The Colorado Preschool Program (CPP) serves at-risk preschool children in community programs, including Head Start programs, private for-profit programs, non-profit programs, and programs within public schools. This 2002 report to the Colorado General Assembly provides information on the effectiveness of major early childhood education programs,…

The future prosperity of the United States relies strongly upon the success of its higher education system. With an increasingly technological and competitive world economy, more jobs require the advanced skills and knowledge that higher education provides. Yet despite the significant efforts toward improving elementary and secondary education in…

This guide is intended for teachers and administrators of programs for gifted students. Following an introductory chapter, six chapters present six survival strategies (sample subtopics in parentheses): (1) set a solid foundation for your program (stating your mission and philosophy, conducting a needs assessment); (2) cast a wide net to identify…

This paper describes the Pathfinders program in New York (New York), which works to facilitate the full integration of adults with developmental disabilities into workplaces and neighborhoods. The paper is organized around the question of whether students graduating from special education can find paid and volunteer work in community settings,…

This report examines the efforts of Youth Education for Tomorrow (YET), a best-practices-based literacy program developed by a group of faith-based schools, churches, and community organizations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In each YET Center, a qualified teacher and volunteer assistants helped children improve as readers using proven…

This report highlights the input of leaders at a national meeting in October 2001 to discuss an evaluation framework for the family support field. The meeting marked the beginning of the Evidence Along the Way National Family Support Evaluation Project, an initiative to develop a comprehensive framework for evaluating how well the family support…

The 2000-2001 annual report of Minnesota's PACER (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights) Center, a statewide organization that provides information, training, and assistance to parents of children and youth with disabilities, reports on 24 programs in three categories: parent training (12 programs); programs for students and…

The purpose of this paper is to encourage state and local family and youth organizations, mental health agencies, education entities and schools across the nation to enter new relationships to achieve positive social, emotional and educational outcomes for every child. This paper offers recommendations and encouragement to family and youth…

There is an extensive body of research on the factors that predict mental health and illness, focusing on factors within the adolescent as well as within the various components of the adolescents environment. This paper presents a selective review of the research pertaining to each layer of the adolescent's internal and external world. Throughout…

What is needed to strengthen youth policy in the states? In this Research and Policy Report, co-authored by the Forum for Youth Investment and the National Conference of State Legislatures, learn concrete ways that states are addressing key challenges to creating better aligned and more effective youth policy. (Contains 26 notes and 2 figures.)

The author presents testimony on the value of process indicators--i.e., measures of the services the education system is actually providing--for improving educational governance. He states that the case in favor of process indicators can be summarized in terms of three propositions. First, information about system performance is critical for…

The 5-14 Development Programme is a major reform encompassing curriculum, assessment, national testing, and reporting for pupils 5- to 14-years-old in Scotland. Implementation of the program was first monitored between March 1991 and March 1995; this study continued the program evaluation in primary schools from March 1995 to March 1997. Data were…

The Peace Corps Programming and Training System (PATS) manual is designed to help field staff members of the Peace Corps train volunteers. This supplement to the manual was developed as a resource for planning training events and for preparing training materials and documentation. The information included in this supplement expands on the guidance…

Outdoor programs can offset initial investment costs in services and products by developing integrated program areas. The experience of Outdoors Unlimited, a recently created kayaking program at Brigham Young University (Utah), is provided as a model. The purchase of 11 kayaks for rental was followed by the introduction of retail sales, repair…

The 22 essays and case studies in this book offer a theoretical and practical guide on outreach programs of colleges and universities. The chapters are: (1) "The New American Outreach University: Challenges and Options" (Richard M. Lerner, Lou Anna K. Simon); (2) "The Land-Grant Idea and the Evolving Outreach University" (James T. Bonnen); (3)…