The Secondary Schools Basic Skills Demonstration Assistance Program of 1988 offered school districts, through a competitive grant program, an opportunity to explore innovative ways of helping disadvantaged secondary school students attain grade level proficiency in basic and more advanced skills. In 1990, the sole year of funding, the program awarded 31 1-year grants to urban and rural schools in the United States and Puerto Rico. Almost half of the grants were in urban areas. An evaluation was commissioned to determine whether the academic achievement of secondary school students improved with participation and strategies that accounted for improvements. Primary means of data collection were a survey of the grantees, 10 case studies, and analyses of student outcomes, including test scores that exceeded estimates of measurement error. Data from 13 grantees were used in this report. The overall message from the program evaluation is that under certain conditions peer tutoring and mentoring can be useful for addressing the educational and developmental needs of disadvantaged secondary school students. The program achieved limited success, but does support research on the effectiveness of peer tutoring. Teachers' responses were generally positive, as were parent perceptions of the effectiveness of tutoring. Eighteen tables present data about the programs, and an appendix lists the programs. (Contains 16 references.) (SLD)