The "Research & Action Report," published twice a year, is a window on the activities and initiatives at the Wellesley Centers for Women. The report typically features news about the Centers, interviews with researchers, commentary on recent events or social trends affecting women and girls, announcements of new publications, and much more.…

This study illuminates the meaning making world of 5th, 6th, and 7th grade African American boys in a community based after-school program. Employing participant observation, questionnaire and interviews, the work captures the manifestations of their definitions of gender and racial constructions, including maleness, masculinity, "Blackness," as…

Citizen Schools is an apprenticeship program offered outside school hours that seeks to build students' academic and leadership skills by connecting them with professionals from various fields. Launched in Boston in 1994, the program targets what some say is an underserved population in after-school education--middle school students--through a…

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…

This article presents the results of a three-year study of "Gamestar Mechanic" (www.gamestarmechanic.com), a flash-based multiplayer online role-playing game developed for the MacArthur Foundation's digital media learning initiative by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Gamelab in New York. The game's objective is to help children…

The "Research & Action Report," published twice a year, is a window on the activities and initiatives at the Wellesley Centers for Women. The report typically features news about the Centers, interviews with researchers, commentary on recent events or social trends affecting women and girls, announcements of new publications, and much more.…

The first author recruited parent-adolescent dyads (N = 192) into after-school prevention education groups at middle schools in southeast Texas. This author placed participants in either (1) an Interactive Program (IP) in which they role-played, practiced resistance skills, and held parent-child discussions or (2) an Attention Control Program…

This study focused on a concept entitled shared ethnography. The researcher and youth participants share race in common. Critical Race Theory was used to analyze the reflective journal. An after school science program in a high poverty urban environment provided the context for this study. The findings of the study suggested that when researcher…

Describes a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) sponsored program of after-school activities available to the district's elementary students. (IRT)

A description is given of a program that provides preventive measures to check obesity in children and young people. The 24-week program is divided into two parts--a nutrition component and an exercise component. At the start and end of the program, tests are given to assess the participants' height, weight, body composition, fitness level, and…

These hearings on teenagers in crisis deal with many of the problems faced by adolescents, with a special emphasis on suicide. Other topics which are discussed include child abuse, drug abuse, pregnancy, youth employment, mass media influences, the lack of parental guidance, and after school activities. Testimony is recorded from 11 witnesses…

From the narrow point of view, the use of schools is limited almost entirely to the academic learning of young people. School buildings are usually closed after the required work of youngsters and teachers is completed, and adults with educational needs do not have an opportunity to take classes or engage in other activities during the evening.…

A study assessed the social experiences and social development of kindergarten children enrolled in an after-school program. Subjects were these children and children attending only the morning kindergarten program. Study results indicated that both groups of children selected as friends the children in the after-school program and that programs…

Recognizing the need for more active learning experiences and appropriate after-school activities for 11- to 14-year-olds, the Early Adolescent Helper Program has designed and tested a model program. Seminars and internships prepare students for placement, which is frequently in child-care or senior centers. (JMM)

A former teacher describes how she came to change her "no excuses, no extensions" policy about homework after realizing that not all students come from healthy, nurturing home environments. She solved the problem by setting up an after school study program. (JL)