Do cooperative learning and family involvement improve variables linked to academic performance?

Background: One of the most serious problems in the Spanish education system is the high percentage of school failure in Compulsory Secondary Education. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of a socio-educational program based on cooperative learning and family involvement on a series of variables related to academic performance, paying particular attention to the differences between retained and non-retained students.

Methodology: A two-group quasi-experimental design incorporating pre-testing and post-testing was used.

Evaluation of the implementation of a socio-educational program with immigrant families: a case study.

There exist an increasing number of studies that demonstrate the necessity to evaluate the processes which characterize a program and guarantee its implementation and evaluation. This paper deals with the implementation of a program designed to improve the acculturation of immigrant families in Spain (EU). Implementation followed a process that has proved successful in other settings, but is being applied here for the first time.