Summarizes the findings of business leaders and parents to discuss firsthand information about workplace demands and aspirations for high school graduates. The listening tour visited five five communities over the course of a year: Oakland, CA; Westfield, MA; Tupelo, MS; Marysville, OH; and Norfolk, VA.

Uses the University of Missouri–Columbia (MU) and the University of Missouri System (UM System)1 as a case site for this report, having experienced a highly visible racial crisis in the 2015–16 academic year. The university’s openness to being studied provides a unique opportunity for the nation to learn important lessons about the recovery process on college campuses following a racial crisis.

Presents two successful partnerships between schools and state health departments to improve health and education outcomes for youth with chronic illnesses.

Summarizes focus groups with young people in eight drop-in centers and youth shelters in New York City. These discussions centered on how experiences of homelessness, and the issues accompanying it, impact young people’s ability to enter and complete a postsecondary pathway of their choosing — whether entering college, a high-quality job training program, or a meaningful career path.

Presents early findings from a partnership among MDRC; the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University; and CUNY to eval-uate the effectiveness of CUNY Start. The program served students who placed into developmental education in one or more areas, and half of the study sample placed into remediation in math, reading, and writing.

Presents a study showing the modest impacts of the Fourth R curriculum among a middle school target population in the Bronx, New York. The findings suggest that dosage and program delivery matter. In schools with higher fidelity to the program model, the Fourth R produced delays in sexual activity, decreased peer violence/bullying perpetration, and reduced acceptance of pro-violence beliefs and gender stereotypes.

Examines the expansion of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and how the program was adapted in the process, using Bronx Community College as an illustrative case study. It provides an in-process look at the early stages of program expansion, an often-overlooked part of institutional reform.

Summarizes a variety of lessons of administering the New York City School Survey and presents both the Research Alliance’s and the NYC DOE’s reflections about the process of improving the School Survey.