In 1998, as part of a major 3-year Reading Initiative, the Albertson Foundation provided $24.5 million to improve the reading performance of all Idaho elementary, middle, and junior high students. The reading components of School Renaissance (SR), a comprehensive school improvement program, include Accelerated Reader (AR) learning information…

This book is based on the understanding that fostering a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world is important to the development of young children and the preservation of planet Earth. It is also based on the belief that experiences children have early in life impact the attitudes and behaviors they carry with them throughout their…

This brief makes the case for thoughtful district- or school-driven assessment systems that complement and go beyond what statewide testing systems are able to accomplish. It describes important attributes of model local assessment programs and presents the necessary steps for building a local assessment program that will elicit information that…

This second of four publications in the Neighborhood Networks Employment Series focuses on how Neighborhood Networks centers can deliver effective job development and placement programs for residents who are on public assistance, are unemployed, or are underemployed. This guide explains how Neighborhood Networks centers can develop relationships…

This report describes family centered employment strategies. It begins with a look at the economics of families in poverty and provides a brief outline of the many ways in which employment and training programs have begun to work with families. The report then examines the work of four employment programs now offering employment services to…

For every librarian who seeks to better serve the new and unique young adult market, this completely revised edition presents 30 library programs as examples of this service. By studying the examples set by award-winning initiatives around the country, librarians should be able to answer these questions for their young adult programs: What is the…

Early Head Start began with 68 new programs in 1995, and today, more than 600 programs serve some 45,000 low-income families with infants and toddlers. This two-generation program provides high-quality child and family development services, a focus on staff development, and a commitment to community partnerships. A rigorous national evaluation,…

This paper describes Georgia's Reading Challenge, whose goal is to provide a quality after-school reading program for students in grades four through eight with opportunities to improve reading skills and enhance their interest in reading. Sections of the paper describe the goals of the Reading Challenge; general information; responsibilities of…

Web sites that support counseling and the use of self-help resources are often used as an integral part of services delivered by organizations. Given the organizational context of these Web sites, effective implementation of these sites within organizations contributes to the overall quality of available resources and services. This document…

In their search for new ways to assess their agencies' success in working with children and families, child welfare administrators and senior managers are increasingly seeking regular and reliable sources of information that help them evaluate agency performance, make ongoing decisions, and provide an accurate picture for agency staff and external…

A collaborative publication between Harvard Family Research Project and The Finance Project, this brief offers guidance in documenting progress and demonstrating results in local out-of-school-time programs. Following introductory remarks providing a rationale for program evaluation, discussing principles of program evaluation, and clarifying key…

Class-size reduction (CSR) has been a complex and contentious issue for the last quarter century. Although the small-class concept was adopted because it appealed to common sense, research over time has revealed a mix of confounding variables, instead of a definitive conclusion. Some CSR efforts, such as Tennessee's Project STAR and Wisconsin's…

Suggesting that too often initiatives have been placed in schools without attention to the implementation process, this paper discusses a model used in a professional development program for teachers of beginning reading and then describes and documents how each feature of the model was addressed through development and implementation work. The…

This paper discusses the efforts of the Taiwan government to establish a more comprehensive and effective guidance program for Taiwan's youth. It lists the six components involved in the development of this program, and describes several projects that have evolved out of this effort. The core of the "Six Year Project of School Guidance…

This publication examines education stakeholders' initial responses to the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program in six states in the North Central region of the U.S. Created by Congress in 1997 to help raise student achievement in public schools, the CSRD program is a multi-year initiative that provides financial incentives to…