The present case study investigated the impact of a short-term summer literacy approach on writing performance and self-perception of writing for young adolescents of low-income families residing in urban housing projects. The approach offered intensive literacy engagement to offset summer achievement loss; assisted ethnic-minority, low…

Background: School-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs can influence not only SECD but also academic-related outcomes. This study evaluated the impact of one SECD program, Positive Action (PA), on educational outcomes among low-income, urban youth. Methods: The longitudinal study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized…

An innovative literacy/theater project implemented in two sixth-grade classrooms of a high-poverty, urban, western Pennsylvania middle school was designed to help urban teachers address aliteracy by engaging their students in the discovery of three young adult novels. The project was built on a partnership with a semiprofessional theater company…

In this study, a nonprofit community mental health clinic developed a socioecological model of sexual abuse prevention that was implemented in a public school. The goal of the program was to promote and create community change within individuals and the school community by reducing tolerance of sexual violence and sexual harassment. Participants…

School systems often implement character education initiatives in reaction to a violent event. Following the school shootings that occurred in the 1990s, many school systems started to implement character education and violence prevention programs. Unfortunately, because the efforts were reactive, little thought was given to sustainability…

Research has suggested that low socioeconomic status is a major factor in diminishing academic achievement of African American urban youth; however, there are other factors influencing students' achievement. To examine the other factors that contribute to academic achievement, this study investigated a sample of 60 low-resource middle school…

The purpose of this paper is to report our findings from a qualitative study intended to develop our understandings of: what high-poverty urban children understand and believe about food and food systems; and how such children transform and use that knowledge in their everyday lives (i.e. how do they express their scientific literacies including…