The all-in-one resource you've been clamoring for, this book presents a comprehensive package of literacy-based public library programming ideas designed for children in kindergarten through the early tweens. Chock full of strategies and best practices for promoting literacy and reading skill development, it also features numerous planning…

Often the difference between a successful and unsuccessful reader is that the former is simply better at finding enjoyable books to read. The capacity to select appealing reading is not developed in classrooms where the decision about what book to read is made by someone other than the reader: the teacher, the curriculum planner, the person who…

The Rural Teacher Residency (RTR) program prepares teachers to work in 'high need' rural schools in the northeastern United States, and specifically works to establish a counter-narrative to the commonly-held deficit lens applied to these schools and communities. Framed by theory and research on DisCrit and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), we…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) offered several academic summer programs to students June through August 2021. These programs offered students opportunities to accelerate their learning, recover academic course credits, and support grade level transition. Although AISD offered a variety of summer programs in 2021, this report focuses…

The Big Lift™ (Big Lift) is a preschool-third-grade collective impact initiative in San Mateo County, California. The initiative is a partnership of the County of San Mateo, the San Mateo County Office of Education, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Launched in 2012, the initiative aims to boost children's reading proficiency by third…

We study an early effort amid the COVID-19 pandemic to develop new approaches to virtually serving students, supporting teachers, and promoting equity. This five-week, largely synchronous, summer program served 11,769 rising 4th-9th graders. "Mentor teachers" provided PD and videos of themselves teaching daily lessons to "partner…

This study investigates the representations and understandings of electric fields expressed by Chinese high school students 15 to 16 years old who have not received high school level physics instruction. The physics education research literature has reported students' conceptions of electric fields post-instruction as indicated by students'…

This study examined at-risk boys' social self-efficacy and physical activity self-efficacy within Bandura's self-efficacy framework. A total of 97 boys, aged between 10 and 13 years, attending a summer sports camp completed questionnaires assessing their social self-efficacy, physical activity self- efficacy, prosocial behaviors, and effort.…

The paucity of underrepresented minorities (URMs) earning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees remains an issue in revitalizing the U.S. biomedical workforce. Due to reductions in federal funding, maintaining the integrity of programs that focus on URM retention and recruitment is crucial. We present data on the…

Females are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. They also tend to display less favorable dispositions towards STEM than males. This study investigates the influence of a five-day residential summer mathematics and technology camp on middle school girls' beliefs about mathematics as a gendered…

Summer vacation is right around the corner! However, just as quickly as summer approaches, it also passes in the blink of an eye. This time of year, both parents and teachers face the same dilemma: Should high-ability kids stay busy with summer projects, courses, sports, camps, and travel...or should they be allowed to completely unplug with no…

In 2015 WakeEd Partnership and Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina's largest school system, designed an engaging, results-oriented professional development opportunity for elementary and secondary educators -- SummerSTEM. SummerSTEM is a hands-on professional development experience that addresses the needs of educators --…

Educators and practitioners working with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are concerned with deficits in positive affect and social-emotional reciprocity, which may affect their daily living and school success. This pilot study explored the social-emotional impact of eight one-hour sessions of a novel dyadic within-group…

Academically gifted adolescents frequently experience cyberbullying behavior. Successful intervention and prevention of such bullying is, to a large degree, dependent on such incidents being reported to an adult caregiver. However, research shows that adolescents who have experienced cyberbullying tend not to inform parents or teachers. Despite…

This paper describes a partnership between a college of education at a Christian university in the southwest U.S. and a local high school where preservice teachers completed their practicum (field experience) during summer school. The benefits to and efficacy of the preservice teachers were examined using a qualitative postprogram survey. The…