Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank NCES staff members for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this report, including Paul Planchon, Dan Kasprzyk, Jeffrey Owings, Kathryn Chandler, Marilyn McMillen, Michael Cohen, Laura Lippman, and Steve Gorman. We also wish to thank Westat staff members who offered comments and suggestions, including Mary Collins, Mary Jo Nolin, Laura Spencer Loomis, Nancy Vaden-Kiernan, and Nicholas Zill. The report was also reviewed by V. Jeffrey Evans of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Linda Mellgren of the Department of Health and Human Services, Oliver Moles of the At-Risk Institute of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education, and Alan Ginsburg of the Office of the Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. The thoughtful comments and suggestions provided by all the reviewers substantially improved the quality of the report. Any errors remaining are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors also wish to acknowledge and thank Nina Blecher, a consultant, for her excellent programming, Susan Gilmore of Westat for her valuable research assistance, Roy Nord for his always sound statistical and editorial advice, Carol Litman of Westat for her careful editing, and Mary Overacker of Westat for preparing the final manuscript for publication.

Executive Summary