The result of a collaboration between the El Paso, Texas, school district and community agencies, the Focus on First Graders program provides early intervention and prevention using a comprehensive approach to providing a variety of services at the school to at-risk first graders from low income families. Teachers and parents were surveyed to…

The curricular recommendations of the current educational-reform movement are discussed and their likely effects on at-risk youth are considered. Current reform efforts tend to focus on three major curricular changes: (1) increase the number of academic courses required to graduate from high school; (2) increase the time for education; and (3) end…

In 1982, the Maryland State Department of Education initiated a longitudinal study of its Extended Elementary Education Prekindergarten Program. The study was designed to examine the effects of early education on low-income children's later school performance. The school performances of program participants and members of a comparable nonpreschool…

As part of the Longitudinal Study of Children at Risk, this study evaluated the Child Parent Center (CPC) Program, a preschool to third grade intervention program funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Chapter I. Subjects were 915 low-income black children from 20 inner-city schools who were differentially exposed to…

By focusing on the settings and environments in which high-risk young people are living, this book fixes responsibility on society as a whole. High-risk settings do not just happen, but are the result of public policies and national choices. The Panel on High-Risk Youth of the National Research Council attempts to clarify forces tearing apart…

This report examines personal, cultural, school, and family factors that contribute to the decision of American Indian students to remain in school until graduation or to drop out. A 140-item questionnaire, the Native American School Study, was completed by 165 participants who had either graduated or dropped out of school during 1989-91.…

Nongraded education is the practice of teaching children of different ages and ability levels together in the same classroom, without dividing them or the curriculum into steps labeled by "grade" designations. Children progress along the continuum from easier to more difficult material at their own, varying rates of speed. Interest in nongraded…

The purpose of this study was to survey the affective and cognitive progress of three classes of pre-first grade transitional students. An introduction discusses the issue of social promotion, or the promotion of a student regardless of the student's degree of mastery of the previous level, as opposed to grade retention. In an extensive literature…

This study investigated the school adjustment of 1,300 low-income, minority children in the Chicago Public Schools. Chidren's progress from preschool to fourth grade was traced. Data were collected from teachers, parents, children, and computerized records. The study primarily examined mediated effects of preschool; influences on cognitive growth…

Analysis of 1968-76 data from the Office of Civil Rights indicated that Hispanics were highly segregated between school systems and between schools within systems. In 1976, nearly 80% of all the Hispanics enrolled in United States schools were enrolled in less than 5% of the nation's school districts, a level of segregation nearly twice that of…

Participants in this survey were 33 countries from various continents, all members of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. In the document, education wastage in the elementary school is divided into 3 main components: (1) nonattendance, (2) repetition of grade, and (3) withdrawal from the school cycle. Year-grade…

Retention is defined as when a student is required to repeat the grade in which they were enrolled the previous year. This report provides important information on statewide student grade retention statistics, including retention data by grade level, race/ethnicity, gender, in special education status, limited English proficiency status, and…

This bulletin discusses approaches that reformers are using nationwide to bring about improvement in urban schools. It focuses on (1) embracing more choices (school vouchers, charter schools, private management, public school transfers, home schooling, enrolling high school students in community colleges, and virtual education); (2) holding…

This collection of papers examines prior and current research and policy on grade repetition and social promotion. Papers include: "Where Is Lake Wobegon, Anyway? The Controversy Surrounding Social Promotion" (Richard Rothstein); "Student Retention: Why Is There a Gap between the Majority of Research Findings and School…

In 1996, Chicago became the epicenter for this debate when it "ended social promotion" in the third, sixth, and eighth grades. While not the first, Chicago's initiative has been the most sustained to date and has produced the clearest evidence of positive as well as negative results. Test scores rose rapidly after the institution of…