The project activities highlighted in this publication were conducted within the framework of school-based afterschool programs operated by community-based organizations. The intention of the Discovering Community initiative, created by The After-School Corporation and MetLife Foundation, is to foster greater collaborations and mutual respect…

Improving teacher quality in P-12 mathematics is a national need, and many universities and schools are working to address it. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), twelve math and science institutes across the country are helping P-12 teachers strengthen their capacity to support students' learning. These NSF Institutes…

Teachers who work together to blend academic and career/technical (CT) instruction have found a key to motivating students to complete high school and prepare for college, advanced training and careers. This newsletter highlights key strategies schools are using to join academic and technical studies to advance student motivation and achievement.…

Access to a quality, affordable college education remains a cornerstone of American economic and social development. Individuals from all backgrounds need the knowledge and skills afforded by higher education to compete in an increasingly integrated--and competitive--global economy. Greater educational attainment correlates with many positive…

This report describes the findings of an analysis of a series of action research projects conducted by Goshen Community Schools at the middle school level. During the 2008-2009 school year, six teachers at Goshen Middle School participated in independent action research studies regarding the extent to which a six step approach to direct vocabulary…

When Stephanie Smith became the principal of Seaford (Delaware) Middle School four years ago, she was told to accept the fact that the school would never be able to change its status as a school that needed to improve. She did not accept that. To improve performance levels, she set the expectations high. Her defiance paid off: the school is now…

The federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, project strives to equalize low-income students' access to higher education by increasing their participation in rigorous coursework, providing expanded opportunities for low-income students and parents to learn about postsecondary educational opportunities…

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The purpose of the paper is to explore an instructive case in which two potentially opposed reform theories converge on schools, in order to understand how productively or unproductively the two theories coexist. We attempt to answer the following questions: Can these two reform theories coexist,…

In this article, the author relates how she helped organize the Middle School Community Read project, a community reading project for middle school students in her school district. The project aimed to reverse the trend of a community experiencing loss of male readers as they become teens. First, the author and her group formed a small committee…

Conference attendees arrive at the registration desk at 9:00 a.m. sharp, eager to start their day. While standing in line, they talk excitedly about the sessions they've chosen to see, the original investigation they'll be presenting, off-site field trips for which they've registered, and the businesses scheduled to have booths in the Exhibitor's…

This case study explores how a community-based truancy prevention program mediates against absenteeism, truancy, and dropping out and positively transforms the lives of Black and Latina/Latino middle school youth. Findings suggest that community-school partnerships are critical in the quest to combat truancy and the alarming dropout rate among…

This professor of preservice teachers challenges her students to expand their understanding of "culture" beyond racially specific contexts and into the many roles people play within the communities to which they belong. To provide her students with support as they work to teach literature in ways that are relational as well as context-specific,…

This Framework is intended for use by school districts and their community partners as they plan and adopt systems of quality pathways. The Critical Elements that make up the Framework are intended to deepen and clarify the district's thinking about how to build the infrastructure that supports the design, implementation, and sustainability of a…

The Exploratorium is home to XTech, a science education program which began in 2006 and was primarily funded by a three-year National Science Foundation grant (Award # 05-25217) through its ITEST (Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers) initiative. XTech provided project-based afterschool activities in science, engineering,…

This research project examined how to develop and sustain online, asynchronous learning communities in continuous intake, distance education environments for learners in grades 7 through 10. The study is an action research project that is based upon in-depth, qualitative data. Interviews were conducted with distance education teachers,…