A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

OERI Bulletin - Summer 1995

New R&D Center on Education of Students Placed at Risk

Johns Hopkins University and Howard University will administer the largest single research and development center ever funded through OERI. The new Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) will receive $4.7 million in fiscal year 1995 and up to $27.7 million over the next 5 years to conduct rigorous, large-scale studies that can help guide policymakers and educators in expanding opportunities for disadvantaged children. Robert E. Slavin of Johns Hopkins and A. Wade Boykin of Howard University are codirectors of CRESPAR.

How schools can best develop students' talents is the center's main focus. This vision rests on what research has already shown: all children can learn if provided a challenging and supportive environment, and children from poor and minority families need not be placed at risk by outmoded and ineffective school practices.

Three major themes will guide CRESPAR's work, which will be carried out through seven research and development programs:

Themes

Ensuring success at key developmental hurdles that include readiness for school, learning to read in the early elementary grades, effective math and science learning in upper elementary and secondary school, and being fully prepared for college or work and for effective citizenship.
Building on personal and cultural assets (i.e., curriculum, instruction, school organization, assessment, and family and community partnerships) that serve as sources of resilience and integrity when faced with major obstacles.
Scaling up successful programs by supporting and replicating those school programs that have served poor and minority students in an outstanding manner.

R&D Programs

Resilience and cultural integrity;
Early education and development;
School and classroom interventions (elementary schools);
School and classroom interventions (middle/high schools);
Language minority students;
School, family, and community partnerships; and
Systemic and policy-related studies.

CRESPAR also will disseminate information about effective programs and practices, train minority scholars, and maintain an electronic bulletin board. For more information, contact John Hollifield at Johns Hopkins (410-516-8810); Beverly Cole-Henderson at Howard University (202-806-7353); or René Gonzalez at the National Institute on the Education for At-Risk Students (202-219-2220).
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