Programs of school improvement based on characteristics of effective schools as identified by school effects researchers have proliferated in recent years. This paper describes major school improvement programs now underway throughout the United States: (1) programs organized and administered within schools and school districts in New York City;…

The Kansas State Energy Curriculum Institute (KSECI) was conducted for 2 weeks in June 1984 at Kansas State University, Manhattan, and was attended by nine rural elementary teachers from northeast Kansas. The program included the dissemination of energy curriculum materials, field trips, guest speakers, media production, and other energy education…

With the aid of single parent grant money, the Highlands County (Florida) School Board surveyed the needs of adolescent single parents in three high schools and three middle schools. Dropout students also were contacted. Survey results identified the barriers to adolescent single parents obtaining marketable skills. The need for occupational…

A project was conducted in Broward County, Florida, to help students ranging in age from 14 to 25 to become more openminded in regard to career options for women and to encourage them to participate in nontraditional vocational programs. Because of their generally accepted openmindedness, students in middle schools received additional emphasis.…

This report evaluates the Urban University/Urban School Collaborative Program sponsored by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). The program provided grants for 16 projects to improve opportunities for youth in urban areas, giving them access to higher education and jobs. The grants were to be used to…

A project was conducted at Crossroads Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center (Erie, Pennsylvania) to help residents build self-esteem and confidence through a course involving decision making, problem solving, and values clarification. Strategies, academic skills, reading, writing, and mathematics were introduced as part of the program. Over the…

The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system has magnet programs integrated into the instructional programs of 14 of its high schools. Each program has an instructional coordinator who reports to the principal of the school. Because the APS student body is overwhelmingly black, the programs do not have as a major goal increased racial or ethnic…

A recent Carnegie Foundation Report, "College: The Undergraduate Experience in America" reviewed baccalaureate programs through an analysis of eight tension points. This paper reviews these eight points and discusses their implications for teacher education which is intricately tied to undergraduate education. Those issues that affect colleges in…

This reaction paper presented at a conference on compensatory education begins with reviews of three studies prepared for the program and staffing session of the conference and dealing respectively with student-to-instructor ratios, instructional setting, and summer programs. The paper then presents the view that huge gains in achievement will not…

The Peninsula Academies is a three-year high school program for at-risk students, designed to provide them with incentives both to graduate and to acquire labor market-relevant skills. An academy combines academic and technical training in a school-within-a-school setting, and is based on school-business partnerships. In the fall of 1985, 10…

This report focuses on the involvement of parents in local projects funded under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. It researches the kind and extent of involvement, the impact of state and local factors on it, and the effect of the change from Title I to Chapter…

This report includes the background papers developed for an invitational workshop on mental health program development for minority youth and their families, and a summary of the recommendations made and actions to be taken. Section I presents an overall framework and an overview of the issues that were explored in greater depth at the workshop.…

The 1986-87 Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention (AIDP) Part-Time Jobs Program was begun in spring 1987 to place at-risk New York City, New York, high school students in part-time, unsubsidized jobs that would motivate them to improve their school attendance and academic achievement. Twenty-one community-based organizations (CBOs) contracted…

This report is an overview of the current status of farmers in the U.S. economy, with an emphasis on the characteristics of displaced farmers, the reasons for their displacement, the effects of their displacement on the economy, and some policy recommendations for the future. Following an executive summary, the report is organized in five…

Project STAR I, a summer program administered by the Indianapolis Public Schools, provided over 400 economically disadvantaged young people (16 to 21 years old) with supervised work/intern experiences and career education activities designed to promote career development and continued academic pursuit. The project had three basic components: STAR…