The purpose of the study was to examine how teachers enhance their knowledge of rational numbers focused on modeling problem tasks using multiple representations. The professional development summer institute and the follow-up Lesson Study (Lewis, 2002) throughout the academic year focused on engaging teachers in rational numbers and proportional…

An alarmingly high percentage of recent high school graduates are not prepared to succeed in college-level courses, and the impact of this educational shortcoming is substantial. Underprepared college students incur a monetary cost of enrolling in remedial courses, and states and taxpayers subsidize much of the overall cost of developmental…

The Summer Food Program is a federally funded program that provides more than $40 million each year to help low-income communities in Texas serve nutritious meals to children in safe, enriching environments during the summer. In Texas, where one-in-four children are at risk for hunger, the Summer Food Program is critically important to ensure…

In Chicago, over a quarter of students fail at least one semester of algebra in their ninth grade year, and only 13% of students who fail both semesters of Algebra I in ninth grade graduate in 4 years. Offering credit recovery options is one strategy to deal with high failure rates. The primary goal of credit recovery programs is to give students…

MemphiSTEP is a five-year STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) at the University of Memphis sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The project focuses on retention and persistence to graduation to increase the number of STEM majors and graduates. The project includes a range of student retention programs, including a Summer Mathematics…

Less than 50% of students from an inner-city high school in a southeastern US state who took the GATEWAY mathematics exam (2001-2007) earned a passing score on the first attempt, prompting teachers at the school to begin a summer intervention program based on Bandura's Self Efficacy Theory, to help them succeed on a subsequent reexamination. The…

With study abroad becoming an integral part of the American higher-education curriculum, home-institution instructors face the challenge of understanding the type and content of learning taking place abroad. We report on a study conducted at a service academy on the U.S. East Coast to examine American college students' cultural learning in the…

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO…

An integrated language arts and technology program engaged students in reading and writing activities that funded an experience in moviemaking. With video cameras in hand, students, often working collaboratively, developed expanded views of the writing and revision processes as they created movies that mattered to them and found an audience beyond…

Social-Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986, 1999) served as the framework to explore overweight children's perceptions of different physical activity settings. Participants were children (n = 67) enrolled in an after-school and summer program for overweight African-American and Hispanic-American children from low-income families. To gain insight into…

This study explored if a weeklong science camp changed Louisiana African-American high school students' perception of science. A semi-structured survey was used before and after the camp to determine the changes in science attitudes and career choices. Among the perceived benefits were parental involvement, increased science academic ability, and…

A summer reading program for disadvantaged, urban elementary school students provided scaffolded access to books by constructing a book-rich environment, as well as giving supportive strategy instruction for choosing and using reading materials. The program culminated in a book-buying experience in which students chose books for home libraries.…

This study investigated inservice PreK to Grade two teachers' knowledge of some earth and space science concepts before and after a short-term teacher institute. A one-group pre-test-post-test design was used in the current study. Earth science concepts targeted during the professional development included properties of rocks and soils, and the…

Teachers often resist discussions about racism in the classroom, yet it is a topic that is frequently addressed in multicultural literature. This study examines teachers in a graduate reading program (N = 58) who used picture books reflecting African American heritage with elementary school children in a summer reading practicum. Prior to teaching…

This study investigated the relationship between perceived social support and the multidimensional self-concepts of gifted adolescents. Participants included 217 gifted students who had completed grades 5 through 10 and were attending a summer program for the gifted. Self-concept was measured using the Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II; H.…