The success of interdisciplinary research teams depends largely upon skills related to team performance. We evaluated student and team performance for undergraduate biology and mathematics students who participated in summer research projects conducted in off-campus laboratories. The student teams were composed of a student with a mathematics…

Internships are an effective way of connecting high school students in a meaningful manner to the sciences. Disadvantaged minorities have fewer opportunities to participate in internships, and are underrepresented in both science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors and careers. We have developed a Summer Academic Research Experience…

Problem: Leaders today need a new set of knowledge and skills to be effective in collaborative environments. The focus of this study was to investigate how collaborative environments can contribute to leadership development. The purpose of this study was to describe how the collaborative environment of summer camp helped shape emerging adults as…

Students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) entering U.S. schools in grade 9 face a tight timeline to simultaneously learn English and graduate from high school in four or five years. This study focuses on student outcomes and progress indicators for the cohort of ninth graders new to WCPSS in 2008-09 who had limited English proficiency. Based…

Research shows low-income students suffer disproportionate learning loss over the summer and because those losses accumulate over time, they contribute substantially to the achievement gap between low- and higher-income children. The Wallace Foundation is funding a five-year demonstration project to examine whether summer learning programs can…

Research shows low-income students suffer disproportionate learning loss over the summer and because those losses accumulate over time, they contribute substantially to the achievement gap between low- and higher-income children. The Wallace Foundation is funding a five-year demonstration project to examine whether summer learning programs can…

Undergraduates having their first research experience frequently have little idea of what to expect. Institutions offering summer research experiences attempt to address this issue through programs that introduce students to the process and culture of science. However, didactic approaches frequently bore students who prefer more interactive…

The Portland Schools Foundation's (PSF) Ninth Grade Counts initiative is a network of more than twenty independent summer transition programs targeting Academic Priority (or "at-risk") students. These programs share a common focus on providing academic support, enrichment, and career/college exposure for students who show early warning…

There are several goals guiding this study. First, the authors use an experimental design to examine the causal effects of giving children 10 self-selected books over two summers. Second, they examine whether treatment effects are moderated by children's family income (i.e., eligibility for free- and reduced-price lunch). As a result, they examine…

What might count as a world class, national public education system in 2020? That empty cup took the floor at the 2010 Future of Learning (FoL) Summer Institute at Harvard University. It traveled from Longfellow Hall's lecture room on Appian Way to several learning groups scattered around campus. Though not deliberately created to think about…

No significant differences in beginning eighth-grade pretest compared to ending eighth-grade posttest California Achievement Test Normal Curve Equivalent Scores were found for youth at risk who completed a pre-eighth-grade summer academic enrichment program where comparisons for reading vocabulary t(19) = 0.46, p = 0.33 (one-tailed), d = 0.107,…

How are independent schools to be useful to the wider world? Beyond their common commitment to educate their students for meaningful lives in service of the greater good, can they educate a broader constituency and, thus, share their resources and skills more broadly? Their answers to this question will be shaped by their independence. Any…

Research indicates that students often opt out of computing majors due to a lack of prior experience in computing and a lack of knowledge of field-based job opportunities. In addition, it has been found that students respond positively to new subjects when teachers and counselors are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the area. The summer…

Generally work-based learning opportunities are only offered to students in their penultimate year of undergraduate study. Little is known about the benefits and shortcomings of such experiential learning for students in the early stages of their undergraduate education. This is a mixed method study investigating first year undergraduate pharmacy…

Although summer is a glorious time for many, with a summer off, comes the real issue of potential loss of skills. When English language learning is taken into account, summer has an even greater potential for backslide not only in terms of content but also in English language development. For some ELLs, a summer away from school can also mean a…