California educates more than 6 million children in its K-12 public schools. More than half of these students are economically disadvantaged. About one in five are English Learners (ELs), compared with one in ten nationwide. In 2013, the state created the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to simplify school funding and significantly increase…

This paper outlines an inclusion initiative's conceptual framework for programs serving secondary students from economically challenged communities. It proposes distance learning technologies to afford these students access to learning resources, experiences, and environments in STEM. This paper addresses concerns with a complex duality of…

UK Sure Start Children's Centres (SSCCs) aim to lessen behavioural disorders yet we lack evidence concerning how this is achieved. This study evaluates one possible mechanism: improved home learning environments (HLEs). Data come from a longitudinal study of 2568 families and children recruited at a mean age of 14 months from 117 SSCCs in England…

The TRiO Program is not an acronym; it refers to a number (initially three, now eight) of U.S federal programs, which increase access to higher education for economically disadvantaged students. TRiO programs are designed to assist first-generation college students, persons with disabilities, and low-income persons. This qualitative research study…

Outdoor education programs have been shown to have a positive effect on the educational, physical and emotional development of youth. They are increasingly being used to foster a sense of community in schools and to provide students with learning opportunities related to the environment. This article describes an integrated outdoor education…

An environmental education (EE) consortium located in the pacific northwest United States coalesced an external evaluation team to research its K-5 EE programming. The purpose of this article is to describe one phase of this program evaluation process including the exploration of adult stakeholder perceptions of EE programming accessed by 4th…

This report documents how the current immigration context is affecting the nation's youngest children, under age eight, based on interviews and focus groups in 2017 with more than 150 early childhood educators and parents in six states--California, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. This study was motivated by…

This report presents key statistics and trends for teenage mothers and their babies in Australia. Teenage mothers and their babies are more likely to experience broader disadvantage, have antenatal risk factors and have poorer maternal and baby outcomes during and after birth, than older mothers and their babies. In Australia, the rate of teenage…

In an international benchmark survey of high school students, the U.S. consistently scores in the middle of the pack compared to many western European and eastern Asian countries. Finland has been among the top performers dating back to 2000. The country's performance led many in the U.S. to ask, what is Finland doing that is leading to high…

To support elementary school students in finding a solution to an engineering problem, the authors developed a series of five lessons using the 5E Instructional Model (Bybee 2014). The lessons align with the "Next Generation Science Standards" and the "Common Core State Standards" and integrate the teaching and learning of…

The Colorado Department of Education recently received state funding to implement a Student Re-Engagement Grant Program (SRGP). The goal of this project is to inform the administration of the SRGP by looking back at data from a previously administered grant program, called Colorado Graduation Pathways (CGP). The CGP program was a federally funded…

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) has adopted goals and policy strategies focused on increasing college access, success, and completion for underrepresented students. In 2013, the Commission passed a resolution to eliminate achievement gaps among Indiana's learner populations by 2025. Designed as a companion piece to the…

This paper presents the first analysis of the life course outcomes through late midlife (around age 55) for the participants of the iconic Perry Preschool Project, an experimental high-quality preschool program for disadvantaged African-American children in the 1960s. We discuss the design of the experiment, compromises in and adjustments to the…

This article is an autoethnographical exploration of key events in the author's life that influenced, even propelled, her into academia, despite working-class cultural and economic barriers. This study chronicles moments when circumstances converged to cause dramatic shifts in perspective that steered her toward a fulfilling life as a scholar. It…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider how working-class boys constitute themselves as subjects of "value" through a close examination of their occupational aspirations. The authors consider two significant influences on the aspirations of these young men: "space" and "place"; and neoliberal discourses…