data on the outcomes of homemaking and consumer education programs in Illinois. The project also developed instruments and processes that will allow teachers to gather data in their school districts and store the data using a microcomputer. Data collection instruments were based on outcome statements as reported…

A project studied use of state unemployment insurance (UI) wage-record data for Program Year 1986 to assess the effectiveness of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs. Eleven of 27 interested states were selected by ability to meet data requirements. These issues associated with the use of UI data as an assessment tool were explored:…