Summer camps are a common youth development setting in North America; however, youth from low-income backgrounds often cannot attend because of financial barriers. Subsequently, although a robust camp literature exists, little is known about the lasting benefits for youth from low-income backgrounds. Even less is known about how these outcomes may…

This qualitative evaluation of Emory's Oxford Summer Experience Program examined rural students' college aspirations. Educational and economic barriers hinder rural students' college enrollment and degree attainment (Adelman, 2002; Byun, Meece, & Irvin, 2012; Means, Clayton, Conzelmann, Baynes, & Umbach, 2016). Because of these barriers,…

First-generation college students (FGCS) experience a myriad of unique challenges when starting their university education, including perceiving themselves as being socially isolated on campus (Markowitz, 2016; Nazione et al., 2011; Wilkins, 2014), experiencing guilt as they leave behind academically family and friends (Banks-Santilli, 2015; Orbe,…

Text Steps was a project piloted by Ascendium Education Group in 2015 and expanded to 13 school districts in Wisconsin between 2018 and 2020. Its goal was to combat summer melt through a texting program. Summer melt, in which college-intending high school students are unable to enroll in the fall for any number of reasons, is a well-documented…

Summer programming is one of the main ways school districts have sought to help students recover academically from COVID-19 pandemic-related setbacks. Authors use a survey administered to a nationally representative sample of kindergarten through grade 12 public school districts to investigate the prevalence and structure of districts' programming…

This critical case study examined the racial identity development of 10 White RAs who participated in 12 hours of diversity and social justice training during a two-week summer program. Helm's White Racial Identity Development Model served as the study's theoretical framework. In this paper, we discuss the incongruence between the Northeast State…

In this paper, we report on our experience as rookies organizing, funding, and running a summer computing camp for middle school girls. The focus of the camp was building mobile applications using App Inventor. The three day/two night camp targeted girls in rural, high poverty school districts and was funded through an award from the National…

Although teachers, school counselors, and administrators are all situated within educational settings tasked with supporting students' educational development, rarely do these professionals have sufficient opportunities to learn from and collaborate with one another before entering these schools. Unfortunately, many of these professionals are…

Educators and students in schools across the United States have faced sweeping, unprecedented changes to teaching and learning as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which shuttered school buildings in spring 2020. This Data Note offers teachers' and principals' perspectives on some of those changes and presents their…

Summer programs that experiment with combining media literacy and social-emotional learning can potentially affect students' academic performance. Based on a six-week program, working with rising eighth grade students in a low-income school district, this program allowed students to work on media projects while trying to develop stronger…

Educational and vocational rehabilitation programs both have key roles and responsibilities in improving post-school outcomes for students with disabilities. Both entities must be involved in creating opportunities for students to develop skills and knowledge to prepare for careers in the 21st Century. To help facilitate understanding and promote…

Summer and winter breaks from school can be highly anticipated times for students and educators. However, for students living in poverty, the break from school can bring hidden challenges that school psychologists should be aware of when preparing for vacation. Research has shown that school breaks affect students from varying socioeconomic status…

Writing is an important content area that pervades all subject areas and is required for post-school success, yet many students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often struggle in written expression. In this article we discuss the characteristics of students with ASD that make writing difficult, and the strengths, such as the use of technology,…

Research evidence suggests that summer breaks contribute to income-based achievement and opportunity gaps for children and youth. However, summertime can also be used to provide programs that support an array of goals for children and youth, including improved academic achievement, physical health, mental health, social and emotional well-being,…

Having garnered national attention, high failure rates in developmental education present a significant barrier to state and national policymakers' goals of increasing the percentage of adults who earn a college credential. However, a majority of the research fails to consider why students place into developmental education. This piece examines a…