Search

This working paper examines the approaches, wisdom, and experience generated by the ChalleNGe program, as well as the vast storehouse of knowledge and research, models and systems possessed by the military services that are potentially applicable to educating and developing youngsters who are at greatest risk of academic failure, economic marginality, and outright poverty. The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is a quasi-military residential corps for school dropouts. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether these approaches show sufficient promise that they might work for these young people, not whether there is solid proof that they actually do work. It focuses on the military because the United States military enjoys a well-deserved reputation for its ability to reach, teach, and develop young people who are rudderless, and for setting the pace among American institutions in advancing minorities. Young people receive military-style education and training in an array of settings, most typically in a branch of the military. Various branches also partner with public schools to operate programs that emulate the military atmosphere and methods. This paper poses questions and positive ideas about unconventional ways of educating youngsters who are struggling and of organizing schools that might be equipped---conceptually, academically, and operationally---to give them a better shot at success in life. Far from etched in stone, the ideas advanced here are offered to spur a vigorous search for innovative new strategies to rescue youngsters who have virtually disappeared from society's radar screen. (Contains 1 table and 137 endnotes.) [Additional support was provided by the Taconic Foundation.]

This Opportunity 08 position paper advises that the next President of the United States should focus on lifting the achievement levels of our nation's schoolchildren. It recommends that the new President should mount a determined effort, together with states and local school districts, to boost the academic performance of low achievers by: (1) requiring underperforming public schools that receive federal aid to improve the academic performance of chronic low achievers; (2) insisting that individual school improvement strategies be derived from sound evidence about what actually works; (3) joining with states in providing grants for schools to improve the academic performance of low achievers; and (4) penalizing low-performing schools that decline to devise and implement credible school improvement plans by cutting their share of their district's federal Title I grant by 25 percent. The paper presents case studies of San Jose, CA, Hamilton County, TN, and Mount Vernon, NY, where their school districts have, respectively, registered achievement gains utilizing more targeted strategies, given educators incentives, and trained its sights on reading and literacy. (Includes a list of additional resources.)

Presents the keynote speech given to the National Urban League Convention in July 1994. The speech charts the course of the Urban League through the remainder of the century. The author suggests three priorities: educating and developing inner city children, helping their families become economically self-sufficient, and encouraging racial inclusion so blacks can participate in the mainstream economy. (GR)