This article is a revised and expanded version of my presidential address delivered during the 74th Annual Conference of the Literacy Research Association. Part biography and autoethnography, I discuss the need to 'trouble five dark spaces' that affect the literacy development of black male children and teenagers: (1) bounded research orientations…

How can we support academic growth for students with disabilities (SWD) who may have experienced disproportionate academic impacts from COVID-19? Recent NWEA research may help inform how federal ESSER [Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief] and IDEA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] funding can provide early intervention,…

Summer reading programs are a common means of providing wraparound services to improve the performance of students' with or at risk for reading disabilities. Today's programs are not merely camps but are complex and costly academic efforts that require year-round planning to be successful. School personnel responsible for these programs typically…

Achieving equity in education--that is, ensuring every student has the resources and tools they need to succeed--has become a key issue for the nation's schools. Equity does not apply just to classroom learning, however; it matters in afterschool, summer, and other out-of-school-time (OST) programs, too. Yet while research on equity in the OST…

Out-of-school programs can offer personalized and meaningful learning experiences that deepen students' knowledge and cater to their passions and interests, but it has been a painful reality that many such programs have been available only to students and families with privilege and resources. Karen Hammerness, Anna MacPherson, Preeti Gupta,…

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most dramatic and far-reaching events to impact education in recent years. At the onset of this global crisis, schools were required to pivot, with little warning or planning, to educate the more than 50 million school-age children in the United States through some form of nontraditional instruction (NTI),…

During a sabbatical semester in Fall 2018, "Community Literacy Journal (CLJ)" co-editor Paul Feigenbaum volunteered as a "Scholar-in-Residence" at Youth Enrichment Services (YES), a nonprofit established in 1994 that is based in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Guided by its mission "to create hope out of…

Interventions for individuals with or at risk for reading disability (RD) need not occur only during the typical school day. Educators and researchers have been actively seeking opportunities to extend literacy learning through home-based, summer, and other tutoring programs. Nevertheless, alternative settings can pose greater difficulty with…

Summer bridge programs are designed to ease the transition to college by providing students with academic skills and social resources during the summer between high school graduation and college. Research shows that bridge programs are potentially effective at increasing retention and academic success of at-risk students by providing an early…

Afterschool programs inspire kids to learn, help them make better decisions, and give parents peace of mind. Throughout the pandemic, 21st Century Community Learning Centers have kept kids engaged and learning and met the needs of families nationwide. But the demand for these programs far exceeds the supply. 21st Century Community Learning Centers…

The American Rescue Plan Act has made funds available to states and districts to speed up recovery from the effects of COVID-19, including addressing learning loss. The Wallace Foundation has distilled evidence from its work that may be helpful in informing choices about how to spend those funds, as well as how to implement key strategies. Summer…

The 2019-2020 school year began with business as usual. Most students attended traditional brick and mortar schools, congregated with friends during class changes and attended sporting events to cheer on their school's teams. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the "fourth quarter" quickly shifted to remote learning at varying degrees of…

Recognizing the changing demographics of students applying to college coupled with Trinity University's responsibility to help our students succeed, we have created a Summer Bridge program that focuses on first-generation, underrepresented students (FGUS). Trinity's Summer Bridge program has been a success--both in terms of student performance and…

This article discusses giftedness from the inside out, focusing on what the differences mean to the gifted child's experience of life--the effects both their intensity and their cognitive abilities have on their inner experience and awareness. Mindfulness is especially valuable and important for the profoundly gifted child. Two programs that use…

As part of CRPE's ongoing exploration of learning pods, we wanted to understand cities' involvement in this new model of learning. We searched city websites to identify learning pods either operated, supported, or promoted by city agencies in the 100 largest cities in the U.S., and found: (1) About one-third (36 percent) of the largest U.S. cities…