It is essential for middle school leaders to develop and promote school-wide literacy models, organizational structures that have a significant impact on the learning environment for all students in their building. However, school-wide literacy models can be difficult to implement and sustain over time. Drawing from an Office of Special Education…

American youths are becoming increasingly less physically active and have poor nutrition habits. Nationwide, less than one third of students reported achieving the recommended level of physical activity (one hour of exercise per day). In addition, most youths consume less than the recommended daily amounts of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.…

This article presents development and informal assessment of a 10-week psychoeducational program designed for 8 adolescent group members experiencing parental divorce in a rural community in Ghana. Group design, cultural considerations, program implementation, and impacts are described. The literature review pertaining to group work as an…

In Fall 2007, Hudson Guild--a settlement house that provides services to hundreds of adults, teens and children in two housing developments in New York City--embarked on a study to assess the needs of youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who were residing in the community and were disconnected (i.e., those youth who were not in school or not…

Obesity is a major pediatric public health problem. Adolescents are a priority population for intervention strategies. School nurses are in key positions to design intervention strategies to promote healthy lifestyles and prevent adolescent obesity in the students they serve. To design effective programs, school nurses need to know what components…

This report summarizes the efforts and successes of the Youth as Resources (YAR) initiative, a program that offers youth empowerment and leadership in community service. It utilizes all youth in an effort to address any social or community issue deemed important to a local area and provides opportunities for a wide range of agencies to host or to…

Adolescence represents a unique period in the life cycle. No longer children and not yet adults, adolescents make significant choices about their health and develop attitudes and health practices that impact their current safety and well-being. Those choices also often influence their risk for future serious chronic disease. Adolescence also…

Growing evidence indicates that teen courts give a community's children and adults a practical response to the problems associated with delinquency, traffic safety, and substance abuse. Developing and implementing teen courts requires a collaborative effort and juvenile justice agencies need baseline information that will aid them in creating teen…

Although the facts about underage drinking are widely known, the issues that surround this problem vary from one community to the next. Such issues include where and how underage drinking shows itself, how it is viewed by the community, and what residents think is a reasonable way to address underage drinking in their community. This guide is…

Designed to offer guidelines, ideas and help to those who provide library service to young adults, this manual includes information about the provision of young adult (YA) services in six sections. The first section, which addresses planning and administration, includes a definition of a young adult and a checklist for determining community needs…

This program assessment package is for those providing after-school services for young adolescents. Introductory material discusses why the focus is on 10- to 15-year-olds, the need for program evaluation, and assessment criteria. The package includes the following items: (1) "3:00 to 6:00 P.M.; Programs for Young Adolescents," by Joan…

Noting the need for parents, schools, and community members to work together to meet the needs of unsupervised adolescents during after-school hours, this practicum was designed to address those needs in one middle school. Lack of adolescent after-school supervision was documented by means of a parent interest survey distributed to parents of…

The project described in this report sought to develop a program whereby adolescents with learning disabilities could increase their skills to successfully cope with the transitions inherent in moving to adulthood. The program, termed the "Life-planning Program," consists of a series of activities designed to: (1) orient the student…

School counseling programs touch all students, parents, and prospective employers. This guide describes a counseling model that can be used for grades K-12 in a variety of Alaskan school settings. It was developed by counselors who work in both itinerant and single school settings in rural and urban communities. The program is intended as a map to…

Adults who are recovering from substance abuse usually possess coping skills that adolescents have not yet developed. This paper examines the special needs of adolescents who are recovering from substance abuse. Young people have not had the opportunity to develop healthy social, emotional, and cognitive skills because they are using chemicals at…