Background: Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, students with COVID-19 may end isolation after 5 days if symptoms are improving; some individuals may still be contagious. Rapid antigen testing identifies possibly infectious virus. We report on a test-to-return (TTR) program in a Massachusetts school district to inform policy…

This study evaluates the Programming the Acceleration of Computing Education (PACE) Framework for Computer Science (CS) Systems Change, developed to promote equitable access to CS education for middle school students. Funded by an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Early-Phase Grant, the intervention aimed to increase student understanding,…

The mission of "Excelencia" in Education is to accelerate Latino student success in higher education. A critical group of institutions enrolling and graduating Latino students are Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). In 2023-24, two-thirds of all Latino undergraduate students in higher education (67%) were enrolled in 602 institutions…

Much is unknown about those who do not finish high school and there is a need to understand who enters and completes alternative high school completion programs, such as the HiSet (High School Equivalency Test), GED (General Education Development Test), or growing number of state sponsored high school equivalency programs. The purpose for…

Sonia Kovalevsky Days (SK Days) are nationally-held outreach events that are commonly organized by local chapters of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) to encourage young women to continue their study of mathematics. The AWM Student Chapter at Worcester Polytechnic Institute hosted virtual renditions of SK Day for middle school girls…

The Policy Practice in Field Initiative was created to seed innovation and develop new models for an integrated approach to enhance the policy skill set of all social work students regardless of specialization. Funds provided to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) are regranted to schools and programs of social work for field placement and…

This phenomenological study explores the challenges 21 formerly incarcerated students identified as barriers to maintaining positive student experiences while enrolled in a college-in-prison program. Employing a thriving framework, the study identified several key challenges, including lack of study space, friction with prison staff, limited…

Partnerships between schools and out-of-school organizations (museums, zoos, nature centers, etc.) have been shown to improve the educational experiences for both students and teachers. In this article, we report on the experiences we have documented as a nature center through our active involvement in school partnerships. Our partnerships with…

Out-of-school-time (OST) programs have long focused on children's social and emotional development as part of their mission of building a culture of connectedness and positive relationships between youth and adults. Research demonstrates that high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are associated with positive…

This article argues that current approaches to civic learning tend to normalize Whiteness. It describes how a team in Massachusetts developed a framework for civic learning through a lens of racial equity and provided professional development opportunities based on this framework. Civic learning for a multiracial democracy cannot be done in a…

The Massachusetts Early Childhood Support Organization (ECSO) initiative seeks to improve the quality of early education programs (EEPs) by supporting leaders to strengthen their organizational climate, provide job-embedded professional learning opportunities for educators, support the use of instructional curriculum and child assessments in their…

LearnPlatform by Instructure conducted this quasi-experimental study, evaluating the impact of the Breathe For Change Mindfulness, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), and Yoga Teacher Training on K-12 student attendance and chronic absenteeism during the 2023-24 school year. The study included 172 educators and 955 students from a mid-size public…

"Pathways to Implementation" highlights innovative strategies and effective models in career pathways policy, implementation, and programming, as well as challenges states encounter in this work. This seven-part series addresses the key elements of Bellwether's framework for career pathways policy implementation. Each brief defines the…

The PBIS Framework has demonstrated effectiveness in supporting schools in improving various prosocial outcomes including improved social, emotional, and behavioral skills; increased academic outcomes and attendance; decreased exclusionary discipline (e.g., office referrals, suspensions); and reduced reports of bullying and substance abuse. In…

The Massachusetts Multi-City Young Children's System of Care Project was a federally funded program to provide integrated early childhood mental health (ECMH) services in primary care for families of very young children (birth-six years old) with Serious Emotional Disturbances across three cities in Massachusetts, U.S.A. This study describes…