In order to ensure that middle school youth are on a path toward higher education and careers, an early introduction to the importance of continuing education past high school is necessary. The middle school years are a vital time to teach the importance of college and career readiness and the linkages to success in life. This issue brief…

For five years I have supervised a summer literacy camp that connects graduate education majors with students from diverse ethnicities. Each summer I noted I inadequately challenged the education majors to extend their knowledge, examine their attitudes, and expand their abilities to offer culturally responsive literacy instruction to students in…

To maintain their commitment to a site, teachers need truly meaningful work. Teacher leadership drives the work of the Writing Project. The narratives in this collection, written by three veteran teacher-consultants, demonstrate many ways in which teacher leadership builds the capacity of any National Writing Project (NWP) site to do its work.…

Academic confidence cultivated within the context of learning communities may be an important key to student success. This study examined the structural relationships of four constructs on academic performance and persistence for summer bridge learning community (SBLC) and non-SBLC members. Constructs included (1) student background, (2) academic…

New York City has never been a particularly easy place for teenagers and young adults to break into the workforce. Even during the boom years of the 2000s, the city's unemployment rate for teens between the ages of 16 and 19 hovered just under 20 percent. By the end of 2010, it had risen to 40 percent. As shocking as these numbers are, however,…

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of ecology-based nature education program on elementary school students' environmental knowledge, environmental affect, and responsible environmental behavior. A total number of 64 elementary school students including 26 females and 38 males who participated in summer natural education organized…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effectiveness of incorporating study strategies in a developmental mathematics/college algebra program. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a quasiexperimental methodology. Results show that students reported increases on the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI)…

As a new school year begins across the country, many are looking back on a long, hot summer and wondering where did all that time go? For early childhood public policy, three developments over the summer are likely to shape the field for quite some time. By July, many states had wound up their budgets for the coming year. In addition to cuts to…

This study describes and analyzes the experiences of four secondary students during an urban summer school program. In the previous summer, over 90% of program participants passed the state course-end exam, compared to the city Department of Education's summer school pass rate of less than 36%. The study examines the ways in which different…

Research Findings: Multiple student cohorts were longitudinally tracked and student participation in a summer program bridging the 1st- and 2nd-grade academic years was recorded to examine selection and efficacy issues related to a summer school implementation in the Pacific Northwest. The estimation of regression discontinuity models uncovered…

For the past five summers, the authors have taught summer school to recent immigrants and refugees. Their experiences with these fourth-grade English language learners (ELL) have taught them the value of using models to build scientific and mathematical concepts. In this article, they describe the use of different forms of 2- and 3-D models to…

This study evaluates the relationship between elements of a college preparation program and the college readiness of low-income and/or Latina/o students at the completion of 6 years of participation in the program. Hours of participation in tutoring, mentoring, advising, college campus visits, summer programs, and educational field trips are…

Summer camps are commonly implemented as a psychosocial intervention for children with chronic illnesses; however, there have been few published consumer (parent and child) satisfaction evaluations of summer camps. Such evaluations are important both for improving existing services for children and families, as well as to build an empirical…

Many countries all over the world have recently integrated nature of science (NOS) concepts into their science education standards. Providing professional support to teachers about NOS concepts is crucially important for successful implementation of the standards. For this purpose, a summer science camp was offered to elementary and science…

With increased focus on sustainability and socioscientific issues, dealing with issues related to citizenship is now seen as an important element of science education. However, in order to make the world a better place, mere understanding about socioscientific issues is not enough. Action must also be taken. In this study, 35 international gifted…