The Student Career Awareness Network (SCAN) at L. B. Johnson Middle School, New Mexico, seeks to target a wide range of students with differing abilities while incorporating School-To-Career's philosophy of instruction. SCAN uses work-related experiences such as project-based assignments, applications-based instruction, hands-on experience, and…

This paper provides an overview of Houghton Mifflin's Soar to Success, a commercially published intervention program designed to accelerate reading growth for students reading below grade level in grade 3 and above. Soar to Success uses fast-paced, structured lessons focusing on comprehension and decoding strategies, is intended for use with small…

The Child Nutrition Act of 1998 authorized demonstration pilot projects in up to six school food authorities and a rigorous evaluation to assess the effects of providing free school breakfasts to elementary school children. This report describes the evaluation strategy and data collection plans. Part 1 of the report provides background…

The development of community-based programs to support inexperienced parents through home visits by experienced mothers, who are in turned facilitated by child health and development professionals, has become an increasingly common approach in Europe and the United States. This edited volume presents proceedings from an invitational conference on…

Many faith communities partner with schools to provide tutoring, safe havens, after-school programs, mentoring, and summer activities; they also inspire their membership to volunteer on behalf of children, youth, and families in the nation's schools. This booklet describes several faith community initiatives in a variety of areas that support…

Urban Impact is a Title II Teacher Quality Enhancement Act partnership grant supporting the development of new strategies and structures to strengthen the preparation and development of beginning teachers in urban settings in Tennessee. This study evaluated the success of Urban Impact in establishing professional and social supports for the first…

AEL's contract with the U.S. Department of Education includes work partnering with faith-based organizations in Kanawha County, West Virginia, to (1) build their capacity to better serve at-risk youth and (2) document what best helps such organizations to successfully impact youth and their families. One of the first faith-based organizations with…

This paper critiques current models for evaluation of mental health services provided to children and adolescents with emotional disturbances and offers an alternative model. The most popular model, Donabedian's tripartite model, is described. This model separately evaluates three domains: (1) structure (characteristics of the care providers,…

To ensure that educational tests do the least harm and bring the greatest good to the education of elementary and secondary school students, it is important that parents, teachers, educational administrators, and policy makers be actively involved in test construction and use. The purpose of this Statement is to provide a checklist of some…

This mandated report to Congress describes the background and purposes of a national study of Head Start impact, the progress of the study, current activities to conduct a field test and prepare for the main study, and the projected timeline for study completion. The report notes that in 2000, a contract was awarded to determine on a national…

This study examined the impact of the Lighthouse program, a school-based, after-school remediation program in the Chicago Public Schools, on student academic achievement. The Lighthouse program included an extra hour of instructional time and an hour of recreational time. Between the two activities, students received a healthy late afternoon meal.…

A study of the aftercare services offered juvenile delinquents after residential placement was conducted in New York State. The emphasis was on the Juvenile Aftercare Services program, which serves the majority of youth being conditionally released into the community. Based on findings from the study involving interviews and site visits, the…

This Read*Write*Now! activity poster presents, on one side, a colorful image of Arthur the Aardvark encouraging adults and children to share the fun of reading and writing, and, on the other side, 5 fun and challenging activities for reading time. The activities are designed to expand a child's interest in and enthusiasm for reading and writing…

This paper has two main purposes: (1) to test the central thesis of systemic reform; and (2) to derive lessons about strengths and weaknesses of reform strategies used in policy and practice. It does this by a secondary analysis of case studies of nine Statewide Systemic Initiatives (SSIs) funded by the National Science Foundation. The case…

Dramatic increases in single parenthood and the number of employed mothers have led to the articulation of policies and programs designed to strengthen the family in Ireland. This report examines the experience of Community Mothers' Programme in Limerick City. Based on the assumption that the understanding, advice, and support of an experienced…