While CRESPAR's Programs 1, 2, and 3 further extend our nation's knowledge base and practice in improving elementary and secondary education, and in the creation and sustaining of school, family, and community partnerships, the long-term success of those or any other school-improvement efforts require systemic supports. The goal of Program 4 is to advance research and development, fundamentally and substantially, in supporting teachers, schools, reform designs, and school districts in improving the achievements of at-risk students. CRESPAR's program on Systemic Supports for School Improvements advances the nation's ability to create, assess, and sustain the improvement of schools serving large numbers of students placed at risk. The projects of Program 4 attempt to accomplish this through conducting secondary analyses of national and international data sets (Project 4.1); the longitudinal study of Comprehensive School Improvement Demonstration (CSRD, or Obey-Porter) sites to provide new data on alterable variables contributing to reform failure and success (Project 4.2); the development of systemic models to stabilize long-term reform and improvement in diverse, high-poverty districts (Project 4.3); the creation and evaluation of professional development programs in the context of sustained achievement (Project 4.4); and Assessment and Evaluation Innovations in Talent Development Models (Project 4.5).
