Many talented students in under-resourced schools do not reach their full potential. Research shows that by sixth grade, children born into poverty have likely spent 6,000 fewer hours learning than their middle-class counterparts. Higher Achievement, an intensive summer and after-school program, aims to close that learning gap. It offers…

This study measured the impact of the "Fitness Improves Thinking in Kids" ("FITKids") afterschool program on the executive control (i.e., maintaining focus, performing multiple cognitive processes) and physical fitness of preadolescent students. The "FITKids" program was held at the University of Illinois' campus and…

This chapter concerns a year-long, United States federally-funded evaluation of Educate Online, an online, at home, 1:1 tutoring program aimed at improving reading performance for middle school students who are below grade level. Participating students receive after-school instruction from teachers in real-time over Voice over Internet Protocol…

One crucial decision that middle schoolers (and their families) make is where they will attend high school. Many districts employ school choice systems designed to allow students to pick a high school that will meet their needs and interests. Yet most students prefer high schools that are close to home, and for youth in low-income neighborhoods,…

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the causal effects of READ 180, a mixed-methods literacy intervention, on measures of word reading efficiency, reading comprehension and vocabulary, and oral reading fluency and (2) to examine whether print exposure among children in the experimental condition explained variance in posttest reading…

The authors describe an independent evaluation of the READ 180 Enterprise intervention designed by Scholastic, Inc. Despite widespread use of the program with upper elementary through high school students, there is limited empirical evidence to support its effectiveness. In this randomized controlled trial involving 312 students enrolled in an…

This study examined the efficacy of an after-school program, the Challenging Horizons Program (CHP), that met four days a week and focused on improving organization, academic skills, and classroom behavior. The CHP was compared with a community control that included involvement in a district-run after-school program that met one to three days a…

From July 1995 through September 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Ford Foundation (Ford) operated a demonstration of the Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP). QOP offered intensive and comprehensive services to help at-risk youth graduate from high school and enroll in postsecondary education or training. QOP was mainly an…