The immigrant population of Israel falls into two large groups: those of European descent and those from North African and Middle Eastern countries. Families from traditionally agrarian Arab countries generally have a lower socioeconomic status, and their children have difficulty competing in school with children from a more urban, industrialized, predominantly middle class background. Starting in 1958, the Israeli government developed compensatory education programs for these and other "culturally disadvantaged" children, with a range of enrichment and support programs designed to allow disadvantaged pupils more time to adapt. Among these were the Fostering Projects for the Gifted Disadvantaged, which included a large scale longitudinal boarding school program intended to foster the more able of the culturally disadvantaged. Preference was given to those children from the Middle Eastern and North African communities whose family conditions indicated that it was desirable for the child to leave home for a boarding program. The children were housed in a number of academic, technical, agricultural, and maritime institutions, and received intensive educational, enrichment, and counseling activities. Evaluators then examined data for the 1961 class, the 1966 class (both of these for their four years in the program), and a 10-year post-graduation followup of the 1961 group. This 10-year longitudinal study indicated that students in the boarding program had a higher success level than those in conventional academic settings, with a lower dropout rate and a higher rate of matriculation and post-graduate education, particularly at the lower ability levels. (CJM)