This volume provides both a review and a set of essays concerned with one issue in American education - the effects of poverty and social class upon and within schools. On the one hand, equal access to education is an important American ideal, yet on the other, it has been obvious for many years that a quality education and good schools are unavailable to a large number of Americans who live in impoverished communities.

Summer schools serve multiple purposes for students, families, educators, and communities. The current demand for summer programs is driven by changes in American families and by calls for an educational system that is competitive globally and embodies higher academic standards. This monograph details a research synthesis that uses both meta-analytic and narrative procedures to integrate the results of 93 evaluations of summer schools. These and other findings are then examined for their implications for future research, public policy, and implementation of summer programs.