A learning experience designed for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) should integrate the Science & Engineering Practices and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) with science content. Such "three-dimensional learning" engages students in the epistemic components of the scientific process. Whether the Practices and CCCs are used…

This report is part of a commissioned paper series that highlights the profound and ongoing effects of COVID-19 on educational opportunities and underscores the necessity of bold, systemic reforms to ensure equitable and effective learning environments. The papers examine evidence-based strategies to mitigate opportunity gaps, strengthen student…

This paper reports on a three-year initiative to enhance the undergraduate Extension Education minor at a state land-grant university. Specific initiatives to improve the undergraduate Extension Education minor curriculum involved (a) revising the Extension Education minor due to varied curriculum and faculty changes and (b) aligning eight…

United States history classrooms have the potential to simultaneously foster an understanding of students' cultures and experiences today in relation to the nation's history and develop critical thinking and technology literacy. Yet classroom materials and instructors tend to avoid, ignore, or misrepresent controversial topics such as race and…

Low rates of college completion are a major problem in the United States. Less than 60 percent of students at four-year colleges graduate within six years, and at some colleges, the graduation rate is less than 10 percent. Additionally, many students enter higher education ill-prepared to comprehend college-level course material. Some estimates…

The Wallace Foundation is funding a multiyear demonstration project to determine whether voluntary, district summer learning programs can stem summer learning loss for low-income students. Six districts--Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Duval County (Florida), Pittsburgh, and Rochester, New York--were selected for the demonstration project and…

A larger scale context for power teaching includes ideas from Duane Elgin, Lester Brown, Al Gore and many others. Collectively, they say the convergence of systems level global problems without national borders place before humankind a choice the species has never encountered in 195,000 years of life on "Spaceship Earth." In Elgin's…

The purposes of this paper are to explain the development processes of an intensive summer program for English language learners and to discuss course improvement strategies based on the evaluation outcomes. This 60-hr partnership program between local schools and a university was developed to improve the language proficiency of increasing numbers…

Describes a summer institute for classroom teachers and arts specialists on integrating the arts into language arts in order to meet newly mandated viewing and representing strands in school curricula. Outlines the results of a survey sent to participants one year after the institute. Concludes that an intensive professional development experience…

This report describes and evaluates the effectiveness of summer workshops designed to provide high school psychology teachers with an intensive review of general scientific psychology and an opportunity to develop new curricula for use in the classroom. In general, high school psychology teachers are more oriented toward life issues and…

The Modern Language Association's summer institute model for foreign language professionals focused on interchange among state and local school program supervisors and college program coordinators. To further strengthen links between mandates and implementation, the institute must recognize participants' disparate expectations, institutional…

The Interdisciplinary Teamed Instruction (ITI) Project was a 2-year project aimed at determining the effects of ITI on teaching and learning and at validating the effectiveness of a professional development model to facilitate development, implementation, and evaluation of ITI. Through summer institutes and onsite workshops, project staff provided…

The 1981 summer Portable Assisted Study Sequence (PASS) Program, designed to provide self-directed learning packages whereby high school migrant students throughout California can receive credits toward graduation requirements, provided instructional materials to 2,306 students. Student transcripts were sent to 159 California high schools.…

This article discusses the collaboration among preservice teacher students that occurs during the Academy for Young Scholars in Arkansas, a summer enrichment program for gifted students ages 4-15. The benefits of the teacher collaboration are described, including benefits to students, increased confidence, and borrowed strategies. (Contains 6…

There is a strong relationship between students' socioeconomic status and their levels of academic achievement. Although educators should be held accountable for improving the performance of all students, including those living in poverty, schools alone can't eliminate the negative factors associated with poverty that lead to a large achievement…