Involvement by the adult community in schools and students' lives is an effective way to increase student attendance, boost morale, and improve students' perceptions about their school experience. This study examined a two-year comprehensive community intervention initiative within a high-risk junior high school, measuring its impact on student…

This article (1) argues that literacy is being redefined as a result of the use of digital media, and (2) provides suggestions for policy makers, budget decision-makers, teachers, researchers, and interested others about literacy and language arts standards, assessment, and teaching related to "new literacies," including: (a) Maximize the…

This paper describes a workshop led by female Engineering Technology students, with support from female faculty, to provide an introduction to Engineering Technology to 4th-7th grade girls through a series of interactive laboratory experiments. This outreach program was developed to improve attitudes towards science and engineering in middle…

Most seventh grade students partially define themselves through everyday media messages. As a part of understanding how these images and the media impacts their lives, the author collaborated with her colleagues to develop a unit to help teens learn how visual messages such as those in pictures, media icons, logos, slogans, clothing, toys, and…

This article describes the theory and practice of Art Therapy Connection (ATC), an inner city, yearlong school art therapy program in Chicago, IL, for students identified as being at risk of failing grades 3-12. The ATC program helps to address the mental health needs of students living in impoverished communities and the constant threats they…

This case study examines the features of Georgia College Early College, including its partnership with Georgia College & State University. The school deliberately recruits students from the community who are performing below grade level and gives them the support they need to excel academically. The college-going culture, small class sizes,…

This case study reviewed the collaborative efforts of university engineers, teacher educators, and middle school teachers to advance sixth- and seventh-grade students' learning through a series of project-based engineering activities. This two-year project enriched regular school curricula by introducing real-world applications of science and…

Nestled in the mountains and surrounded by Christmas tree farms, Ashe County Middle School is a small, rural school in the far northwest corner of North Carolina. Recognized nationally for its fine academic and co-curricular programs, the school prepares students for high school and real-life situations by teaching important concepts, essential…

The Dearborn Public Schools, with 18,300 students, is located in the Detroit urban area with the largest concentration of Arabic-speaking people in the United States. In order to prepare the students for the 21st century skills and global awareness and in response to parents' requests, the author in collaboration with the school principal and…

"The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Collaborating for Student Success (2009)" was conducted by Harris Interactive and is twenty-sixth in a series sponsored by MetLife since 1984 to give voice to those closest to the classroom. This "MetLife Survey" examines the views of teachers, principals and students about respective roles and…

A teacher-researcher describes how collaborative inquiries with students into literacy has the potential to develop metacognitive awareness of language and literacy practices, inform practice, and provide opportunities for students to use literacy in meaningful and authentic ways. Drawing upon a teacher-research study into the use of argument…

This study draws on ethnographic data from a year-long multimodal media production (MMP) course and the experience of an African American female adolescent who used the production of multimodal Hip Hop texts to express her creativity and growing socially conscious view of the world. The study demonstrates how students made meaning multimodally and…

It's winter! While it is frosty outside, one can at least think warm thoughts by starting now to plan ahead for summer information literacy programs. This article is designed to provide some ideas for planning next summer's reading, sleuthing, and research programs. It features a variety of programs organized by academic librarians this past…

Premises about the effects of early engagement on achievement were investigated with 383 children who were followed from ages 5.5 to 13.5. Change and continuity in behavioral (cooperative-resistant classroom participation) and emotional (school liking-avoidance) engagement were assessed during Grades 1-3 and were examined within variable- and…

This paper presents the evaluation of the program Computers for Education. The program aims to integrate computers, donated by the private sector, into the teaching of language in public schools. The authors conduct a two-year randomized evaluation of the program using a sample of 97 schools and 5,201 children. Overall, the program seems to have…