This "snapshot" illustrates how one school is managing to make a positive difference for ninth graders. It describes the Ninth Grade Success Academy, a school-within-a-school at Thomas A. Edison High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which has a number of features specifically designed to help ninth-graders make successful…

Grassroot Soccer (GRS), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, designed a curriculum and sport-based teaching model to build resiliency, targeting boys and girls in Lusaka, Zambia, and Johannesburg, South Africa, where most children are reminded daily of the devastation caused by AIDS and where many face chronic and acute hardship. Collaborating…

The purpose of this article is to make the case for a broader perspective on school leadership and school-environment interrelationships and to develop the concept of systemic leadership for schools and the related notion of systemic authorization. The article explores the background to the concept and relevant aspects of the conceptualization,…

Bedtime struggles are some of the most common childhood behavior problems. These disruptions are associated with children's daytime misbehavior, impaired social functioning, poorer school performance, and even an increased risk of child abuse. These problems also have a number of negative consequences for members of the child's family. Of the…

Research Findings: Children require cognitive skills (e.g., phoneme awareness, verbal intelligence) and environmental resources (e.g., stimulation, print exposure) to acquire reading. This investigation examined the additional contribution of parental nurturance to literacy development during the transition from preschool to elementary school.…

Group parent-training interventions for the treatment and prevention of externalizing problems in young children have been empirically validated almost exclusively with mother-only groups or with groups where the majority of participants are mothers. One reason for this focus has been the difficulty in attracting fathers to parent-training groups.…

Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) are one of the major vehicles in the United States for providing training to child care providers. The quality of care children receive in child care settings is due, in large part, to the effectiveness of the training child care providers receive from CCR&Rs and other community…

This paper is a draft of Chapter 8 of a planned book, "Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa". This book analyzes early childhood programs' effects on regional economic development. Four early childhood programs are considered: (1) universally accessible preschool for four-year-olds of similar…

This paper focuses on transition programs for youth to postsecondary education, broadly considered. It addresses the following questions: (1) What models or programs of transition exist? (2) On what basis can we say one transition program is more effective than another? In other words, how is successful transition defined? (3) How are…

This document provides answers to frequently asked questions on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the education rights of children and youth in homeless situations. The answers are general responses based on federal statutes, regulations, and guidance; relevant case law; and best practices from across the country. While the National…

This report provides reliable evidence that mentoring programs can positively affect young people. The evidence is derived from research conducted at local affiliates of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America (BB/BSA), the oldest, best-known, and arguably most sophisticated of the country's mentoring programs. Public/Private Ventures, Inc. conducted…

The Committee on Natural Resources reports on Bill H.R. 4034 to amend the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act of 1978 to authorize grants for the expansion of recreation opportunities for at-risk youth in urban areas with a high prevalence of crime and for other purposes. The Committee reports favorably on the Bill, with an amendment, and…

Information is presented to help individuals and groups translate their concerns about youth into concrete, constructive action in the community. At the heart of the guide is a step-by-step process for action. The first section deals with taking individual action, exploring ways that the individual can make a difference. The second part of the…

This document presents case study profiles from a study that examined three aspects of educational time: (1) quantity of time in school; (2) quality of time in school; and (3) students' use of out-of-school time. Data were derived from case studies of 14 sites that experimented with different ways of allocating time as a cornerstone of efforts to…

City Year is a community-service program based in Boston (Massachusetts) that has frequently been praised as a model for other service programs. In City Year, young people of all races and from differing backgrounds work together for 9 months on public service programs ranging from physical labor to tutoring. Volunteers receive a small stipend and…