There can be little wonder why educational interventions, based upon the body of research on teaching and learning from the 1970s and 1980s, have had so little lasting effect. We have not been playing with all the pieces of the puzzle. There are intervening factors that prevent even the best teachers from effectively teaching many of our children. At least one of six children has no health care at all. At least 100,000 children are homeless in America on any given night.
Every year there are more than a million runaway and homeless young people.
Overall, the percent of students graduating from high school from 1985 to 1990 decreased for whites, African Americans and Hispanics. Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and six times more likely to become unmarried parents. Every year, approximately 1 million teenage girls become pregnant. The percent of all births to single teens increased 16 percent from 1986 to 1991. The juvenile violent crime arrest rate increased three times from 1960 to 1988.