Purpose/Objectives: The US Department of Agriculture created its Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) to address poor nutrition and rising obesity among children. The FFVP allocates funding for selected elementary schools with at least 50% free/reduced price school meal enrollments to provide free fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to students.…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain a better understanding of how induction programs might effectively support STEM K-8 teacher preparation. American schools are not producing competent STEM graduates prepared to meet employment demands. Over the next decade, STEM employment opportunities are expected to increase twice as fast…

Formative assessment is a classroom learning process that consists of clear goals and objectives, assessing students' knowledge, providing feedback and adjusting instruction based upon the data within a socially interactive process. Because of inconsistent implementation of the formative assessment process within classrooms, the efficacy of the…

Almost half of Tennessee's students are not on grade level in reading and math by the time they complete third grade, and very few of those students achieve proficiency in later grades. To combat this trend and support the skill development and academic achievement of all students, Tennessee has adopted a framework for addressing individual…

The integration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) serves to develop creative thinking and twenty-first-century skills in the classroom (Maeda 2012). Learning through STEAM promotes novelty, innovation, ingenuity, and task-specific purposefulness to solve real-world problems--all aspects that define creativity. Lisa…

J.C. Nalle is a Community School located in the Marshall Heights neighborhood of Ward 7 in Washington, D.C. The community in which J.C. Nalle is located, historically one of the more economically disadvantaged areas of the city, has experienced a number of changes in recent years. This report of evaluation findings begins with an introduction to…

Recent scholarship highlights the wealth of varied and interconnected opportunities for learning science that informal environments can provide; yet, participants with different experiences, knowledge, and backgrounds do not all learn in the same ways. Thus, studies are needed that examine how particular participants take up learning opportunities…

Purpose/Objectives: A national trend to improve school breakfast participation is the integration of breakfast within the school day. Breakfast in the classroom programs increase student access to school breakfast. Service models include "grab and go," distribution of breakfasts to each classroom, and mobile breakfast carts in hallways.…

The Kauffman School is a public charter school that serves students from low-income neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri. This paper used a matched comparison group design to estimate the impacts of the Kauffman School on student achievement, attendance, and suspensions. We found that the Kauffman School had positive and statistically…

Despite a recent increased emphasis on emotional connections to nature and their relationship to stewardship and health outcomes in the environmental education and other literature, there is a lack of understanding of what qualities of nature experiences actually influence emotional connections to nature, otherwise known as environmental…

This is the second of three reports from MDRC's evaluation of the Success for All (SFA) scale-up demonstration, funded under the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation (i3) competition. The report presents updated findings on SFA's implementation and impacts in the scale-up sites participating in the evaluation. The i3 evaluation…

This study investigated the effectiveness of conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) for addressing externalizing behavior concerns in African American children at home and school in a low-socioeconomic status (SES), urban setting. A small-n, multiple-baseline design was employed across participants. Three of the six caregivers were unable to…

Secondary level or Tier 2 interventions such as the Check-in Check-out (CICO) intervention effectively reduce problem behaviors of students who are non-responsive to school-wide interventions. However, some students will not be successful with Tier 2 interventions. This study investigated the effects of adding individualized function-based support…

Digital literacies have fast become indispensable for productive engagement, competency, and citizenship in a rapidly changing world. After-school programs represent an important venue where many young people can develop a mastery of digital literacies, encompassing both the creative and responsible use of a broad range of new media. This paper…

This study examined the feasibility and effectiveness of a comprehensive function-based intervention applied across multiple inclusive classroom settings. The participant was a middle school student diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome who exhibited chronic off-task behaviors across all academic environments. This study was conducted across two…