Poverty has an enormous impact on children and their success in school. Children with low socioeconomic status often perform poorly in reading. Poor reading skills often lead to truancy, low rates of high school graduation, low-paying jobs, and cycles of illiteracy in generations of families. Secondary data was collected from the Tennessee…

Students' social and emotional well-being can impact academic performance, the college planning process, transition to college life, and college retention. Many students have had their mental health and well-being negatively affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, especially within the educational setting. When instruction was shifted from…

An essential goal of educational instruction is to ensure that all students become competent readers. To support students in becoming qualified readers, teachers need to identify struggling students and implement adequate curriculum programs. This study examined the effects of a computer-adaptive reading program on third-grade students' reading…

Transitioning from high school to college is a challenging time for young adults and can be more difficult for first generation students. In some cases, adolescents are assisted by community assets (coaches, teachers, church/family members) and community-based leadership education programs. This combination may provide youth with critical skills…

Decades of research have shown that exclusionary discipline practices are not only ineffective for changing student behavior, they lead to worse social, behavioral, and academic outcomes for students. This article explores the findings from a pilot study of the "Inclusive Skill-Building Learning Approach" (ISLA), an instructional…

The XY-Zone program is a leadership and peer support program that guides adolescent males as they journey into manhood. This mixed methods study examined the influence of the XY-Zone program on developmental assets and academic markers of males in grades nine through 12 who were identified as youth at risk of dropping out of school. Results…