The Utah State Board of Education Child Nutrition Programs (CNP) administers several federal food programs and sub programs, appropriated under United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and administered by Food and Nutrition Services (FNS). The federal food programs are primarily designed to ensure sponsors have the necessary knowledge and…

Intentionally designed afterschool and summer programs can benefit students' social-emotional skills, accelerate their learning, and even increase their school attendance during the school year. This infographic touches on the value of these programs, possible barriers that might limit access to students, and states with innovative models.

The Region 8 Comprehensive Center (Region 8 CC) team joined Michigan's Statewide Summer Learning Network (SSLN) to provide support in furthering the goals of increased access, participation, and quality for summer learning and enrichment opportunities. The team's initial work for the SSLN was a series of listening sessions with representatives…

A central challenge in engineering education is providing experiences that are appropriate for and accessible to underserved communities. However, to provide such experiences, we must better understand the process of offering a geographically distributed asset-based out-of-school program. This paper focuses on a collaborative research project that…

The significant decrease in student achievement levels following the pandemic has become a pressing national problem, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts showed some of the sharpest academic achievement declines in the country. To assist schools in recovering from the pandemic, the federal government allocated three waves of funding through its…

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,…

In elementary schools, boys of color are punished more often and more severely, despite not engaging in infractions any more frequently than their White peers. Previous research has identified these disparities as a form of racial criminalization, and that many boys of color regularly resist this criminalization as a healthy response to…

The child nutrition programs support meals and snacks served to children in schools, child care, summer programs, and other institutional settings in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding structure and then provides detail on each program,…

Leadership talent development has been identified as a priority in national and state standards for gifted education. However, leadership programs in schools are not always supported by mandates or funding in individual states and implementation is not always feasible within the constraints of local gifted service models. Although some research…

In many applied youth development settings, including out-of-school time (OST) programs, volunteers play essential roles (Brennan, 2005). In some, volunteers are integral to service delivery -- for example, serving as mentors. In others, volunteers help link youth-serving organizations or their participants with needed resources, assets, or…

In Boston and Providence, youth serving organizations recognized a need to credential students' real-world skills including teamwork, perseverance and critical thinking. By issuing digital badges, a microcredential gaining traction in both workforce development and education, programs are equipping students with portable evidence of their skills,…

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, funded through the U.S. Department of Education, provides academic enrichment opportunities outside of the regular school day to help students meet state and local performance standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math. This report summarizes the 2019-2020…

This paper presents the first results from draw-a-scientist tests (DASTs) over five years that were used to measure the effect of 8-10 week long astronomy clubs and week long summer camps on 3rd-5th grade elementary school students' perceptions of scientists. We facilitated these DASTs prior to these clubs or camps, which provide a baseline for a…

Youth are natural scientists at birth, discovering and exploring their world and trying to make sense of it (Bers, 2008). A child's education is not limited to just the time they spend in the classroom. Children learn at home with their families, in public libraries, or through out-of-school-time (OST) experiences provided at community centers and…

As policymakers and school communities work to address underlying causes of achievement gaps and access to quality early childhood education, this study considers the use of 21st Century Community Learning Centers to address early childhood education needs on western U.S. state, Idaho. The study sought to understand the relationship between…