EVERY CHILD HAS THE
CAPACITY TO SUCCEED IN SCHOOL AND IN LIFE.
Yet
far too many children, especially those from poor and minority families,
are placed at risk by school practices that are based on a sorting
paradigm in which some students receive high-expectations instruction
while the rest are relegated to lower quality education and lower quality
futures. The sorting perspective must be replaced by a "talent
development" model that asserts that all children are capable of
succeeding in a rich and demanding curriculum with appropriate assistance
and support.
The mission of the Center for Research on the Education
of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) is to conduct the research,
development, evaluation, and dissemination needed to transform schooling
for students placed at risk. The work of the Center is guided by three
central themes — ensuring the success of all students at key development
points, building on students’ personal and cultural assets, and scaling
up effective programs — and conducted through research and development
programs in the areas of early and elementary studies; middle and high
school studies; school, family, and community partnerships; and systemic
supports for school reform, as well as a program of institutional
activities.
CRESPAR is organized as a partnership of Johns Hopkins
University and Howard University, and supported by the National Institute
on the Education of At-Risk Students (At-Risk Institute), one of five
institutes created by the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination
and Improvement Act of 1994 and located within the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement (OERI) at the U.S. Department of Education. The
At-Risk Institute supports a range of research and development activities
designed to improve the education of students at risk of educational
failure because of limited English proficiency, poverty, race, geographic
location, or economic disadvantage.