Authors Casey Reason and Brandon J. Larson advocate for the strategic design and development of impactful activities and athletics to enhance school culture. Their Rally model provides strategies for aligning extracurricular programs with academic goals, fostering leadership, and boosting participation and engagement. The Rally approach improves…

This dissertation consists of two chapters that examine the impact of educational and positive youth development programs on students' academic and behavioral outcomes. In the first chapter, I evaluate the effect of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, a school meal provision allowing schools meeting the eligibility requirements to…

This report describes the evaluation of Lone Star AP CSP, a program developed by the National Mathematics + Science Initiative and funded by a 2019 Education Innovation and Research grant. The three-year program aimed to increase student access to and success in the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (CSP) course in 37 Texas high…

This qualitative case study explores student and staff perceptions of whether and how participation in pre-enrollment summer transition programs influenced the sense of belonging and preparedness of first-generation and limited-income students in their first year of college. These summer transition programs are provided as part of the Kessler…

Teachers are generally focused on optimizing the teaching-learning process and fostering high levels of student engagement, participation, and motivation. To address this challenge, this work presents a gamification experience implemented to teach content related to family involvement and educational programs in two courses--one at master's degree…

Despite the substantial efforts made by higher education institutions to reduce dropout rates, a considerable proportion of students still discontinues their initial study program. In view of this situation, the present study aims to investigate whether participation in first-year courses for personal and academic support goes along with a…

Can summer programs, as remedial supplements to regular schooling, extend learning opportunities and other benefits to disadvantaged students? To frame this question, we compare logics from "social reproduction" and "partial compensation" perspectives, and then apply them to a large mixed method study of four kinds of summer…

The personal, social, and academic challenges during the transition from high school to college contribute to lower retention rates and lower GPAs. These challenges are even more pronounced for historically underserved populations. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, students face new challenges and a lack of access to the typical resources and…

In this dissertation, I investigated the impact of the involvement of students with disabilities in the ASPIRE intervention program and examined the relationship between student involvement in the ASPIRE program and academic performance and growth. To do so, first, I outlined how I built my perspective for this study in the areas of transition,…

Transition to kindergarten is an important developmental milestone for children and families. This study explored factors associated with kindergarten readiness focusing on the impact of a summer kindergarten transition program. A mixed-method design was employed, and the qualitative data from interviews with 16 randomly selected kindergarten…

According to the Ethiopia Ministry of Education (2015), school feeding initiatives, such as feeding children in food insecure conditions, providing educational resources, and school meals are essential for supporting access to general education. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of school feeding program on the academic…

In line with best practices for high-quality out-of-school time (OST) programming and youth development, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) programming focuses on the program environment, the establishment of positive relationships, opportunities for youth development, and opportunities for families to engage. Research has consistently shown…

The study explored the relationship between how many student success programs and which programs first-year students of color at the University of Kansas (KU) participated in and how this was related to outcomes of retention to sophomore-year and first-year GPA. The study used data from the University of Kansas of students of color who…

This study examines the effectiveness of a new approach for a university transition program that uses a location-based game to familiarize first-year students with the university environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved 775 university students from 15 faculties, 9 from Human and Social Sciences and 6 from Technology and…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine the impact of Riverside Middle Prep's Newcomer Program on academic achievement by using quantitative test scores and a case study design to analyze teacher and student perceptions about the newcomer program. The researchers wanted to determine whether there was a difference between EL…