Fast Track. Summer Academic Skills Enhancement Program, 1993. Final Evaluation Report.

The Summer Academic Skills Enhancement Program (SASEP) was offered in June-August 1993 to provide Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) clients with the reading comprehension and language mechanics skills required for employment in entry-level positions. A total of 125 referred clients were enrolled into both of two remedial courses of study. Enrollees were categorized as "regular" (RPA) or "low" pretest achievers (LPA), and specific evaluation objectives were developed for each group. At least 45% of the students in the RPA subset showed a 1.0 grade equivalent (GE) gain on the reading comprehension and language mechanics posttests. Thirty-five percent of the LPA students gained at least 1.0 GE in the reading comprehension posttest, and 42% achieve a 1.0 GE in the language mechanics posttest. Forty-seven percent of the 1993 program participants achieved program completion status (they attended classes 75% of the program days). Program retention demonstrated a 2% drop from 1992. Male/Black retention (81%) was down only 1% from 1992. It was recommended that all SASEP evaluation levels be maintained at their present values but that the definition of program completion be relaxed. (Appended are SASEP pupil attendance and achievement data. Fourteen tables are included.) (MN)