This evaluation study addressed the need to increase the participation of teenagers in the Youth Service Agency ABC (YSA ABC). ABC offers positive, powerful, and empowering experiences for area teens. These programs help them with character development, financial literacy, emotional intelligence, healthy well-being, and many other skills and tools…

Young people need digital competency and confidence to effectively harness computing power to solve problems and design solutions; a core component is improving young people's computational thinking. Unfortunately, access to computer science education is lacking for all youth, and in particular for youth who live in lower-income households, who…

The middle school years are marked by a critical interplay of biological, cognitive, and social development, which collectively shape adolescents' experiences and developmental trajectories. Recognizing the complexity of these processes is crucial for creating nurturing environments that support adolescents' academic, social, and emotional…

Camp remains a powerful experience for youth of any age, but special care must be taken to ensure camps are supportive of diverse audiences. This article describes the process by which 4-H camp organizers created a welcoming and affirming camp for teen dependents of active duty, retired, or veteran military personnel, especially those campers who…

Extracurricular activities play an important role in the school lives of students. To understand this effect, the authors of this article consider public schools in Azerbaijan and analyse the effect of extracurricular activities on students' academic performance. They conducted a study investigating three groups of extracurricular activities:…

We describe a process for construction and use of a "dashboard" for monitoring the quality of in-person nonformal education programs. We followed the process to develop a 4-H special interest (SPIN) club dashboard, but the steps are applicable to any education program that includes instruction over multiple sessions. The dashboard…

Informal community-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) clubs provide rich informal learning environments that help elementary-aged students develop STEM knowledge and skills while fostering their initial and continued interests in STEM. This phenomenographical case study sought to interpret stakeholders' (five university…

Reading fluency and comprehension are necessary to successfully function in school, work, and society. A 2015 study by the National Center for Educational Statistics indicates that the dropout rate for African American males is significantly higher than the national overall dropout rate. Since proficiency in reading strongly correlates with high…

The Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) is the program administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grants. The ACE BGCAA Cycle 10 program provides intentional afterschool program experiences that are high quality, challenging, and inspiring. Across activities and…

The international Eco-Schools programme promotes Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through introducing and stimulating pro-environmental initiatives by school learners and staff. This enabled learners in the Eco-Clubs at a resource-poor primary school to identify and undertake transformative pro-environmental initiatives in 2011 and 2014…

Background: Children's and young people's emotional wellbeing is in decline and models of good practice are needed to help schools address the needs of vulnerable pupils. Effectiveness studies have provided empirical evidence for school-based socio-emotional interventions but few examine process issues to explain procedures and mechanisms…

The purpose of this study was to determine if reading achievement of students from high-poverty US schools differs as a function of participation in summer tutoring versus access to books. Data from 100 at-risk youth who participated in tutoring (n = 45) or received self-selected books (n = 55) indicated significant gains for students in both…

Preparing young Americans with science and technology skills has been on the forefront of educational reform for several years, and Extension has responded. Robotics projects have become a natural fit for 4-H clubs, with members' experiences ranging from using Lego® Mindstorms® and other "purchase and assemble" robotics kits to building…

As part of an ongoing, multi-million dollar Wallace Foundation initiative to improve and expand arts learning opportunities for young people, the Wallace Foundation, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), developed the Youth Arts Initiative (YAI) to deliver otherwise inaccessible high-quality arts programs to low-income…

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy's, (HSTA) goals are to increase college attendance of African American, financially disadvantaged, first generation college and rural Appalachian youth and increase health-care providers and STEM professionals in underserved communities. Students enter in the 9th grade and remain in HSTA four years. They…