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…

In this article, the author introduces the notion of the balloon metaphor, an exercise she created for preservice writing teachers, in which they reflect upon their writing mentors and their writing journey. The author also discusses three very important issues facing the field of literacy today: teachers are not taught to write, teachers 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…

Piece it Together (PIT) is a comprehensive wellness program designed for transitional age youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and mild neurodevelopmental disabilities that focuses on exercise, nutrition, socialization, and stress-reduction. The PIT Summer Program is a 6-week program, consisting of 90-min classes, twice a week. Each class…

Every summer, the news is filled with stories about summer learning loss. The warnings sound dire: two months of math learning lost for most students every summer, and two to three months of reading learning lost for low-income students, according to the National Summer Learning Association. By the ninth grade, "summer learning loss during…

Reasoning and problem solving are both critical acts in mathematics learning. The author has met many teachers who tell her they would love to highlight them more but feel they cannot because of the pressures of content coverage, pacing guides, and district tests. In this article, she describes a teaching intervention that highlighted problem…

Undergraduate research is increasingly prevalent in many fields of study, but it is not yet widespread in mathematics education. We argue that expanding undergraduate research opportunities in mathematics education would be beneficial to the field. Such opportunities can be impactful as either extracurricular or course-embedded experiences. To…

Planning ahead, arriving on time, taking initiative: these are some of the basics of professionalism. But for most young people, these job skills don't just develop--they must be learned and practiced. Many teens have traditionally honed these skills during a summer job--scooping ice cream, busing tables, lifeguarding. Such summer gigs have long…

Winthrop University is a public comprehensive university of about 6000 students, 5000 of whom are undergraduates. The Department of Mathematics offers a baccalaureate degree in mathematics, but has no graduate degree programs. As late as 2009, there was essentially no undergraduate research in the department. At this time, faculty made efforts to…

MDRC's Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS) and Postsecondary Education policy area launched the Encouraging Additional Summer Enrollment (EASE) project in collaboration with Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates and the Ohio Association of Community Colleges. The project aims to increase summer enrollment rates among…

Learning and retaining science content may be increased by applying the basic science material to real-world situations. Discussing cases with students during lectures and having them participate in laboratory exercises where they apply the science content to practical situations increases students' interest and enthusiasm. A summer course in…

Yakima Valley College--a two-year, Hispanic-serving institution in south-central Washington state--partnered with four-year universities, agricultural centers, businesses, and federal and state agencies to develop a streamlined undergraduate research experience in which students work closely with a faculty mentor in a science, technology,…

This report provides a set of six design principles, or stances toward learners and learning, that are essential for creating intellectually rigorous and equitable learning settings. These principles provide a holistic framework for designing goals, practices, and activities for summer learning and beyond. The Six Design Principles for Summer…

The Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Pomona College has long worked to create an inclusive and welcoming space for all individuals to study mathematics. Many years ago, our approach to the lack of diversity we saw in our majors was remediation through programming, which sought to ameliorate student deficits. More recently, however, we…

Supported by an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant, Mystic Seaport Museum educators present how findings from evaluations of their teacher professional development programs challenged them to reconsider what it means to understand and support teachers' unique professional needs. Included is a discussion of what it…