Community and youth work (CYW) practice has been articulated as striving towards a more socially just and equal society and is theorised as a catalyst for social change that seeks to overcome power differentials. Yet, despite these claims, there is limited empirical evidence to inform knowledge about the extent to which 'equality work' is featured…

Alcohol use, especially heavy or binge-drinking behavior, among college students continues to be an area in need of prevention and effective clinical intervention. With the myriad of known consequences that are associated with problematic and risky drinking, it is crucial that there are evidence-based programs available and offered to college…

A small public historically Black college and university (HBCU) is offering the Providing Opportunities with Education and Readiness (POWER), a summer program to improve precollege high school students' academic performance and subsequent retention once in college. The problem investigated by this study was the low retention rates and grade point…

Conversations about workforce development in the construction industry are centered around improving the construction trade skills of displaced workers or other unskilled or untrained individuals. Rarely will that conversation focus on the administrative skills necessary for contractor success, particularly in public works construction where…

Children experience a multitude of benefits in response to interactions with nature. Despite documented effects, children have increasingly spent less time outdoors over the last century and experienced higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. Although child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is a culturally and developmentally responsive…

Background: Promise programs are place-based financial aid awards that seek to promote postsecondary attainment by covering all or nearly all college tuition costs. In 2015 Oregon became the second state in the country after Tennessee to implement a statewide promise program (Higher Education Coordinating Commission [HECC], 2020). Oregon Promise…

Ensuring that cultural sensitivity in teacher education programs is addressed will enhance new teachers' confidence and effectiveness in the classroom. As the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher candidates have experienced a non-contact environment at every stage of their professional education. Specifically, the pandemic impacted the…

The arts offer a cost effective and appealing approach to healthy aging. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the development and implementation of three creative aging pilot programs led by professional teaching artists in multipurpose senior centers. The process of recruitment focused on professional teaching artists, senior center…

This report presents findings from the annual evaluation of the MacPhail Center for Music Online School Partnerships and Sing Play Learn programs. Results are reported in aggregate, across all schools that participated in the evaluation this year. The MacPhail Center for Music Online School Partnerships program aims to increase access to…

College access programs provide middle and high school students with essential skills to prepare them for a successful transition to postsecondary education. TRIO Talent Search (TS)and Upward Bound (UB) are federally funded programs established to strengthen the likelihood that students from underserved groups will graduate high school and pursue…

Live animal shows, which combine animal facts with trained behaviours, are commonly used to engage zoo visitors globally. However, such shows have been criticised for portraying a potentially unhelpful image of 'performing animals' and have raised issues of animal welfare ethics. Little is known about the educational effectiveness of these shows.…

Transition services, particularly those that feature work-based learning experiences, often require designated staff to spend the majority of their time in the field. They also require that staff have the skills and supports to properly and effectively deliver these services. Training and monitoring these staff is critically important to ensure…

Several influential reviews and two meta-reviews have converged on the position that teacher professional development (PD) is more effective when it is sustained, collaborative, subject specific, draws on external expertise, has buy-in from teachers, and is practice based. This consensus view has now been incorporated in government policy and…

Identifying a topic for a dissertation is widely considered to be one of the most important, challenging, and stressful parts of the research process. Students often find it difficult to navigate this early yet pivotal stage due to heightened pressures, a lack of structural guidance, increased independence, and more pressing time constraints. In…

An A-B-A-B withdrawal design was used to explore the effects of a text-to-speech (TTS) program (Read & Write Gold 11) on reading comprehension scores for two fourth-grade students with learning disabilities in an urban school. For each session, students used the TTS program to read a fourth-grade-level comprehension passage. The number of…