There are currently mixed findings on the social and academic benefits of youth participation in school sponsored sports, such as football. While some research suggests positive outcomes through increased sense of school belongingness, other studies link participation in football to increased delinquent behavior. Social control theory informed the…

Teacher education and professional development prepare teachers with up-to-date knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective teaching. To sustain this, however, hinges on continued professional learning within schools. Research shows that establishing long-term conditions that allow teachers to learn continuously from one another…

In this paper we provide the first rigorous evidence of the impact of a partnership between public middle schools and informal science institutions (ISIs), such as museums and zoos, on student outcomes. This study focuses on Urban Advantage (UA), a program in New York City (NYC) that explicitly draws upon the expertise and resources of the city's…

This study examined the effects on academic achievement of offering students enrollment in the Promise Academy charter middle school. The school is sponsored by the Harlem Children's Zone[R], which combines reform-minded charter schools with a web of community services designed to provide a positive and supportive social environment outside of…

This study examines patterns of organized activity and their concurrent association with academic achievement, problem behavior, and perceived adult support in a sample of urban, early adolescent, middle school students (mean age = 13.01; N = 2,495). Cluster analyses yielded six activity profiles: an uninvolved group (n = 775, 31.1%), a multiply…