New AIR Report on Middle and High School Improvement Programs

Washington, D.C. - The Comprehensive School Reform Quality (CSRQ) Center, a project of the American Institutes for Research (www.air.org), today released Works in Progress: A Report on Middle and High School Improvement Programs. The report offers educators and policymakers a user-friendly, timely summary of more than a dozen key issues facing middle and high schools, such as literacy and reading, English language learners, violence and bullying, and transition. Works in Progress provides:

A review of nearly 100 programmatic approaches, including comprehensive school reform models, which are used to address the key issues in educating secondary-level students.

Information to help education consumers at the district and school levels make evidence-based decisions about how to improve outcomes for middle and high school students, including research citations and links to additional resources. This report can help to meet the urgent need felt by education decision-makers to find approaches that significantly raise student achievement and improve other student outcomes. It recognizes the unique challenges of educating middle or high school students, while at the same time providing support for approaches that address their academic and non-academic needs in a comprehensive manner.

Future CSRQ Center reports will take the form of consumer guides, rating the quality and effectiveness of widely adopted elementary, middle, and high school comprehensive school reform models and approaches.

“This initial CSRQ report compiles many of the resources for comprehensive middle and high school improvement approaches so that principals, teachers, and parents can be aware of what’s available using one source,” said Sol Pelavin, President and CEO of American Institutes for Research (AIR).

The Comprehensive School Reform Quality (CSRQ) Center is operated by the American Institutes for Research (www.air.org) through a grant from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.

The American Institutes for Research, founded in 1946, is a leader in behavioral and social science research. AIR is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization engaged in domestic and international research, development, evaluation, analysis, product development, training and technical assistance and assessment.