Most educators believe that social and emotional learning (SEL) skills are a fundamental part of good teaching and learning. Long before the pandemic, surveys showed that teachers believed these skills were essential for students to learn at school, and research confirmed that they are linked with measures of academic success. Educators need…

This Practice to Policy brief, based on insights from UnidosUS's Affiliate Network of community-based organizations and public charter schools in Illinois, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, highlights the critical role of Out-of-School Time (OST) programs in supporting the Latino community, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19…

Editor's note: In assembling this issue, I sought to compile compelling stories of arts education cuts and the responses of local communities. I invited National Council on the Arts member Dr. Bruce Carter to share such a story. The following article begins with Carter's narrativized account of informal research on the arts partnership in the…

With state funding and student enrollment on the decline, community colleges are looking for creative ways to grow revenue. To meet this challenge, community colleges are becoming more entrepreneurial in nature. Successful colleges understand their strengths, recognize the needs of their community and develop programs that marry these for…

The Gifted Specialist from the Florida State University Schools (K-12) and the Curator of Education from the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts planned a year-long project in which FSUS gifted elementary students (second to fifth grade) curated a one-gallery exhibition, entitled "Elementary Reflections," from the museum's…

The Academy of Information Technology and Robotics (AITR) in the Volusia County (Florida) Schools district is leading students to stronger academic gains and better preparation for college and career. AITR is a beefed-up version of the career academy model that began in Philadelphia in 1969. The strengths of AITR exemplify the features of career…

As numerous studies from 1906 on have confirmed, children lose ground in learning if they lack opportunities for building skills over the summer. Nonetheless, summer learning loss comes up but rarely in the national discussion of education reform. By the end of summer, students perform on average one month behind where they left off in the spring.…

Operation Cleansweep is a free pesticide disposal program that has operated in Florida since 1995. The program is open to commercial facilities, including agricultural production establishments, golf course operators, and pest control companies. Since its inception, the program has had more than 1,700 participants and collected more than 1,000,000…

It started with a dream: to create a national best practices teaching and learning center that would not only provide the best available care and education to children ages 0 to 5 years old, but would also serve as a model for adult learners and like-minded entities and individuals in the early education arena. Committed to elevating the quality…

The benefits of family involvement in the education of children with disabilities are well documented. Few teacher education programs, however, implement specific strategies for encouraging interactions between families and those preparing to be teachers. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg and the local membership of a professional…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

This article describes two art-based service-learning experiences that can serve as models for an authentic community-university partnership by challenging college students' sense of place through an examination of "others'" places. College students face displacement in adjusting to a new location and a new direction in life, while youth…

Proposals of state universities in Florida developed in accordance with 1978 Systemwide Policy Guidelines are presented. The first section of the institutional statement was developed at the institution's discretion without format or content requirements and generally includes information such as a description of the historical development of the…

Describes one approach to teacher leadership that views teaching, learning, and leading as synonymous, supporting this view with data from a Florida school improvement project. The Lockheed Martin/University of Central Florida Academy for Mathematics and Science is a school-university-business partnership which creates a network of school-based…

This booklet, part of a series of profiles on family support and education programs across the United States, contains profiles of five diverse programs designed to improve the future of children through family-focused and comprehensive service delivery. Programs examined are North Dakota's Child Welfare Reform Initiative, Iowa's Decategorization…