Colleges of education must instantiate their candidates' knowledge, skills, and dispositions for accreditation. Professors often have candidates reflect on field experience as a way to enhance their learning. This study examines reflections of 43 candidates over a 2-year period. Candidates engaged in an after-school enrichment program as…

This article features key findings from a study that highlights the transformative impact of a pedagogical approach that employs Critical Multimodal Hip Hop Production (CMHHP). The study took place in an extended day program in a northern California public middle school among a group of 30, urban, African American, Chicano/a/Latino/a, and Asian…

Although preparing teachers to be leaders is a common goal of teacher education programs, often "teaching" and "leading" are located in separate departments" (Mangin & Stoelinga, 2009, p. 56). Recently, however, the assessment of teacher leadership has become important in preservice teacher education. This importance…

Teaching youths who affiliate with a gang can be a daunting task. Risk factors for gang membership often compound across life domains and affect pro-social connectedness, cause feelings of marginalization, and hinder life-skill development. Sports and physical activities that are structured within a positive youth-development framework provide an…

Through this study the authors aimed to determine the impact of a reading course and tutoring for elementary school youth enrolled in an after-school program in a low-income community. They conclude that multicultural field-based tutoring experiences connected to a content area course can increase teachers' pedagogical knowledge and teacher…

Recent educational studies have found evidence that measures of fine motor skills are predictive of educational outcomes. However, the precise nature of fine motor skills has received little attention in these studies. With evidence mounting that fine motor skills are an important indicator of school readiness, investigating the nature of this…

The gap among ethnicities and gender in mathematics achievement is a well-known problem. While the gap has been shrinking over the past three decades, it has not completely diminished (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; McGraw, Lubienski, & Strutchens, 2006). The ALEKS, Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces, tutoring system is one promising…

School science continues to fail to engage youth from non-dominant communities (Carlone, Huan-Frank & Webb, 2011). However, recent research demonstrates that informal science learning settings support both knowledge gains and increased participation in science among youth from non-dominant communities (Dierking, 2007; Falk et al., 2007; HFRP,…

The academic performance and engagement of youth from under-represented ethnic groups (African American, Latino, and Indigenous) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) show statistically large gaps in comparison with their White and Asian peers. Some of these differences can be attributed to the direct impact of economic…

This person-centered study examines the extent to which parents' language dominance influences the effects of an after school, multi-family group intervention, FAST, on low-income children's emotional and behavioral outcomes via parents' relations with other parents and with school staff. Social capital resides in relationships of trust and shared…

This study connected a service learning project with the mission of the university by examining how students described the concepts of "transforming lives" and "social justice." Twenty-one undergraduate students worked as mentors with at-risk children and youth. The roles of the students and the community partner had an impact…

In this brief guide, first published in 2009 and updated in March 2011 with new research, The Wallace Foundation highlights what it has learned about how to improve the academic and enrichment opportunities we provide for our children, both in and out of school. The research findings and other resources cited in this document offer…

After-school programs can help show students how academics are relevant to their personal interests, and serve as training grounds for future teachers. This article features LA's BEST After School Enrichment Program whose mission is to provide a safe and supervised after school education, enrichment, and recreation program for children ages 5 to…

In this article, we examine the affordances of polylingual and polycultural learning ecologies in expanding the linguistic repertoires of children, particularly young Dual Language Learners. In contrast to settings that promote the development of English and academic language at the expense of maintaining and developing home language, we argue…

Previous work has shown an association between mothers' nonstandard work schedules and children's well-being. We built on this research by examining the relationship between parental shift work and children's reading and math trajectories from age 5-6 to 13-14. Using data (N = 7,105) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and growth-curve…