Effects of a college access program for youth underrepresented in higher education: A randomized experiment

This article describes EXCEL, a program that encourages youth underrepresented in higher education to enroll in higher education, specifically at the sponsoring university. Eighty-three eighth grade students with GPA of B and above and standardized test scores at grade level or above were randomly assigned to the program or to a control group. The program guaranteed a scholarship to the sponsoring university and provided enrichment activities throughout high school. Program students were more likely to enroll at the sponsoring university than were control students. However, program and control students enrolled in higher education at rates that did not differ significantly. No differences were detected in self-esteem or high school GPA. Program students desired more education than control students. The results suggest that scholarship incentive and support programs that target average to above average achieving students in the eighth grade may not raise the overall number of aspiring minority youth attending college, but may be useful to specific universities to raise their minority enrollment.     

Linking strategies and interventions in Asian American Studies to K–12 classrooms and teacher preparation

This article documents a series of programmatic strategies developed within an Asian American Studies Program at one urban public university to impact positively the education of K–12 students and teachers—especially, but not exclusively, those who are Asian American. The article first presents four critical challenges facing practitioners in the Asian American Studies field who wish?to intervene more actively within the domain of K–12 education. These include the complex demographic realities of Asian American populations; the exclusion of Asian American Studies content in the K–12 curriculum; the limited flow of Asian Americans into the field of education; and the confounding impact of high-stakes testing across all these areas. The article then describes six specific interventions by a university-based Asian American Studies program that have ecologically supported Asian American teacher education and professional development as well as K–12 curriculum development, parent/family training and high school youth development.     

Extending Opportunity to Learn for Students Placed At Risk

This article describes a viable alternative to hiring full-time certified teachers or to using lay volunteers to provide children at risk of failing in school with academic coaches (tutors). The Academic Coaching Program described herein recruited and trained students enrolled in a university's school of education programs to serve as academic coaches primarily for 7th and 8th graders in an inner-city school in which 96% of the students are placed at risk by the socioeconomic (SES) status of their families. The program extended the school's regular instructional programs in reading and mathematics. It provided the at-risk students with high-quality coaching by university students through a systematic process of training the university students in the school's reading and mathematics programs, monitoring them as they coached, and providing feedback to the coaches on a regular basis.     

Robotics for High School Students in a University Enviroment

The Young Scholars Program at the Institute for Systems Research of the University of Maryland at College Park is an innovative summer research experience for high school students from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Its goal is to steer talented high school seniors toward higher education and careers in science and engineering. One particularly popular component of this program is a two‐week mini‐coursein robotics. This course utilizes the resources of the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory of the university to introduce and demonstrate theoretical and practical aspects of robotics. This paper reports on the characteristics that make this a unique effort in robotics‐related education for both the Young Scholars Program participants and the small group of University of Maryland graduate students who have been responsible for the development and instruction of this course.     

Catching them before they fall: a Vygotskian approach to transitioning students from high school to university

University enabling programs, worldwide, generally target high school students who excel at school, or post-secondary students who have underperformed in their university entry examinations. Murdoch University provides an access program for Year/Grade 12 students who are not on a university pathway during their final year of high school. This intervention engages students at a transitional stage of cognitive development to: (a) determine their readiness to move to the next level of their cognitive thinking; (b) facilitate that process through collaborative learning; (c) support and nurture university aspirations and (d) provide a direct transition pathway from secondary to higher education. The influence of Vygotsky's zones of proximal development in the context of this program is discussed, and by comparing the performance of these students in their first year of university with other domestic-entry students, we argue that this enabling program prepares them for successful transition into higher education.     

A rationale and recommendations for sexuality education in schools for students who are deaf

The authors evaluate and advocate the need for comprehensive sexuality education that meets the unique needs of youth who are deaf or hard of hearing, while calling for the expansion of teacher preparation in this critical area. Effective comprehensive sexuality education is designed to prepare young people to become more comfortable with, and informed about, their sexuality. Teachers and parents are key adults in this process. However, the responsibility for preparing teachers to handle sexuality education lies with both the postsecondary teacher preparation program and the administrative team at the individual school; their willingness to provide comprehensive training, current resources, and continued support are crucial to the success of any comprehensive sexuality program. In the individual school, effective guidance of youth who are deaf or hard of hearing in making appropriate decisions about their sexuality is built upon a team that includes not only school staff, but also parents and deaf adults in the community.     

The influence of school type and perceived teaching style on students’ creativity

School is an excellent place to foster young learners’ creative thinking skills. However, the emphasis on creativity varies among schools. In two studies the putative influence of school education on the development of students’ creativity was examined by means of a retrospective approach. We investigated whether two influential factors within school education (1) school type (i.e., traditional vs. alternative vs. religious) and (2) perceived teaching style (i.e., independence, judgment, flexibility, integration) associate with students’ creativity at university entrance level. The difference was examined at the primary and secondary school level, respectively. Study 1a found that students who attended alternative schools at the secondary school level performed better on divergent thinking tasks as compared to students who attended traditional or religious schools. Relationship between students’ creative performance and the perceived teaching styles were inconclusive. Finally, teaching styles in alternative schools during secondary education were perceived as high in independence and flexibility. Study 1b replicated the finding that university students who attended alternative schools during secondary education have an advantage in divergent thinking. Taken together, our results highlight the positive influence of alternative school education on students’ creative performance at the university entrance level.     

Understanding College Readiness: The Limitations of Information and the Possibilities of Cultural Integrity

ABSTRACT

The college readiness of high school graduates has become a core objective of the education policy of the United States. Early college readiness programs now exist in 38 states, and early college transition curricula have been developed in 29 states. This article evaluates the oldest of these programs, the Early Assessment Program (EAP), operated through the California State University (CSU) system. The authors argue that the EAP, grounded in enhanced information and choice – tenets of rational choice theory – is inadequate to meet the goals of the university. Remediation challenges at the CSU have remained substantial. An early college readiness program that also incorporates the theory of cultural integrity will have a more substantive impact on college readiness, particularly for marginalized youth.     

Social insertions and representations of oneself and young people: Apprentices and high school students

What does the category or the term “young people” evoke for teenagers who identify themselves in terms of their social group memberships? On the basis of two studies we were able to demonstrate that whereas for apprentices (positioned between school and the world of work) youth is defined in terms of various activities — one is young by virtue of what one is doing, for those pursuing studies in senior high school (the “lycéens”), one is young by virtue of how one thinks. In addition, while apprentices tend to value the group, high school students value the individual above all else.     

Coherence,dissonance, and personal style in learning to teach

Concern that practical realities in classrooms will ‘trump’ theories has led some universities to design residency teacher education programs that maximize coherence between university coursework and field experiences. Yet, some research suggests that student teachers can learn from dissonance. This qualitative case study of one cohort in an urban teacher residency program that sought to maximize coherence asks how the apprentice teachers experienced connections between the university and the field. Although apprentices experienced dissonance, they nonetheless expressed coherent philosophies aligned with university values. Coherence was something that individual apprentices constructed for themselves as they developed a personal ‘style’ or way of teaching in a program that welcomed their prior identities. Coherence was achieved through early development of a personal professional identity, not perfect alignment between field and university.     

‘Let Them Eat Caviar’: Alternative pathways for university students attending to ‘unfinished business’

This paper reports on a study into the educational experiences of a group of students who are accessing tertiary education through alternative entry programmes. There were three purposes for the study. The first was to identify why the students either did not finish school or go to university after school. The second was to explore the students' stated reasons for returning to university later in their lives. The third was to share the students' secondchance experiences in their first semester as university students. The study drew on theoretical ideas surrounding how students who reject school, or who have been rejected by school, may come to view education as unfinished business in their lives. Reconnection with education coincides with wider processes of individuals defining and redefining educational identities.     

Nothing about us without us! Youth-led solutions to improve high school completion rates

This Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study represents a collaboration with six students from alternative education to inquire about the experiences of vulnerable youth – students in alternative education and youth who have dropped out of school. Utilizing the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, youth researchers asked their peers what helped and hindered their retention and success in mainstream and alternative education. Youth researchers engaged in authentic participation and took part in the iterative phases of YPAR – critical reflection and social action. Their involvement empowered them to advocate for their peers by disseminating the results and recommendations to key stakeholders within the community. Youth researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 participants. Overall, the findings show that relationships with staff and peers, flexibility, psychosocial and academic supports, and personal circumstances are vital in helping vulnerable students succeed in school. Engagement in YPAR provided insight into working with vulnerable youth in a manner that promotes agency and social change within educational institutions.     

Effects of Participation in After-School Programs for Middle School Students: A Randomized Trial

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of attending an after-school program (ASP) on a range of outcomes for middle school youths. The program operated for 9 hr per week for 30 weeks and included attendance monitoring and reinforcement, academic assistance, a prevention curriculum, and recreational programming. Participants were 447 students randomly assigned either to the ASP or to after-school activities as usual. Program attendance was sporadic. Although treatment students experienced increased exposure to ASPs relative to controls, nearly all youth in both groups reported participating in some organized activity during the after-school hours, and the number of different activities in which youths reported being involved did not differ across groups. Participation in the treatment reduced time spent with friends with no adults present during the after-school hours. No differences between treatment and control youths were found on measures of conduct problems, academic performance, school attendance, or any of the intermediate behaviors and attitudes targeted. The study replicates findings from the national evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program for middle school students using a more rigorous research design.     

Psycho-Education for Japanese Youth

The development of a comprehensive program of psycho-education for students in a secondary school attached to a Japanese university is presented. The rationale for the program, basic concepts, methods and procedures, and curriculum development to address youth violence and enhance appropriate self-assertion among Japanese youth are discussed.     

Access to postsecondary education: can schools compensate for socioeconomic disadvantage?

While access to postsecondary education in Canada has increased over the past decade, a number of recent studies demonstrate that youth from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are vulnerable to some degree of exclusion from postsecondary education. These studies tend to emphasize the lack of financial resources and social capital as the main sources of this vulnerability. Our paper employs multilevel framework to explore the extent of the impact of schools on access to postsecondary education, especially for youth from disadvantaged background. Our analyses revealed that: (1) for youth with similar financial constraints who attend schools with relatively similar quality, those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds who attend schools with high concentration of low SES students are particularly vulnerable to exclusion from university education, and (2) a substantial portion of the SES effect operate through the impact of high school academic achievement and postsecondary education expectation on access to postsecondary education.     

Professional development schools: Cataylsts for teacher and school change

Drawing on data from questionnaires and 49 interviews with teachers and principals, the impact of involvement in Professional Development Schools on teacher professional growth and school change at seven Professional Development School sites is explored through a cross-case analysis. Each of the seven sites, four elementary and three secondary, served five or more years as a PDS site. Program results were mixed, underscoring the importance of a range of context variables to program success, including school district support, principal, staff and University faculty stability, student body composition, school and faculty size, as well as the nature of teachers' program involvement. Implications for PDS program development and research are discussed and a range of policy issues explored, including those associated with tensions between university faculty roles and PDS responsibilities.     

Fostering Sustainability: A Case Study of a Pilot Mentoring Program at a Private University

The purpose of this paper is to provide documentation of a one year Pilot Mentoring Program (PMP) that was implemented within a department at a school of education within a private university. PMP was tied to the culture and specific needs of the department. It included seven newly hired faculty members and their mentor who were from various programs within the department. Even though PMP evolved over the course of an academic year, and was labeled a formal mentoring program, it was restricted to a trial basis. As PMP evolved, an exploratory qualitative action-research study was conducted.     

Youth Participatory Action Research in the High School Curriculum: Education Outcomes for Student Participants in a District-Wide Initiative

This study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of a school-based youth participatory action research program on the education outcomes of participating high school students. The program was a year-long elective course in six high schools in the same California district whose student population is predominantly low-income youth of color. A propensity score matching approach compared the reading achievement, attendance rates, and discipline referral rates of 153 students who participated in the program to nonparticipating peers with similar demographics and baseline scores on the outcomes. Results showed that the program significantly improved students’ attendance rates with less compelling evidence for its effect on reading achievement. These findings suggest that youth participatory action research may be an effective pedagogical practice for high school students, particularly low-income students of color.     

Lessons learned and programme recommendations

Evaluations of school-based sex education programs for adolescents have emphasized the importance of a narrow focus on reducing sexual risk-taking behaviors that lead to unplanned pregnancy or HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, application of social learning theories as a foundation for program development, use of experiential educational techniques, attention to social and media influences on sexual behavior, reinforcement of group norms against unprotected sex, and opportunities to learn and practice communication and negotiation skills. A recent World Health Organization review of 1050 sex education programs further underscored the importance of different sets of messages for youth who have not yet initiated sexual activity and those who have, introduction of sex education programs well before the age when youth initiate sex, and a program goal of reducing the incidence of unprotected intercourse. Program needs identified in various reviews include identification and understanding of the target group, involvement of youth in program design, work with parents and community leaders, an evaluative component, and consideration of ways to sustain and expand successful programs.