Background: The complexity of the childhood obesity epidemic requires the application of community-based participatory research (CBPR) in a manner that can transcend multiple communities of stakeholders, including youth, the broader community, and the community of health care providers. Aim: To (a) describe participatory processes for engaging…

This article explores collective identity as a useful theoretical framework for understanding social and developmental processes that occur in youth programs. Through narrative analysis of past participant interviews (n = 21) from an after-school theater program, known as "The SOURCE", it was found that participants very clearly describe…

Formative assessment has been identified as an effective pedagogical practice in the field of education, where teachers and students engage daily in an interactive process to gather evidence of the students' proficiency of a specific learning goal. The evidence collected by the teacher and a student during the formative assessment process allows…

A recent challenge for contemporary education has been to efficiently educate the increasingly diverse American population (Holley, 2013). Seeking to resolve the problems related to the education of a diverse student population, colleges and universities across the United States have begun to require students to enroll in diversity courses…

The purpose of this study was to identify differences that impact international graduate student performance in the first semester compared to the subsequent semesters. This study was a qualitative study focused on the factors associated with international graduate student academic performance between the first semester and their subsequent…

Sense-making theory involves a sociological/communications science approach to the need of students to make sense of their environment and the information they are seeking to find. With many digital resources to choose from, non-traditional students often have difficulty finding the best resource for their assignments, opting for the easiest path…

While broad assessment projects are often used to steer library strategic planning initiatives, this article will present the benefits of qualitative interviews with distance learning constituents as a framework for developing a focused vision and targeted services. This article will describe the planning and execution of an assessment project…

College students in the United States today are failing to be academically engaged, and there is a critical need to analyze why this is occurring. The research conducted in this study was used to examine student engagement as a means to promote learning in higher education. Student engagement can lead to knowledge development and foster academic…

Increasing numbers of Florida parents are withdrawing their children from traditional public schools in highly-rated school districts to enroll them in tuition-free, startup, charter schools. Since not all parents have equal access or are as equally motivated to elect school choice alternatives, the fiscal sustainability of the traditional public…

In this pilot study, 24 gifted, elementary students in second to fifth grade enrolled in a large, diverse, urban public school were introduced to 10 mindfulness-based techniques that the students practiced in school. The students practiced the techniques for 10 weeks once per week for 30 minutes in the school's media center under the guidance of…

Research and literature support the notion that environmental literacy requires a depth of knowledge and skills that go beyond simply being aware of or knowledgeable about the environment and environmental issues. Environmental literacy requires the learning of a skill set that builds a sense of empowerment and the attitudes that enable a person…

Children's literature helps young people make sense of gender. However, while books offer children the imaginative ability to create their own worlds, normative gender can manifest in characters and stories. The study described in this article draws upon "disruptive" storytimes with 114 preschool children, interviews with 20 parents and…

Nontraditional students returning to college have many outside stressors that potentially prohibit academic success including full-time jobs, home life (children, spouses, and bills), and lack of time or understanding of college assignments. An explanatory mixed methods study was conducted for the purpose of determining if and for how long the…

The purpose of this research study was to explore how parents in a large school district in Florida perceive the referral process leading to their children placement in Special Education. Participants in the study were 12 parents of special needs students whose children were, at the time of the study, receiving Special Education related services…

It has been argued that to remain relevant in today's society, Extension must expand its role to provide public issues education. We conducted a web-based survey to determine whether Extension agents in Florida were prepared to deal with contentious issues. Survey respondents identified issues affecting their clientele, levels of frequency with…