The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.The Talent Development Middle School’s Student Team Literature (STL) program includes: (1) curricular materials designed to assist students study great literature; (2) recommended instructional practices, peer assistance processes, and assessments; and (3) staff development, mentoring, and advising to support the curricular and instructional reforms. Data on students‘ prior reading achievement, achievement after the first year of implementation, and on the frequency of peer assistance were collected in 21 STL classes and in 25 comparison classes in a closely matched control school. HLM analyses that control for prior reading achievement reveal that students in STL classes display significantly better reading comprehension after the first year of implementation (effect size = .51).Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005
