Outcomes from a large cluster-randomized study of "Second Step"©, a commonly adopted universal SEL program, have previously demonstrated small, teacher-reported effects on social-emotional competencies for subgroups of students. Given the size of investment in large RCT studies, and in SEL programming, replication attempts are warranted,…

Background: There are known health disparities in adolescent substance treatment access and engagement. The purpose of this project is to compare outcomes from school- and clinic-based substance treatment and to evaluate if providing school-based substance treatment reduces disparities in treatment access and engagement. Method: This quality…

The authors describe social validity assessment of mindfulness education and practices among high school students (N = 84) participating in a 10-week instructional program. The participants rated their satisfaction with and acceptance of several program components, content areas, and outcomes, as well as their engagement in specific mindfulness…

Minority children and adolescents living in rural areas, below poverty guidelines, are less likely to engage in healthy food choices or a healthy lifestyle, and this contributes to obesity issues. Providing children with the skills and knowledge to lead healthy lives is a way to combat this epidemic. Focus groups were conducted at three Extension…

This paper reviews literature on the rationale, challenges, and recommendations for choosing a nonequivalent comparison (NEC) group design when evaluating intervention effects. After reviewing frequently addressed threats to validity, the paper describes recommendations for strengthening the research design and how the recommendations were…

This article focuses on teachers' perceptions of the implementation and impact in Portuguese schools of a wide-ranging and long-term reading promotion programme. The Portuguese National Reading Plan (PNRP) was a public policy initiative whose purpose was to increase literacy levels and reading habits among the population. The Plan identified…

Schools are recognized as one of the most important settings for promoting social and emotional well-being among children and adolescents. This clustered randomized controlled trial evaluated Zippy's Friends, an international school-based emotional well-being programme, with 766 children from designated disadvantaged schools. The purpose of this…

Research on the outcomes of Montessori education is scarce and results are inconsistent. One possible reason for the inconsistency is variations in Montessori implementation fidelity. To test whether outcomes vary according to implementation fidelity, we examined preschool children enrolled in high fidelity classic Montessori programs, lower…

In September 2003, Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts, launched two new civic development efforts--clustering and schoolwide governance--that provide an opportunity to study the influence of schoolwide democratic deliberation on students' civic knowledge and participation. The intervention involved, in part, organizing the school into…

This dissertation studies the short-term effects of attending an after-school program (i.e., LA's BEST) on student mathematic achievement. The effects of one, two and three years of participation are studied, as well as the extent to which the magnitude of these effects varies across grades in which participation occurs, and the extent to which…

Educators have been looking for a solution to increasing yearly student achievement while at the same time ensuring that the achievement gap between students of high and low socioeconomic status does not continue to widen each year. Many studies examined show that students experience summer learning loss if not in school during the months of June…

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the Division of Violence Prevention in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation of programs aimed at improving students' behavior. For this evaluation, such programs were termed Social…

This article presents the research findings of an evaluation of the academic impacts of 21st Century Learning Centers (CCLC) in Louisiana. Using quasi-experimental design, the article operationalizes academic achievement as core and subject test performance on nationally standardized pre- and posttests (Iowa Test of Basic Skills; ITBS). Based on…

After-school programs can be implemented by school nurses to facilitate healthy lifestyle choices in children with the goal of decreasing obesity. Kids Living Fit[TM] (KLF), an after-school program designed by community hospital nurses, was implemented in elementary schools and focused on best lifestyle choices regarding foods consumed and…

The current emphasis on best practices for school-based health and mental health programs brings with it the demand for evaluation efforts in schools. This article describes the challenges of launching a successful school program and evaluation, with lessons learned from three projects that focus on intimate partner violence. The authors discuss…