The Promising Practices Network - The PPN highlights programs and practices that research indicates are effective in improving outcomes for children, youth and families. This Web site is organized into three major parts, (1) proven and promising programs, (2) research briefs and (3) a strengthening service delivery section containing an introduction to a number of topics and links to resources for further investigation. The site also contains state-specific information for selected states....

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) - This college-preparatory program for underserved students is offered at more than 2,200 schools in 36 states, with almost 55% of these schools in California. Ninety-five percent of AVID students enroll in college, with 77% enrolling in four-year institutions – compared to 35% nationally – and 17% in community colleges. AVID students are enrolled in their school’s toughest classes, such as Advanced Placement, and receive support in an academic elective class called AVID and taught within the school day by a trained AVID teacher. ...

Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) - This is a coalition of 60 of the nation’s largest urban public school systems. The council has established a task force dedicated to helping close identifiable gaps in the achievement of students by race. This section of CGCS' Web site features current and past publications and news about task force activities....

Education Trust - This Web site features individual state profiles of student performance on national and state tests, as well as detailed analysis of achievement gaps both within and across states. ...

ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education - The Student Learning and Development section of this Web site features several dozen digests, monographs and Web links on achievement-gap issues....

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) - NAEP’s reports on the achievement of students in geography, mathematics, reading, science and history include a breakdown of scores by students’ gender, race or ethnicity and highest level of parental education....

National Urban League - The Campaign for African-American Achievement – a $25 million, five-year initiative supported by the Lilly Endowment – is aimed at mobilizing black parents and local leaders to demand high achievement as the norm for their children and schools. ...

The Minority Student Achievement Network - This is national coalition of 25 multiracial suburban school districts across the United States. It focuses on identifying and developing the means to ensure high academic achievement for students of color, specifically black and Hispanic students....

Closing the Achievement Gap by Closing the Design Gap - According to this presentation on the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) High Schools That Work Network, only 52 schools out of 1,100 in the network have achieved the project goal of having 85% of their students meet the reading, mathematics and science performance goals. The second goal of the project is to teach students – particularly career-oriented students – the essential content of the college-preparatory academic core along with challenging career studies. (Gene Bottoms, SREB High Schools That Work Staff Development Conference, July 2001)...