This case study reveals how one community-based youth development organization in the northeastern United States advocated for social and educational equity for the low-income families it served by challenging the local school district’s practice of referring low-income children of color to special education in disproportionate numbers. Because this community-based organization (CBO) is typical of many such youth-serving organizations, the case study shows how the assets CBOs bring to their communities can help them negotiate with schools to achieve greater social and educational equity for
This article describes Youth as Resources, a nationwide initiative involves youth and adults as equal partners in projects that improve community life. Some examples of the projects include the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, which engages teenagers to install solar heating in low income homes, and the Haydenville Preservation Committee, which implemented neighborhood cleanup and landscaping projects in rural Ohio.
Analysis of the Harvard Family Research Project’s database of program evaluations suggests ways community-based afterschool programs can negotiate with schools to share financial, physical, social, and intellectual resources.
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Christopher WimerMargaret PostPriscilla Little
The 2000 Census indicates a significant increase in foreign-born and first-generation students in public schools, at a time when multicultural communities are challenging long-held notions about civic participation in America. This study of Teen Educators Advocating for Community Health (TEACH) illustrates how an innovative afterschool program attempted to nurture social capital and a sense of belonging in immigrant youth. Drawing on Robert Putnam’s distinction between the bonding and bridging forms of social capital, the study argues that afterschool programs can help immigrant youth develop
This article describes the "In Addition" afterschool mathematics program and the pressures it faced due to standardized testing and homework. In addition aims to go beyond worksheets and drills to engage student's curiosity and help show them that mathematics is relevant to their lives outside the classroom.
Growing public and policy interest in the use of afterschool time has led to a need for research methods that allow investigators and stakeholders to examine and refine program models and activities. The case study method offers promise for afterschool research, but case study models must be refined in order to adequately study afterschool programming, which is characterized by collaboration among numerous stakeholders. “The Four Cs”—collaboration, communication, content, and coherence—provide one such framework. This method allows researchers who study afterschool education to respect its
This article presents IMAX films as making science more accessible to the public, but cautions against building spectators rather than participants. It examines a film about Yellowstone while making the case that large-format films serve entertainment rather than scientific purposes.
This brief article includes a sampling of the findings from Zahava Doering's 2004 study, "Evaluation of Museum Educational Programs: A National Perspective."
This paper describes findings from a Ph.D. study of visitors, particularly non-museum visitors, at two university art museums in Hong Kong. This study contributes to the literature on museum education in Hong Kong, which is a relatively new area of study in Asia. This study is also the first museum visitor survey done on a university population in Hong Kong. It includes the questionnaire mailed to participants in the study.