In line with best practices for high-quality out-of-school time (OST) programming and youth development, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) programming focuses on the program environment, the establishment of positive relationships, opportunities for youth development, and opportunities for families to engage. Research has consistently shown…

Brentwood School is an independent K-12 coed day school with two campuses, located four blocks apart, in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Brentwood's West Campus (Brentwood Lower School) includes grades K-5 with 266 students. It has a student/teacher ratio of 7:1 in kindergarten and 11:1 in first through fifth grade and is 39% students…

In collaboration with an urban public school, teacher candidates at a nearby university created a social-emotional skills project called Knight Brigade. The author discusses the project planning, implementation, and results as part of this ongoing partnership.

This work discusses the effort to begin helping university students fulfill the university mission and core curriculum objectives through the Foundations of Sports Outreach course and the Sports Outreach Initiative at Gonzaga University. Guided by Catholic Social Teaching principles, the primary goal of the course was to provide a social…

The literature on service-learning outcomes in pre-adolescent children is relatively sparse. Empathy (i.e., overall, cognitive, affective) and community engagement (i.e., connection to the community, civic awareness, civic efficacy) were assessed in 155 first, second, and fifth graders (n = 79 males; n = 76 females) using a pre/post design for a…

This article defines service-learning within the context of school counseling and describes a school counseling program that integrated service-learning into classroom guidance for elementary students. Student reflections about their experiences within the framework of personal-social, academic, and career development are provided. Additionally,…

Educators are increasingly aware that the efficacy of social and emotional learning (SEL) is dependent on implementation factors, not just program content. These include the philosophy underpinning an intervention, the beliefs as well as the skills of facilitators, and the classroom/whole school context in which the intervention takes place. This…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 12th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Sofia and Nessebar, Bulgaria, in June 2014, and papers submitted to the 2nd International Partner Conference, organized by the International Research Centre 'Scientific Cooperation,' Rostov-on-Don,…