This digest defines students with severe handicaps, documents the benefits of integrating students with severe disabilities into regular classrooms, and outlines procedures for facilitating integration. It notes some issues associated with access and scheduling, areas in which additional support might be needed, ways to incorporate information…

This digest reviews the literature on ways that institutions of higher education can enhance student learning outside the classroom. It considers research on the contributions of out-of-class experiences to valued outcomes of postsecondary education and identifies nine institutional conditions which appear to foster student learning outside the…

While the numbers of traditional age African American males enrolling in and graduating from higher education are declining, adult black males are increasingly returning to college. According to 2001 U.S. Census figures, the number of black males aged 25 years and over enrolled in college has increased from 143,000 in 1990 to 267,000 in 1995, to…

Undergraduate volunteerism work is discussed, noting volunteer service can be a vital part of an undergraduate education. This service has taken many forms over the years, from folding bandages for soldiers at war, to providing tutorial services for elementary and secondary school children, to staffing medical programs in Appalachia. It…

This digest urges greater collaboration between academic departments and student affairs personnel at institutions of higher education for the purpose of providing students with a seamless culture of learning. Reports of the American College Personnel Association, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, and the American…

Afterschool programs are increasingly viewed as one viable way of bridging the gap between the end of the school day and the time parents get home from work. This digest briefly discusses why afterschool programs are needed, what potential benefits may be, what challenges may affect the viability of programs, what factors are identified with…

Two national studies have recently confirmed that specific kinds of educational experiences provided for children by both parents and teachers, from preschool through high school, can make a significant difference in their reading ability as young adults. Both studies analyzed data gathered from 3,959 high school students in 24 school districts…

The current emphasis on performance standards and testing has led schools to look to the after-school hours as time that can be spent developing children's academic skills. This Spanish-language digest describes types of after-school programs and discusses recent research on who participates and the effects of participation on children's school…

The current emphasis on performance standards and testing has led schools to look to the after-school hours as time that can be spent developing children's academic skills. This digest describes types of after-school programs and discusses recent research on who participates and the effects of participation on children's school performance. The…

This digest describes three programs for middle and high school language minority students at risk of dropping out of school. Two of the programs are geared toward limited-English-proficient Hispanic youth, and the third, a vocational program, involves African-American students as well. The first program described is the Coca-Cola Valued Youth…

Migrant children should become acquainted with their communities, however briefly they live in them. They should learn what the community represents, the services that a community offers, and how their lives can be improved by making use of those services. Migrant students should have the opportunity for involvement in extracurricular activities…

This digest describes the creation and operation of after school programs for poor urban students. Schools often sponsor such programs and find the advantages to be the credibility lent by the school, continuity of care, and easy access to resources. Some of the disadvantages to school sponsorship are higher personnel costs, the possibility of…

Traditionally an urban problem, gang involvement is growing on Native American reservations. This digest examines common factors in gang development and one tribe's response through a Native-centric education and juvenile justice system. The sum of handicaps associated with gang involvement has been termed "multiple marginality," and…

School-age children between the ages of 5 and 14 spend up to 80% of their time out of school. These hours represent an opportunity to help children grow and acquire important social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills and to help them develop lifelong interests. This time can also be used to provide support for the academic challenges faced…

Interest in the quality of after-school programs has been increasing. It is recognized that, in urban and low-income areas, after-school programs are essential to counteract the effects of a number of factors contributing to a student's lack of opportunities and ability to succeed academically. However, information on the types of programs that…