The impacts of a summer reading program on students' reading fluency were assessed. Fifteen students in grades first through seventh voluntarily attended a nine-day summer reading program. Participants who attended the program were a good representation of the other students in the school. The school was selected due to the high percentage of…

Contemporary models highlight the need to cultivate cognitive and psychosocial factors in developing domain-specific talent. This model was the basis for the current study where high ability youth with self-reported social difficulties (n = 28, 12 with a coexisting disability) participated in a social skills and talent development intervention…

Prior research suggests that summer learning loss among low-income children contributes to income-based gaps in achievement and educational attainment. We present results from a randomized experiment of a summer mathematics program conducted in a large, high-poverty urban public school district. Children in the third to ninth grade (N = 263) were…

Background: Summer camps can serve as a modality for dietary interventions. However, camp-based strategies that improve dietary behaviors of children are unclear. Poor diet disproportionately affects low-income and minority children, making the examination of camp-based dietary interventions an important focus. Purpose: To assess the impact of a…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of Summer Environmental Education Program (SEEP) on elementary school students' environmental knowledge, affect, skills and behavior which are the main components of environmental literacy. The sample consisted of 45 students (25 males, 20 females) studying in 4th through 8th grades and living in…

Sustainability Camps provide an opportunity for Extension educators to be in the forefront of sustainability outreach and to meet the growing demand for sustainability education. This article shares development, implementation, and evaluation of an Extension Sustainability Camp for youth, grades 4-6. Camp impact was measured via daily pre-and…

This study investigates the benefits of no-stakes educational testing during students' summer vacation as a strategy to mitigate summer learning loss. Fifty-one students in Grades 3-8 from the Every Child Valued (ECV) and Lawrence Community Center (LCC) summer programs in Lawrenceville, NJ, took short, online assessments throughout the summer,…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of a summer learning program for students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). We used a quasi-experimental design with pre and post assessments for both the treatment and comparison groups. Participants were fourth grade students (N = 92) below…

Summer setback, which is defined as a decline in academic achievement over the summer months, occurs in many academic areas but seems especially problematic in reading. We assessed students from a midwestern parochial school serving predominantly students from a low--socioeconomic status background for their reading achievement before they left…

In this quasi-experimental design study, I investigated the impact of a current summer literacy approach on writing performance and writer self-perception of urban Housing Authority children. In addition, current campers and former CampUs Scholarship recipients provided feedback about personal experiences as well as shared the potential impact of…

There are several goals guiding this study. First, the authors use an experimental design to examine the causal effects of giving children 10 self-selected books over two summers. Second, they examine whether treatment effects are moderated by children's family income (i.e., eligibility for free- and reduced-price lunch). As a result, they examine…

A wind energy focused curriculum for grades 4-8 was designed and implemented to promote the understanding of wind energy concepts with American Indian students. 57 students who participated in the 2009 summer program of the "Reach for the Sky" (RFTS) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) received the curriculum. The…

Based on the findings of a recent three-year study by Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, the authors can confirm what many librarians have long suspected: students who take part in their local library's summer reading program significantly improve their reading skills. This article describes the results of…

In this article, we describe and report on the results of a study in Texas that tested 2 models of professional development for classroom teachers as a way of improving their practices and increasing the reading achievement of their students. To meet this goal, 44 participating teachers in grades 2-8 learned to teach their students cognitive…

In this article, we describe and report on the results of a study in Texas that tested 2 models of professional development for classroom teachers as a way of improving their practices and increasing the reading achievement of their students. To meet this goal, 44 participating teachers in grades 2-8 learned to teach their students cognitive…