Argues that we do not yet have a menu of program options for helping students at risk of dropping out and suggests a way to identify approaches that program developers can use while efforts to develop a stronger scientific basis for new programs continue.

Mathematica's latest report shows that 21st Century after-school programs, which currently spend $1 billion a year in federal funding, changed where and with whom students spent some of their after-school time. But our analysis also reveals that programs had only limited influence on academic...

Describes the program, framework and design for the national evaluation, and data and methods to be used in the implementation and impact studies.

Recommends that an upcoming study of the effectiveness of educational technology in improving academic achievement focus on four goals: (1) defining what is meant by "educational technology," (2) deciding how to measure effectiveness, (3) clarifying what kinds of students will be studied, and...

Describes how various components of Mathematica's complex study fit together and explains perspectives and principles related to 1) distinguishing implemented programs from intended ones, 2) ensuring broad coverage to explore competing theories of effective programming, 3) collecting...

The No Child Left Behind Act called for the U.S. Department of Education to conduct a national study of the effectiveness of educational technology. The study identified reading and mathematics software products based on prior evidence of effectiveness and other criteria and used an experimental...